This page gives a 13-week cash flow forecast layout to complete by hand, and a loan payment calculator that returns the monthly payment, total interest and total repaid for an amount, rate and term you enter. Truepine Business Funding, a small-business funding broker in Carson City, Nevada, provides it as illustrative arithmetic only, not an offer or an estimate of terms.
The worksheet layout
| Row | What goes in it |
|---|---|
| Opening cash | Week 1: today's bank balance. Later weeks: the previous week's ending cash |
| Customer receipts | Payments you expect to land that week, by date received |
| Other receipts | Card settlements, deposits, refunds, any financing received |
| Payroll | Net pay plus payroll taxes, in the weeks they are paid |
| Suppliers and materials | Invoices you will pay that week |
| Rent, insurance, utilities | Fixed costs, in the week they leave the account |
| Loan, lease and advance payments | Existing obligations, plus any proposed new payment |
| Taxes and licenses | Scheduled tax payments and renewals |
| Owner draws | What the owners take out |
| Net cash flow | Total receipts minus total payments |
| Ending cash | Opening cash plus net cash flow |
Build it in a spreadsheet with thirteen weekly columns, or on paper. The calculator does not fill these rows; it produces only a loan payment figure for the payments row.
How to fill it in
- Enter today's bank balance as week 1 opening cash.
- Enter receipts on the week the money arrives, using your own history of how long customers take to pay.
- Enter every payment on the week it leaves the account.
- Carry each week's ending cash forward as the next week's opening cash.
- Mark the lowest ending cash and the week it occurs.
Reading the result
If ending cash stays above the minimum you are comfortable holding, no financing is needed for that quarter. If it dips below, the lowest point is the size of the gap and the dates tell you how long it lasts. A short dip followed by recovery suggests working capital; dips that repeat every few weeks suggest a line of credit.
Using the calculator for the payment line
To test a hypothetical loan, enter the amount, an annual rate and a term in months. The calculator returns the monthly payment, the total interest and the total repaid. It works in months only. To place the payment in a weekly worksheet, enter it in the week each monthly payment would be due, or, for a rough weekly figure, multiply the monthly payment by 12 and divide by 52 by hand. Real offers may use daily or weekly schedules and fees that this calculator does not model.
A hypothetical check
Invented figures, not typical of any offer: a worksheet shows ending cash falling to $9,000 below zero in week five and recovering by week nine. Testing a $10,000 loan in the calculator gives a monthly payment; entering that payment in weeks five and nine shows whether the recovery weeks can carry it. If they cannot, the term or the structure needs to change before any request is made.
What the worksheet cannot tell you
It cannot tell you what a partner will offer, at what rate or on what schedule; partners set those. It is only as good as the receipts you enter. The projection guide explains how to document assumptions, and the resources section lists other guides.
By Truepine Business Funding · Updated