Free cash flow forecast template for Excel (12-month and 13-week)
A cash flow forecast (also called a cash budget or cash flow projection) shows how much cash the business will have at the end of each month or week, so you see a shortfall before it happens instead of in the bank app. This free Excel template has a 12-month forecast for planning the year and a 13-week forecast for the next quarter in detail. Type the opening cash, the money you expect in and out, and a minimum cash buffer; closing cash, the lowest point and a flag on every period below the buffer calculate. Below: what's in the file, how the layout works, a worked example with a cash dip it catches three months ahead, how to build the numbers from your bank statements, and how to keep it accurate.
Short answer: download the cash flow forecast template (.xlsx). Enter the first month and your opening cash, then customer payments in the month you expect them to arrive and every payment in the month it will leave the bank, as positive numbers. Net cash flow, closing cash (which becomes the next month's opening cash), the lowest closing cash and a Below flag for any month under your buffer calculate, with formulas. The Example is a fictional design studio starting October 2026 with 38,740.52: a January tax payment and insurance renewal followed by a February equipment purchase take cash to 20,690.52, below its 25,000.00 buffer for three months, which the forecast shows in October.
Download the free cash flow forecast template (.xlsx)
Five sheets: a blank 12-month forecast, a blank 13-week forecast, a filled-in Example 12-month and Example 13-week, and How to use. Month and week headings fill in from the start date. It uses only SUM, ROUND, IF, AND, N, MIN, INDEX, MATCH, COUNTIF, DATE, YEAR, MONTH and TEXT, so it works in Excel, Google Sheets (File, Import), LibreOffice and Numbers. No sign-up, no email, no macros. It prints landscape on one page width.
1. What's in the template
- Inputs at the top: business name, first month (or first day of week 1), opening cash (every bank, savings and petty cash account on that day) and a minimum cash buffer.
- Cash in: customer payments (sales collected), other income such as interest and refunds, loans received, owner's money in, sale of assets, and a spare line.
- Cash out: contractors and suppliers, wages (net pay), payroll taxes and benefits, rent, software and subscriptions, insurance, utilities and phone, marketing, other operating costs, sales tax paid, estimated income tax payments, loan payments, equipment and other purchases, owner's draws, and two spare lines.
- Results: total cash in and out, net cash flow, closing cash, a Below flag when closing cash is under the buffer, and a Total column for the whole forecast.
- Actual closing cash (optional) and Actual − forecast, to compare the forecast with the bank as each period ends.
- Checks and key figures (top right): lowest closing cash, the month or week it happens, how many periods are below the buffer, closing cash at the end, total net cash flow, and a status line such as Below the buffer in 3 month(s): lowest 20,690.52 in Feb 2027 or Cash stays above the buffer every week.
Yellow cells are inputs. Rename any line to fit the business. Everything else is a formula.
2. How the forecast works, row by row
| Row | What it does | What to watch |
|---|---|---|
| Opening cash | Month 1 is the opening cash you type; every later month is the previous month's closing cash. | Use every cash account, not just checking, and the actual balance on the first day. |
| Cash in | Money you expect to arrive in that period. | Enter customer payments when they'll be paid, not when you invoice. A 30-day invoice sent in March is April cash. |
| Cash out | Money that will leave the bank in that period, as positive numbers. | Include the lumpy ones: quarterly sales tax, estimated tax, annual renewals, equipment, draws. Loan payments go in whole (principal and interest). |
| Net cash flow | Cash in minus cash out. | Negative months are normal; the closing cash is what matters. |
| Closing cash | Opening cash plus net cash flow. | Negative closing cash means the bank account would be overdrawn. The status line says Cash runs out. |
| Below the minimum cash buffer? | Shows Below when closing cash is under the buffer. | Leave the buffer at 0 to flag only negative cash. One month of costs is a common starting buffer. |
This is the direct (receipts and payments) layout: it lists cash as it moves, which is what you want for a forecast. Non-cash items like depreciation don't appear, and neither do invoices until they're paid.
3. Worked example: 12 months for a design studio
The Example 12-month sheet is the same fictional design studio as our cash flow statement template, picking up where it ended: cash of 38,740.52 at September 30, 2026 (checking, savings and petty cash), forecasting October 2026 to September 2027 with a buffer of 25,000.00, about one month of costs.
| Month | Cash in | Cash out | Net cash flow | Closing cash | Flag |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 2026 | 31,220.00 | 27,830.00 | 3,390.00 | 42,130.52 | |
| Nov 2026 | 28,420.00 | 26,060.00 | 2,360.00 | 44,490.52 | |
| Dec 2026 | 24,620.00 | 29,360.00 | -4,740.00 | 39,750.52 | |
| Jan 2027 | 21,820.00 | 35,540.00 | -13,720.00 | 26,030.52 | |
| Feb 2027 | 26,920.00 | 32,260.00 | -5,340.00 | 20,690.52 | Below |
| Mar 2027 | 30,520.00 | 27,610.00 | 2,910.00 | 23,600.52 | Below |
| Apr 2027 | 31,820.00 | 32,550.00 | -730.00 | 22,870.52 | Below |
| May 2027 | 32,420.00 | 27,060.00 | 5,360.00 | 28,230.52 | |
| Jun 2027 | 30,120.00 | 30,960.00 | -840.00 | 27,390.52 | |
| Jul 2027 | 27,320.00 | 27,100.00 | 220.00 | 27,610.52 | |
| Aug 2027 | 28,920.00 | 26,160.00 | 2,760.00 | 30,370.52 | |
| Sep 2027 | 31,620.00 | 31,260.00 | 360.00 | 30,730.52 | |
| Total | 345,740.00 | 353,750.00 | -8,010.00 | 30,730.52 |
The status line reads Below the buffer in 3 month(s): lowest 20,690.52 in Feb 2027. What drives it:
- December: customer payments slow to 24,600.00 over the holidays and the owner takes a year-end draw of 8,000.00 instead of 4,000.00, so cash falls 4,740.00.
- January is the big month out: 35,540.00. A 4,500.00 estimated tax payment (US estimated tax is due around January 15, April 15, June 15 and September 15), the 4,800.00 annual insurance renewal, 1,050.00 of quarterly sales tax and higher payroll taxes land in the slowest month for collections (21,820.00 in), so cash drops 13,720.00 to 26,030.52.
- February: a planned 6,500.00 equipment purchase takes cash to 20,690.52. March and April stay below the buffer because April has another tax payment and sales tax.
- The fix is visible in October: moving the equipment purchase from February to May keeps every month above the buffer (lowest 26,030.52 in January) and ends September at the same 30,730.52. Other levers: chase receivables before January (an invoice tracker, sales tracker or aging report shows which sales are still open), spread the year-end draw, or line up a credit line before it's needed.
The year as a whole is -8,010.00: the studio plans to pay out more than it takes in, mostly in draws and tax. That's fine with 38,740.52 to start, but it's worth knowing before the year begins.
4. The 13-week cash flow forecast
A 13-week forecast is the same layout one quarter ahead, week by week. It's the version to use when cash is tight, when payroll and big bills have to be timed against customer payments, or when a lender or adviser asks for one. A monthly forecast can look fine while a single week goes negative.
The Example 13-week sheet is October 1 to December 30, 2026 for the same studio, with weeks starting on Thursdays from October 1. Each line's 13-week total equals its October to December total in the 12-month example (cash in 84,260.00, cash out 83,250.00, net 1,010.00), and week 13 closes at 39,750.52, the December closing cash. The weekly view shows what the monthly one hides:
- The week starting October 29 has no customer payments at all and 10,285.00 going out (payroll on the 31st, then rent, the loan payment and a draw on November 1), a net of -10,285.00 in one week.
- The lowest point is 35,185.52 in the week starting December 10, when the mid-month payroll, draw and contractor payments go out together. The status line reads Cash stays above the buffer every week (lowest 35,185.52 in the week of Dec 10).
Use the 13-week sheet for the next quarter and the 12-month sheet for everything after it. Each week, replace the oldest week with actuals and add a new week at the end.
5. How to build a cash flow forecast from your bank statements
- Start from what actually happened. Take the last three to six months of bank and card statements and total the money in and out by category. Our cash book template does this: one row per transaction, a category, and monthly totals by category.
- Set the opening cash to the actual balance of every bank, savings and petty cash account on the first day of the forecast. A bank reconciliation makes sure that number is right.
- Forecast customer payments by when they're paid. Start from your typical monthly collections, then adjust for seasonality, known large invoices and how late customers usually pay.
- Enter fixed payments (rent, wages, software, loan payments) in every month, then the irregular ones in the month they're due: sales tax, estimated tax, insurance, annual subscriptions, equipment and draws. Last year's statements show when these hit.
- Set a buffer and read the checks box. If a month is flagged, change something now: timing of a purchase, collections, draws or financing.
- Update it every month (or week): type the actual closing cash, compare, fix the remaining months and add a new one at the end.
6. Keeping it accurate: forecast vs actual
A forecast is only useful if it's close. Fill in the Actual closing cash row from the bank at the end of each period; the Actual − forecast row shows the gap. If it's consistently positive, you're forecasting cautiously; if it's negative, find the line that's off:
| Actual cash lower than forecast because | Fix in the forecast |
|---|---|
| Customers paid later than expected | Push customer payments one month later, or forecast from actual collections instead of invoices. |
| A payment you forgot (renewal, tax, card annual fee) | Add it in the right month for the rest of the year; check last year's statements for others. |
| Card spending wasn't included | Enter the card payment to the card company as cash out in the month you pay it, not each purchase. |
| Transfers counted as income or spending | Moving money between your own accounts isn't cash in or out when opening cash includes every account; leave it out. |
| Opening cash was wrong | Use the reconciled bank balance on the first day, across every cash account. |
7. Cash flow forecast vs cash flow statement vs budget
| Cash flow forecast (this template) | Cash flow statement | Budget (P&L budget) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Looks | Forward | Back, at a period that has ended | Forward |
| Measures | Cash in and out when it moves | Why cash changed, by operating, investing and financing activity | Income and expenses when earned and incurred |
| Built from | Bank history plus known plans | The P&L and two balance sheets | Last year's P&L plus plans |
| Answers | Will we run short, and when? | We made a profit, so where's the money? | Will we be profitable? |
| Template | This one | Cash flow statement template | Business budget template (budget vs actual) |
A business can be profitable and still run out of cash (customers pay slowly, loan principal and draws don't show in profit), which is why a forecast in cash terms is worth the extra sheet.
Starting from bank statement PDFs?
Utilly's converter reads a bank statement PDF, downloaded or scanned, into Excel, CSV, QuickBooks or Xero files and checks the rows against the statement's beginning and ending balance, so the history your forecast starts from is complete. The preview is free with no sign-up. Try it on the sample bank statement first: every download of the sample is free because the data is fictional.
Method: the layout is a direct (receipts and payments) cash forecast with opening cash, cash in, cash out, net cash flow, closing cash carried forward, a minimum cash buffer and forecast vs actual rows. The example business and amounts are fictional; the opening cash is our cash flow statement and balance sheet template examples' cash at September 30, 2026. US estimated tax due dates per the IRS (Form 1040-ES). Template built and checked November 2, 2026: the Example 12-month sheet recalculates in LibreOffice to a lowest closing cash of 20,690.52 in February 2027, three months below the buffer and 30,730.52 at September 2027; the Example 13-week sheet to a lowest of 35,185.52 in the week of December 10 and 39,750.52 at the end, equal to the December closing cash.
FAQ
What is a cash flow forecast?
A month-by-month (or week-by-week) estimate of the cash you expect to come in and go out, and the cash you'll have at the end of each period. It's also called a cash budget or cash flow projection. Its job is to show a shortfall early enough to do something about it.
Is the cash flow forecast template free?
Yes. Download the .xlsx with no sign-up or email address. It has a blank 12-month forecast, a blank 13-week forecast, a filled-in example of each and instructions, and it works in Excel, Google Sheets (File, Import), LibreOffice and Numbers.
How do I make a monthly cash flow forecast in Excel?
Start with the opening cash in every bank account, list the cash you expect in (mainly customer payments, in the month they'll be paid) and out (every bill, payroll, tax payment, loan payment and draw, in the month it leaves the bank), then closing cash = opening cash + cash in − cash out, carried forward as next month's opening cash. The template does the arithmetic and flags months below your buffer.
What is a 13-week cash flow forecast?
The same forecast for the next quarter, week by week. It's used when cash is tight, to time payroll and bills against customer payments, and lenders and advisers often ask for one. A month can look fine while one week in it goes negative.
What's the difference between a cash flow forecast and a cash flow statement?
A forecast looks forward and lists expected receipts and payments; a cash flow statement looks back at a period that has ended and explains the change in cash by operating, investing and financing activities, from the P&L and balance sheets. Utilly has a free template for each.
How much cash buffer should a small business keep?
There's no single rule; a common starting point is one month of costs, more if income is seasonal or a few customers pay most of it. Put your number in the template's minimum cash buffer cell and every month or week that closes below it is flagged.
Related guides
- Free sales tracker template for Excel (deposits, channels and goal)
- Free business budget template for Excel (12 months, budget vs actual)
- Free invoice tracker template for Excel (paid, open and overdue)
- Free aging report template for Excel (accounts receivable and payable)
- Free cash flow statement template for Excel (indirect method, with formulas)
- Free cash book template for Excel (with categories and a balance check)
Related tools
- Bank reconciliation checker: compare a bank statement to your books and list missing, duplicate and mismatched transactions.
- Receipt to CSV: turn PDF or photo receipts and invoices into CSV, Excel, or QuickBooks and Xero bill imports.
