Reading it
Open Reports › Cash Forecast. Week 1 runs from today to Sunday and opens with Cash today — what the bank and cash accounts hold as the books stand. Weeks 2 to 13 run Monday to Sunday. Each week closes at its opening, plus the money in, less the money out, and the next week opens there.
- Read the four figures at the top: Cash today, the Lowest point and the week it falls in, where cash stands After 13 weeks, and the money in and out over the thirteen weeks.
- The two charts show each week's money in and out, and the cash at each week's end. Table shows the same figures as a table.
- Under Week by week, press any figure to see what it is made of: each invoice, bill, cheque or line, its date, and why it is in that week. A document opens from its name.
- A week whose closing cash is below nil is marked in red.
- To keep or send it, press Download and choose PDF (on your letterhead, the weeks in two halves) or Excel (one sheet of weeks, and an Items sheet listing every item).
Where each figure comes from
| Row | What it counts, and when |
|---|---|
| Customer invoices | What is still owed on each approved invoice, after part payments, on its due date plus that customer's average days late over the last twelve months of paid invoices (none means the due date). Overdue invoices are in week 1. |
| Recurring invoices | Invoices a schedule has not raised yet, at its template's total, dated by the template's own terms. |
| Cheques received | Cheques in hand or deposited, on the cheque's date. A cheque takes its amount off the invoices it was earmarked for, then the customer's earliest, so nothing counts twice. |
| Other money in / out | Your own lines. |
| Supplier bills | What is still owed on each approved bill, on its due date. |
| Recurring bills | Bills a schedule has not raised yet, as for invoices. |
| Cheques issued | Cheques you have given, on their date, taken off the bills they pay. |
| Payroll | A pay run approved but not paid yet, on its date; then, after the last pay run, its net pay each month on the same day — or your own amount, or nothing. |
| VAT | A return not yet paid, on its due date. The running period, and any period that ended with no return, are estimated from the books so far. Refunds are left out. |
| Corporate tax | A return still to pay, on its due date. |
Unapplied credit notes and money paid on account come off the contact's earliest documents. Draft invoices, bills and pay runs are left out until they are approved; a journal schedule has no amounts and is not forecast. Anything expected after week 13 is listed under the notes.
Adding your own lines
- Under Lines added by hand, press Add a line.
- Choose Coming in or Going out, the Amount, and say What it is.
- Set On, and under Repeats choose Once, Every week or Every month; a repeating line may end on a date (Until).
- Press Add line. The pencil changes a line and the bin removes it.
A line dated before today is not counted. Lines are a plan beside the books: nothing posts.
Payroll
Under Payroll, choose how it is forecast: The last pay run's net pay, each month, An amount of my own, each month, or Leave payroll out, and press Save. Only people who may see payroll see this panel and the payroll row; for anyone else the forecast says payroll is left out, and its closing cash does not include it.