Cash Flow Forecast
Most cash forecasts get built once a quarter, presented to the board, and then quietly drift from reality by week three. This playbook maintains a rolling 13-week direct forecast that pulls from AR aging, the AP open file, payroll, and bank actuals every day, and reconciles last week's forecast against what actually cleared.
The problem
Treasury needs a number it can act on, not a number that needs caveats. The classic 13-week file in a workbook is fine the day it's built and stale the day after. Receipts get projected off invoice due dates that no one believes, disbursements get pulled from a payment run that already shipped, and the variance column at the end of the week is a guess.
How DataChi runs it
DataCHI builds the forecast from the source ledgers. Receipts are projected from open AR adjusted for customer payment behaviour, disbursements from the open AP file and the approval queue, payroll from the HRIS calendar, and debt service from the loan schedule. Each Monday the prior week's forecast is reconciled against bank actuals, with variance explained at the line level so the next forecast inherits the correction.
What's included
- Direct 13-week forecast built from AR, AP, payroll, and debt schedules
- Customer-level receipt timing learned from prior payment behaviour
- Disbursement projection from the open AP file and approval queue
- Weekly actuals reconciliation with line-level variance commentary
- Scenario layers for downside, base, and stretch with named assumptions
- Treasury and CFO digest with the prior-week variance explained
Who it's for
CFOs, treasurers, and controllers at companies where the working-capital line is actively managed and the board wants a forecast that ties to the bank.
Outcomes
- A forecast that ties to bank actuals at the end of each week
- Earlier visibility on covenant headroom and revolver draws
- Variance commentary that explains the movement by line, not by guess
Ready to run Cash Flow Forecast with DataChi?
See the playbook in action with your data, your stack, and your team.
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