13 week cash flow template: free, with an Excel download

Each week starts with last week’s ending cash, adds the money you expect in and takes away the money going out.

Ending cash = opening cash + money in − money out

Thirteen weeks is one quarter, close enough to fill from real invoices and bills. Any week that ends below your minimum cash is flagged.

Example: you open week 1 with 48,000 dollars, collect 17,500, pay 7,000 to suppliers and run an 18,500 payroll. Week 1 ends at 40,000, and week 2 opens there.

Put each payment in the week you expect the cash to move, by due date or by when that customer usually pays.

• Money in: open invoices, deposits you expect, loan draws.
• Money out: supplier bills, rent, loan payments, card payments, one-off purchases.
• Repeating items: enter once, with how often they repeat.

In QuickBooks Online, Reports > Standard reports has Open Invoices under “Who owes you” and Unpaid Bills under “What you owe”. Export either to Excel, then paste the rows or drop the CSV into the tool.

Our A/R aging chase list sorts open invoices by who to call first, which helps you judge which ones will really arrive.

Pick how often you pay, and your next payday for weekly or every-2-weeks payroll. The template puts each payroll in its week.

• Weekly: 52 paydays a year.
• Every 2 weeks: 26 a year, so 6 or 7 in 13 weeks.
• Twice a month: 24 a year; the template uses the 15th and the last day.
• Monthly: 12 a year; the template uses the last day.

For twice a month and monthly, the template moves a weekend payday to the Friday before. Use the full cash cost of a payroll: net pay, withheld taxes, your share of taxes and fees.

Example: payroll every 2 weeks at 18,500 dollars puts 6 or 7 payrolls in the 13 weeks, between 111,000 and 129,500 dollars.

Once a week, roll it forward one week and type in the real bank balance.

1. Press Roll forward a week. Week 2 becomes week 1 and a new week 13 is added.
2. Replace the opening balance with today’s bank balance.
3. Add new invoices and bills, and move any payment that slipped.

Your draft stays saved in this browser, so the same plan is there next Monday.

Yes. Download the spreadsheet from the tool: no email, no sign-up.

The file is an Excel workbook (.xlsx) with the totals, ending balances and low-cash flags as live formulas. Change a number and the weeks after it update.

Google Sheets opens the same file through File > Import.

For a forecast that refills itself each Monday from your books, see Reports & answers.