A realistic cash flow forecast is vital for all businesses, but it is generally very time-consuming work. CaFE can create a realistic cash flow forecast in very simple steps with few inputs, and it can be monitored in real-time without any extra inputs!
If you already have your budget in CaFE, you will promptly see the realistic cash flow forest. Just click here for the instruction.
If you have no budget yet, please follow the instructions below.
[Setting up cash flow timings in your budget]
There are three types of budgets available in CaFE.
Please see here for more details if you are not sure which budget type fits your business.
Once you create a budget, you set up cash flow timing of each budget item for cash flow plan as well as cash projections.
Quick Cash Flow Plan
In the edit mode, click one of your budget items, then the Settings screen will appear.
You can specify the payment day of each month, which will be used to set a value date of planned cash flows based on the budget.
If you want to set a different date on any particular cash flow, you can change it in the Cash Short Predictor page later. (Please refer here)
Basic Budget
In the edit mode, select the Sales Plan tab, then click one of your budget items (or Due).
You can specify the payment due and day of each month. The cash flow plan will be calculated based on the sales plan and its payment due settings.
Alternatively, you can also schedule payments to allocate budget amounts separately.
Please see here for more details.
Full Budget
The due date of cash flows for each item can be set in the Business Rule screen, which appears when clicking Change business rule in the edit option menu in the Cash Flow tab.
The setting contents will vary based on the type of cash flow item. Please refer the following related articles.
- General
- Wages
Please click the "Recalculate" button to reflect the change, and then authorise it once your budget is ready to monitor.
[Monitoring your budget]
1. Select your budget to be monitored
In the Budget List, select any budget, which you want to monitor in the Cash Projections and Cash Short Predictor. Please note that Full budget has to be authorised to monitor.
Multiple Full budgets can be monitored as the same time, as long as there is no overlapping period among them.
Alternatively, you can go to the individual budget page and click the Start Monitoring button.
2. Monitor the budget(s) on the Cash Short Predictor
Go to Cash Management -> Cash Short Predictor, then click "Recalculate Projection" button. Then planned cash flows will be reflected in the report.
Cash flows with "In Budget" status are generated from your monitored budget, which you can access directly through the budget link at the top of the grid.
These planned cash flows are automatically adjusted as actual transactions occur during the month. The amounts shown in the grid include VAT. By clicking on a cash flow amount, you can see the detailed breakdown:
- Planned Amount: The original budgeted amount (showing Gross amount and VAT separately)
- Actual: Any transactions already recorded against this budget (showing Gross amount and VAT separately)
- Forecast (Budget - Actual): The remaining (Gap) amount to be included in your forecast
For example, if you have a planned sales budget of £6,000 (£5,000 + VAT £1,000) and actual sales of £4,200 (£3,500 + VAT £700) have been recorded, the system will show the remaining £1,800 (£1,500 + VAT £300) in your forecast. New planned cash flows are generated each month, with due dates determined by the Payment Day settings in your Budget Planner. If the planned date has already passed, the system will default to today's date, though you can manually adjust this if needed.
If you wish to stop monitoring specific cash flows or entire budget items, you can adjust these settings in the Budget Planner.
[Changing how you monitor the budget]
1. Stop monitoring budget(s)
Simply uncheck the budget in the Budget List, then click "Recalculate Projection" in the Cash Short Predictor. You can set monitoring budget again, whenever you want.
2. Change payment dates
- Click the edit button on the left column in the "In Budget" cash flow which you want to edit.
- Simply select the date, then click the save button.
- Click the Save Changes button to apply your changes to your cash flow projection.
Please refer this article for more details about managing your cash flows in the Cash Short Predictor.
3. Change the monitoring option for each budget item
Those settings can be done in each budget item level in the Budget Planner as well. Go to Reporting -> Budget Planner, and select the Cash Flow tab, then click the budget item name which you want to update, then select the option. Please note that the settings will be shown only for the monitored budget(s).
[Current limitations]
- Currently, splitting a Planned Cash Flow into multiple ones inside a month is not possible
- Amount in a Planned Cash Flow in a Full Budget cannot be manually adjusted once it is authorised unlike a Quick Cash Flow Plan and Basic Budget. In order to do this, you need to copy the budget, adjust cash flow amount in the draft Cash Flow Plan, authorise it, then monitor it.
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