Cash Flow Forecasting
Building a cash flow forecast manually means pulling AR aging, AP obligations, payroll commitments and any known one-time items into a spreadsheet, and this snapshot is stale the moment it's built since real invoices get paid early or late relative to what was assumed. Most businesses rebuild the forecast from scratch every week or month rather than maintaining it continuously, which means decisions about a hiring plan or a large purchase often get made against a forecast that's already a week or two out of date by the time it's actually reviewed in a meeting.
STARTING PRICE
From €799
Complex tier · Multi-system orchestration, custom logic, and higher-volume or higher-risk processing.
Get a quote →Saves roughly 4-6 hrs/week plus materially better-informed cash decisions from a forecast that's actually current.
How the automation works
We build a rolling cash flow forecast that updates continuously from live AR and AP data rather than being rebuilt periodically from a stale snapshot — pulling actual invoice due dates and typical customer payment behavior for receivables, confirmed AP obligations and payment run schedules for payables, and known recurring commitments like payroll. Rather than assuming every invoice pays exactly on its due date, the forecast uses each customer's actual historical payment pattern to project realistic timing, producing a forecast that reflects how your cash actually tends to move, not just what the contractual terms say should happen.
Process flow
- 01
Pull live AR, AP and payroll data integration
Current open receivables, payables and confirmed payroll commitments are pulled directly from source systems, always reflecting current data rather than a periodic export.
- 02
Apply realistic payment timing ai
Receivables are projected using each customer's actual historical payment timing pattern, not simply the invoice due date, and payables reflect your actual payment run schedule.
- 03
Incorporate known one-time items ai
Known upcoming one-time cash events — a large capital purchase, a loan payment, a planned hire — are incorporated into the projection alongside recurring flows.
- 04
Build the rolling projection ai
A rolling forecast (commonly 13 weeks) is generated showing projected cash position, updating continuously as new AR, AP and payment data comes in rather than staying static between manual rebuilds.
- 05
Alert on projected shortfalls output
If the projection shows cash dipping below a defined threshold at any point in the forecast window, an alert goes out with enough lead time to actually respond.
Inputs
- Live AR aging and customer payment history
- Live AP obligations and payment schedule
- Payroll and recurring commitment data
- Known upcoming one-time cash events
Outputs
- Continuously updated rolling cash forecast
- Projected cash position by week
- Shortfall risk alerts with lead time
- Forecast accuracy tracking vs. actuals
Works with
Prefer a fully custom build instead of an off-the-shelf integration? We scope both options during your free consultation — most jobs like this one work fine on standard connectors, but higher-volume or non-standard systems sometimes need bespoke API work, reflected in the complex tier.
Where this goes wrong if you get it wrong
- Assuming every invoice pays exactly on its due date produces a forecast that's systematically wrong for any business with customers who reliably pay a bit late — using each customer's actual historical payment pattern instead of the contractual due date is what makes the difference between a forecast that's directionally useful and one that's just optimistic fiction.
- A forecast that isn't checked against what actually happened loses credibility over time and stops being trusted for decisions — tracking forecast accuracy against actuals each period, and adjusting the underlying payment-pattern assumptions when they drift, is what keeps the forecast genuinely useful rather than a one-time exercise that degrades in accuracy.
- Seasonal businesses need the forecast to reflect known seasonal patterns in both receivables and payables, not a flat extrapolation of recent weeks — a naive rolling average will miss a predictable seasonal dip or surge that the business already knows is coming based on prior years.
- A large one-time cash event that isn't yet reflected in any system (a planned but unsigned capital purchase, a hire that hasn't started yet) needs a manual input mechanism, since the forecast can only be as good as what it knows about — the process needs an easy way to layer in known future commitments that don't exist in AR/AP data yet.
Frequently asked questions
How is this different from a standard cash flow forecast template?
The key difference is that it updates continuously from live data and uses actual customer payment behavior rather than contractual due dates, so it reflects how cash really moves in your business instead of an idealized version based on payment terms alone.
How far out does the forecast project?
A rolling 13-week forecast is common and gives enough lead time for most operational cash decisions, though the window can be configured shorter or longer depending on what your business needs to plan around.
Does this account for seasonal patterns in our business?
Yes, known seasonal patterns in receivables and payables from prior periods are incorporated rather than assuming recent weeks are representative of the whole forecast window.
How do we add a known future item that isn't in our AR or AP data yet, like a planned hire?
There's a manual input mechanism for layering in known future commitments that don't yet exist as a system transaction, so the forecast can reflect decisions you know are coming, not just what's already been recorded.