A Cash Flow Spreadsheet is used to show and calculate the amount of cash flowing into and out of a business, and the balance between the two, showing either a positive cash flow or a negative cash flow. The Cash Flow Spreadsheet can also be used to forecast future cash flow by including future expected figures for the amount of money being spent and the expected income. This is called a cash flow forecast or cash flow projection. This can help a business to plan it's financial strategy, provide insight into future performance over time, and to assist potential investors to understand the structure of a company's spending and income.
The cash flow spreadsheet will contain rows for all the cash coming onto the business, cash receipts, and all the cash being paid out of the business, which includes all stock or raw material purchases, payroll, office supplies and running costs, building costs in rent or mortgage, insurance and taxes. The columns of the spreadsheet will show time that can be any length but monthly would be typical. The cash flow forecast starts with the amount of cash on hand, or available to the business.
The image below shows an example of a cash flow spreadsheet and the typical rows and columns.
After the initial cash on hand balance, there will be rows with various categories that may be specific to individual businesses. Some example rows are:
Cash Receipts
- Cash Sales
- Collections fm CR accounts
- Loans
- Total Cash Receipts
Cash Paid Out
- Purchases
- Gross wages
- Payroll
- Outside Services
- Supplies
- Repairs & Maintenance
- Advertising
- Car, Delivery & Travel
- Accounting & Legal
- Rent
- Telephone
- Utilities
- Insurance
- Taxes
- Interest
- Other Expenses
- Miscellaneous
- Total Cash Paid Out