Thirteen Week Cash Check
By Spencer Garcia · Published · Updated
Lay out the next thirteen weeks of money in and money out and find the week that hurts.
Tags: Small Business, Finance, Planning
Prompt template
## Thirteen week cash check I do not have a finance person. I have a bank balance and a rough idea of what is coming. Help me see the next thirteen weeks. Cash in the bank today: [text: amount] Typical weekly sales: [text: amount, or a range for good and bad weeks] Seasonality in the next three months: [dropdown: flat, picking up, slowing down, one big spike coming] Rent and fixed bills, with the day of the month they go out: [textarea: list them] Wages, with pay day: [textarea: staff cost per pay run and when it lands] Supplier bills owed and due dates: [textarea: what I owe and when] Money owed to me and when I actually expect it: [textarea: invoices out, realistic dates] One off costs I know about: [textarea: tax bill, equipment, deposit, anything lumpy] Overdraft or credit available: [text: limit, or none] Build it like this: 1. A week by week table: opening balance, money in, money out, closing balance. 2. Mark the lowest week. If the balance goes under zero, say in which week and by how much. 3. List the three levers that would move that number the most, in order of how easy they are for a business like mine to actually pull. Chasing an invoice a week earlier and delaying an equipment purchase count. "Increase sales" does not. 4. Tell me what I should re-check with real numbers, because I will have guessed at some of these. Assumptions in plain words at the top, not buried in the notes.