Free tool
Free 13-week cash flow forecast template
One sheet, 13 weekly columns, and the formulas already in place. Download the Excel template below, or enter your numbers first to see your 13 weeks, find the week your balance dips lowest, and download them pre-filled.
The template
13-week cash flow forecast template (XLSX)
Cash in and cash out blocks, weekly totals, a closing balance that carries into the next week, and a buffer check that flags any week under your cash floor. Opens in Excel, Google Sheets and Numbers. No macros, no email.
See your 13 weeks before you open the sheet
Enter round numbers. Payroll lands on your pay dates, monthly bills land in the week that holds the 1st, and a one-off payment lands in the week you choose. The table updates as you type.
The lowest balance you will accept. One payroll run plus rent is a common floor.
Mondays keep the weeks aligned with payroll and bank statements.
Cash in
What customers actually pay you in a typical week, not what you invoice.
Cash out
Net pay, payroll taxes and contractors for one run.
Not sure of your dates? The payroll calendar lists them.
Rent, software, insurance: everything that goes out once a month.
Marketing, travel, supplies and the rest.
Lowest balance
$56,000
Week 13, Jan 25
First week under floor
Week 13
Jan 25, closes at $56,000
Closing balance, week 13
$56,000
In $227,000, out $291,000
| Week | Beginning | Cash in | Cash out | Net | Closing |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nov 2 | $14,000 | $35,000payroll | -$21,000 | $99,000 |
| 2 | Nov 9 | $14,000 | $3,000 | +$11,000 | $110,000 |
| 3 | Nov 16 | $14,000 | $35,000payroll | -$21,000 | $89,000 |
| 4 | Nov 23 | $14,000 | $3,000 | +$11,000 | $100,000 |
| 5 | Nov 30 | $14,000 | $49,000payroll | -$35,000 | $65,000 |
| 6 | Dec 7 | $59,000 | $3,000 | +$56,000 | $121,000 |
| 7 | Dec 14 | $14,000 | $35,000payroll | -$21,000 | $100,000 |
| 8 | Dec 21 | $14,000 | $3,000 | +$11,000 | $111,000 |
| 9 | Dec 28 | $14,000 | $49,000payroll | -$35,000 | $76,000 |
| 10 | Jan 4 | $14,000 | $3,000 | +$11,000 | $87,000 |
| 11 | Jan 11 | $14,000 | $35,000payroll | -$21,000 | $66,000 |
| 12 | Jan 18 | $14,000 | $3,000 | +$11,000 | $77,000 |
| 13 | Jan 25 | $14,000 | $35,000payroll | -$21,000 | $56,000below floor |
The CSV has the same rows and week columns as the template, so you can paste it in and then replace the flat weekly figures with real invoice due dates and pay dates.
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What is in the template
The sheet has one column of labels, 13 columns of weeks, and the rows below. Input rows are plain numbers. Everything else is a formula.
The rows, top to bottom:
- Week beginning: the Monday each column covers.
- Opening balance: week 1 is your bank balance today; every later week is a formula that reads the previous week's closing balance.
- Cash in: customer collections, annual and quarterly contract payments, other inflows, and a total.
- Cash out: payroll and contractors, payroll taxes and benefits, rent and utilities, software and subscriptions, marketing, other outflows, and a total.
- Net cash flow: total cash in minus total cash out.
- Closing balance: opening balance plus net cash flow.
- Cash buffer floor and buffer check: enter the floor once, and each week shows OK or BELOW FLOOR.
The six formulas are SUM for the two totals, a subtraction for net cash flow, an addition for the closing balance, a cell reference that chains closing into the next opening, and an IF for the buffer check. Our guide to building a 13-week cash flow forecast in Excel writes each one out, cell by cell.
How to fill it in
- Put today's bank balance in week 1's opening balance and set your cash buffer floor.
- List collections by the week you expect the money, not the week you invoice. Due date plus a week is a fair start for most customers.
- Put payroll in the weeks that hold a pay date. The payroll calendar gives you every date, including three-paycheck months.
- Put rent, software and other monthly bills in the week that holds the 1st, and any annual renewal in the week it is due.
- Read the buffer check row. A BELOW FLOOR week three weeks out is a collections call this week. Our guides to the zero cash date and to whether you will make payroll cover what to do with that week.
- Every Monday, replace week 1 with actuals, roll the window forward a week, and fix anything that moved.
New to the model? Start with what a 13-week cash flow forecast is, then come back for the file. For a monthly view of how long your cash lasts, the free runway calculator gives you a zero-cash date in a minute.
When the Monday update costs more than it tells you
The template is the right tool until the weekly update means exporting from the bank, re-keying invoices, and remembering which payment moved. Zensus keeps the same 13 weeks current from your connected accounts: it reads bank transactions through Plaid, open invoices and bills from QuickBooks Online, and invoices and subscriptions from HubSpot, and sends a Slack alert when a sync shows your 30-day projection crossing the floor. Zensus Pro is $199 per month.
Frequently asked questions
- Is there a free 13-week cash flow forecast template for Excel?
- Yes. The XLSX file on this page is free, needs no email, and has the formulas in place: weekly totals for cash in and cash out, net cash flow, a closing balance that carries into the next week's opening balance, and a buffer check that flags any week closing below your cash floor. It has no macros, so it opens in Excel, Google Sheets, and Numbers.
- Does the 13-week cash flow template work in Google Sheets?
- Yes. Open Google Sheets, choose File, then Import, and upload the XLSX file. The formulas are plain SUM and IF functions, so nothing changes in the conversion. The CSV download on this page also pastes straight into Sheets or Excel.
- What does a 13-week cash flow forecast template include?
- One column of labels and 13 weekly columns. The rows are the week beginning date, the opening balance, a cash in block (customer collections, contract payments, other inflows), a cash out block (payroll and contractors, payroll taxes and benefits, rent, software, marketing, other outflows), total cash in, total cash out, net cash flow, closing balance, your cash buffer floor, and a buffer check for each week.
- Why 13 weeks?
- Thirteen weeks is one quarter. It is far enough ahead to act on a shortfall by chasing collections, moving a payment, or delaying a hire, and near enough that you can still name the actual invoices and pay dates in each week instead of guessing. Lenders, restructuring advisers and finance teams use the same horizon, which is why the 13-week cash flow forecast is the standard short-term model.
- How is this different from the runway calculator?
- The runway calculator works from monthly averages and projects the date your cash runs out over up to four years. The 13-week forecast on this page works week by week: payroll lands on pay dates, monthly bills land in the week that holds the first of the month, and a one-off payment lands in the week you name. A monthly average can show a healthy quarter while a single week inside it dips below your floor. This forecast shows that week.
- How often should I update a 13-week cash flow forecast?
- Every Monday. Replace week 1 with what actually cleared the bank, drop that week off the front, add a new week 13 at the back, and correct any invoice or payment that moved. With the template that takes about thirty minutes once the first version exists.
- What is a cash buffer floor?
- The lowest balance you are willing to see in the bank. A common floor is one payroll run plus rent, so that a late customer payment cannot turn into a missed payroll. Enter it once and the sheet flags every week that closes below it.
Stop rebuilding that spreadsheet every Monday.
Connect your data in a few minutes. If you would rather see it first, we will walk you through it on a call.
Zensus Pro is $199 a month after a 14-day free trial. See pricing