name: Cash Flow Forecaster
slug: cash-flow-forecaster
description: Forecast cash inflows, outflows, and liquidity needs with scenario modeling and working capital optimization
category: finance
complexity: complex
version: "1.0.0"
author: "ID8Labs"
triggers:
- "cash flow forecast"
- "cash projection"
- "liquidity planning"
- "working capital"
- "cash runway"
- "13-week cash flow"
tags:
- cash-flow
- liquidity
- treasury
- working-capital
- forecasting

Cash Flow Forecaster

Expert cash flow modeling agent that builds detailed cash projections, stress tests liquidity, optimizes working capital, and manages cash position. Specializes in 13-week forecasts, rolling liquidity models, and scenario-based cash planning.

This skill applies rigorous treasury management principles to predict cash needs, prevent shortfalls, and optimize cash utilization. Perfect for startup runway planning, treasury operations, working capital management, and financial crisis planning.

Core Workflows

Workflow 1: 13-Week Cash Flow Forecast

Objective: Create detailed weekly cash forecast for near-term liquidity management

Steps:
1. Opening Cash Position
- Bank balances by account
- Cash in transit
- Restricted cash
- Available credit lines
- Total available liquidity

1. Cash Inflows by Week

2. Accounts Receivable Collections:

   • Aged AR schedule
   • Customer payment patterns (DSO)
   • Expected collections by week
   • Bad debt assumptions

3. Other Inflows:

   • Recurring revenue (subscriptions, contracts)
   • Expected new sales
   • Investment income
   • Asset sales
   • Other receipts

4. Cash Outflows by Week

5. Payroll (typically bi-weekly):

   • Gross wages
   • Payroll taxes (same day or next day)
   • Benefits withholdings
   • 401k contributions

6. Accounts Payable:

   • Vendor payment schedule
   • Rent and lease payments
   • Utility payments
   • Contract payments

7. Operating Expenses:

   • Software subscriptions (monthly)
   • Insurance premiums
   • Professional services
   • Marketing spend

8. Debt Service:

   • Loan principal payments
   • Interest payments
   • Line of credit draws/payments

9. Capital Expenditures:

   • Equipment purchases
   • Facility improvements

10. Weekly Cash Flow Calculation

11. Beginning cash + Inflows - Outflows = Ending cash
12. Calculate for each of 13 weeks
13. Identify weekly cash surplus/deficit

14. Flag weeks with potential shortfalls

15. Minimum Cash Requirements

16. Operating buffer (2-4 weeks of expenses)
17. Debt covenant requirements
18. Seasonal requirements

19. Strategic reserves

20. Variance Analysis

21. Compare to prior forecast
22. Actual vs forecast for completed weeks
23. Identify forecast accuracy issues
24. Refine collection/payment assumptions

Deliverable: 13-week rolling cash forecast with daily/weekly precision

Workflow 2: Monthly/Annual Cash Flow Projection

Objective: Long-term cash flow modeling for planning purposes

Steps:
1. P&L to Cash Flow Bridge
- Start with projected net income
- Add back non-cash items:
- Depreciation and amortization
- Stock-based compensation
- Deferred revenue changes
- Bad debt expense

1. Working Capital Changes

2. Accounts Receivable:

   • DSO assumption (Days Sales Outstanding)
   • AR = (Revenue / 365) x DSO
   • Change in AR = Cash impact

3. Inventory:

   • DIO assumption (Days Inventory Outstanding)
   • Inventory = (COGS / 365) x DIO
   • Change in Inventory = Cash impact

4. Accounts Payable:

   • DPO assumption (Days Payable Outstanding)
   • AP = (Expenses / 365) x DPO
   • Change in AP = Cash impact

5. Other Working Capital:

   • Prepaid expenses
   • Accrued liabilities
   • Deferred revenue

6. Cash from Operating Activities

7. Net Income
8. • Non-cash adjustments
9. • Working capital changes

10. = Operating Cash Flow

11. Cash from Investing Activities

12. Capital expenditures (CapEx)
13. Acquisitions
14. Asset sales

15. Investment purchases/sales

16. Cash from Financing Activities

17. Debt proceeds/repayments
18. Equity raises
19. Dividend payments

20. Stock buybacks

21. Monthly Cash Position

22. Beginning cash
23. • Operating cash flow
24. • Investing cash flow
25. • Financing cash flow

26. = Ending cash

27. Scenario Modeling

28. Base case projection
29. Stress case (revenue -20%, slower collections)
30. Best case (accelerated collections, growth)

Deliverable: Monthly cash flow projection with scenarios

Workflow 3: Working Capital Optimization

Objective: Improve cash flow by optimizing working capital components

Steps:
1. Current State Analysis
- Calculate Cash Conversion Cycle:
- CCC = DSO + DIO - DPO
- Industry benchmarks
- Historical trends

1. Accounts Receivable Optimization

2. Current DSO Analysis:

   • DSO by customer segment
   • Aging bucket analysis
   • Collection effectiveness

3. Improvement Opportunities:

   • Invoice timing (bill sooner)
   • Payment terms (shorten from Net 60 to Net 30)
   • Early payment discounts (2/10 Net 30)
   • Automated payment reminders
   • Credit policy tightening
   • Electronic payment options

4. Target DSO and Cash Impact:

   • Current DSO: X days
   • Target DSO: Y days
   • Cash freed = (Revenue / 365) x (X - Y)

5. Accounts Payable Optimization

6. Current DPO Analysis:

   • DPO by vendor category
   • Payment term utilization

7. Optimization Opportunities:

   • Negotiate extended terms
   • Optimize payment timing
   • Take early pay discounts when NPV positive
   • Centralize AP for better control

8. Target DPO and Cash Impact:

   • Current DPO: X days
   • Target DPO: Y days
   • Cash freed = (Expenses / 365) x (Y - X)

9. Inventory Optimization (if applicable)

10. Current DIO analysis
11. Excess and obsolete inventory
12. Safety stock optimization
13. Supplier lead time reduction

14. Cash impact of inventory reduction

15. Working Capital Improvement Plan

16. Prioritized initiatives
17. Expected cash impact
18. Implementation timeline
19. Responsible owners
20. Tracking metrics

Deliverable: Working capital improvement plan with cash flow impact

Workflow 4: Liquidity Stress Testing

Objective: Model cash position under adverse scenarios

Steps:
1. Define Stress Scenarios
- Revenue Shock:
- Revenue decline 20%, 40%, 60%
- Customer concentration loss
- Market downturn

• Collection Stress:

  • DSO increase 30-60 days
  • Customer bankruptcies
  • Increased bad debt

• Cost Increases:

  • Key supplier price increases
  • Wage inflation
  • Unexpected expenses

• Credit Facility Loss:

  • Line of credit revoked
  • Covenant violations
  • Credit downgrade

• Model Each Scenario

• Apply stress assumptions to base forecast
• Calculate impact on cash flows
• Determine time to cash exhaustion

• Identify cash floor breaches

• Identify Trigger Points

• Weeks of cash remaining
• Minimum cash threshold breaches
• Covenant violation points

• Point of no return

• Develop Contingency Plans

• Tier 1 (Cash tight):

  • Defer discretionary spending
  • Accelerate collections
  • Negotiate payment extensions

• Tier 2 (Cash crisis):

  • Hiring freeze
  • Marketing cuts
  • Vendor renegotiations
  • Draw credit facilities

• Tier 3 (Survival mode):

  • Layoffs
  • Asset sales
  • Emergency fundraising
  • Strategic alternatives

• Quantify Contingency Impact

• Cash preserved by each action
• Implementation speed
• Business impact
• Recovery implications

Deliverable: Stress test results with contingency action plans

Workflow 5: Startup Runway Modeling

Objective: Model cash runway and funding needs for startups

Steps:
1. Current Burn Analysis
- Monthly gross burn (total expenses)
- Monthly net burn (gross burn - revenue)
- Burn trend (increasing/decreasing)
- Cash on hand

1. Runway Calculation
2. Simple runway = Cash / Net Burn
3. Account for burn rate changes
4. Factor in revenue growth

5. Calculate zero-cash date

6. Path to Profitability Analysis

7. Monthly revenue required for breakeven
8. Unit economics at scale
9. Timeline to profitability

10. Cash required to reach profitability

11. Funding Scenarios

12. No additional funding (how long?)
13. Bridge round (12-18 months runway)
14. Full round (24+ months runway)

15. Strategic investment

16. Milestone-Based Planning

17. Key milestones for next round
18. Cost to achieve each milestone
19. Timeline requirements

20. Risk-adjusted funding needs

21. Sensitivity Analysis

22. Revenue growth scenarios
23. Burn rate scenarios
24. Combined scenarios
25. Probability-weighted runway

Deliverable: Runway model with funding recommendations

Quick Reference

Cash Flow Formulas

Key Metrics

Cash Flow Calculations

Operating Cash Flow =
  Net Income
  + Depreciation & Amortization
  + Stock-Based Compensation
  - Increase in Accounts Receivable
  - Increase in Inventory
  + Increase in Accounts Payable
  + Other Non-Cash Adjustments

Free Cash Flow =
  Operating Cash Flow
  - Capital Expenditures

Net Burn Rate =
  Total Expenses - Total Revenue

Runway (months) =
  Cash on Hand / Net Burn Rate

13-Week Cash Flow Template

| Week Ending | W1 | W2 | W3 | W4 | W5 | W6 | W7 | W8 | W9 | W10 | W11 | W12 | W13 |
|-------------|----|----|----|----|----|----|----|----|----|----|-----|-----|-----|
| **Beginning Cash** |
| |
| **Cash Inflows** |
| AR Collections | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| New Sales | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Other Income | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| **Total Inflows** | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| |
| **Cash Outflows** |
| Payroll | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Vendor Payments | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Rent | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Utilities | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Debt Service | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Other | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| **Total Outflows** | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| |
| **Net Cash Flow** | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| **Ending Cash** | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| |
| **Minimum Required** |
| **Surplus/(Deficit)** |

Best Practices

Forecasting

• Update weekly (13-week) and monthly (annual)
• Track actual vs forecast to improve accuracy
• Bias toward conservative assumptions
• Document key assumptions
• Maintain version history

Collections

• Age receivables weekly
• Follow up on overdue immediately
• Offer multiple payment methods
• Consider factoring for cash crunch

Payments

• Maximize DPO within terms
• Take early pay discounts when > borrowing cost
• Centralize payment processing
• Negotiate extended terms with key vendors

Monitoring

• Daily cash position tracking
• Weekly forecast updates
• Monthly variance analysis
• Quarterly stress testing

Integration with Other Skills

• Use with budget-planner: Convert budget to cash flow
• Use with revenue-modeler: Model revenue collection timing
• Use with accounts-reconciler: Validate bank balances
• Use with billing-manager: Improve collection timing
• Use with financial-reporter: Create cash flow reports

Common Pitfalls to Avoid

• Confusing profit with cash: Profitable companies can run out of cash
• Ignoring timing: When cash flows matters as much as amount
• Optimistic collections: Assume slower collections than promised
• Forgetting lumpy payments: Quarterly taxes, annual renewals
• Static assumptions: Update DSO/DPO based on actual performance
• No buffer: Always maintain operating cash cushion
• Ignoring seasonality: Model peak and trough periods
• Incomplete coverage: Capture all cash movements