Free 13-week cash flow forecast template (Excel)
This 13-week cash flow forecast template shows, week by week, how much cash you will have over the next quarter and which weeks get tight. Download the Excel file, put in your start date, your cash today and what you expect to come in and go out. No sign-up and no email needed.
Why 13 weeks
Thirteen weeks is one quarter, broken into weeks. It is short enough that you can estimate cash in and cash out with some confidence, and long enough to see a crunch coming while you can still act: chase a customer, move a supplier payment, draw on a credit line. Monthly forecasts hide the problem the template is built for, which is the one week where payroll, rent and VAT all leave the bank before the big customer pays.
How to fill it in
Start with the lines that decide most of the result: payroll, your largest customers, rent, VAT and loan repayments. Enter cash on the date it actually moves, not the invoice date. If a customer pays on 60-day terms, put the payment two months after the invoice, or later if they usually pay late.
Then roll it forward every week. Replace the week that just ended with the actual numbers, add a new week at the end, and look at the gap between forecast and actual. A gap that keeps growing in one line tells you which assumption is wrong.
When a spreadsheet stops being enough
The template works well for one company with a handful of cash lines. It gets hard when the forecast has to pull open invoices from the accounting package, expected payments from the CRM and the bank balance every morning. That is the point where a live cash forecast saves hours each week. The CFO dashboard example shows a three-month cash forecast with a buffer line, and live data dashboards explains how I build one on your own data.
13-week cash flow forecast template: questions answered
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What is a 13-week cash flow forecast?
A 13-week cash flow forecast is a week-by-week projection of the cash coming into and going out of a business over the next quarter. For each week it shows opening cash, cash in, cash out and closing cash, so you can see in advance which weeks will be tight and act before they arrive.
Is this cash flow forecast template really free?
Yes. It is a free Excel download with no sign-up and no email address needed. You can use it for your own business or your clients. It is provided as is, for planning only, and is not financial, tax or legal advice.
Does the template work in Google Sheets?
Yes. Upload the .xlsx file to Google Drive and open it with Google Sheets. The formulas, the low-cash warning and the date headers all work there, as they do in Numbers and LibreOffice.
How is a cash flow forecast different from a profit and loss forecast?
A profit and loss forecast shows revenue and costs when they are earned or incurred. A cash flow forecast shows when money actually arrives in and leaves the bank. A profitable company can still run out of cash if customers pay late, which is exactly what a cash forecast catches.
How often should I update a 13-week cash forecast?
Update it every week. Put in the actual figures for the week that ended, add a new week at the end so you always look 13 weeks ahead, and check where the forecast and the actual numbers differed. Weekly updates are what make the forecast trustworthy.