The 13-week cash forecast: the one report every owner should read

A profitable company can still run out of cash. Customers pay late, inventory ties up money, a big tax payment lands in the same week as payroll. The 13-week cash forecast is how we see those collisions coming.

Why thirteen weeks?

It's one quarter: long enough to plan around, short enough to forecast honestly. Weekly granularity catches the timing problems that a monthly budget smooths over.

What goes in it

• Opening cash from the bank, not the books.
• Receipts by customer, using how they actually pay, not their terms.
• Disbursements: payroll, rent, debt service, taxes, and major vendor payments on their real dates.
• Closing cash and the minimum balance you're comfortable with.

How to use it

Update it every Monday. Compare last week's forecast to what actually happened, and you'll learn quickly which assumptions are optimistic. When the line dips below your minimum, you have weeks, not days, to act: chase a receivable, delay a purchase, or draw on a line of credit before you need it.

Our advisory clients get this report every week, reviewed on a fifteen-minute call. It's the most useful quarter-hour of their week.

General information from a fictional firm on a concept site, not financial advice.