[Finance & business intelligence]() / [Use cases]() / [Cash scenarios]() [How it works]() [What you get]() [Scope]() [Start a review]() [Finance & business intelligence]()[Cash & commitments]() # Forecast cash across inventory and growth plans. The cash low point, seen weeks ahead across purchase orders, receipts and growth plans, while the order can still change. [Start with a finance review]() [How it works]() Weekly low point · slower month, higher freight Buffer $250,000 - Week 4 **$398,000**Above buffer - Week 5 **$360,000**Above buffer - Week 6 **$325,000**Above buffer - Week 7 **$290,000**Above buffer - Week 8 **$262,000**Close - Week 9 **$205,000**$45,000 under The winter order can still change for 10 days The low point, week by week, against the buffer. Week 9 is the one that needs a decision. ## Sound familiar? - Inventory deposits, payroll and ad spend are planned in three different files. - You find out cash is tight when the supplier invoice arrives. - A lender or board asks for a scenario, and it takes a week to build. A forecast that arrives after the purchase order is signed can be right and still be useless. ## What changes. ShowTodayWith the engine Horizon This month’s bank balance A 13-week view, refreshed every week Commitments Stock, ads, payroll and tax planned apart One view of every dated commitment Scenarios A copy of the spreadsheet Named scenarios, with their assumptions beside them The outcome A forecast nobody acts on A low point, a buffer, and an owner with options ## How it works. 6 steps, 5 stages. - AI**1** - Rules and automation**4** - Your team**1** - Approval 1. 1 Gather 1. Rules and automation ### Pull balances and commitments Bank balances, receivables, payables and open purchase orders, each with a date. - QuickBooks - NetSuite - Shopify 2. 2 Model 1. Rules and automation ### Run the 13-week schedule Code calculates every week from dated receipts and payments. No model guesses at the arithmetic. 2. AI ### Structure the assumptions Turns notes and emails into dated assumptions, and explains what changed since last week’s version. 3. 3 Test 1. Rules and automation ### Stress the plan Slower receipts, higher freight, a later launch: each one saved as a named scenario. 4. 4 Decide 1. Your team Approval ### Choose the move Finance and supply pick: change the deposit, split the order or collect sooner. Nothing moves until an authorized person acts. 5. 5 Review 1. Rules and automation ### Freeze each version, compare with actuals Every forecast is kept as it was, so you can see how it missed and why. Actual timing sharpens next week’s assumptions ## What you get. Real work, every week. Forecast versions Cash at week 9 - Version 14 · this weekFreight quote up $60,000 **$205,000**Under by $45,000 - Version 13 · last week$100,000 of receipts slip **$265,000**Over by $15,000 - Version 12 · base caseThe plan as approved **$365,000**Over by $115,000 Each forecast is kept as it was, so a change in the number comes with its reason. Assumptions · version 14 - Opening cash $500,000, from the bank - Receipts of $180,000, dated by customer and channel - Payroll $90,000 and tax $25,000, on their due dates - Winter order deposit, $200,000 Changeable for 10 days - Freight quote, +$60,000 Forwarder to confirm Each version is saved as it was Every assumption written down with its source, and the ones still waiting to be confirmed. ## How you’ll know it’s working. 1. Weeks of notice before a breach A warning inside the supplier’s change window is a decision. After it, it’s a report. 2. Time to refresh, and time to decide Hours to update the view, and days from a flagged risk to a decision. 3. Financing actually avoided Counted only when a draw or loan didn’t happen, never when a model says cash was freed. Baselines agreed before we build. The winter order, worked through Opening cash $500,000 Receipts +$180,000 Payroll −$90,000 Tax −$25,000 Winter order deposit −$200,000 Cash at week 9 $365,000 If $100,000 of receipts slip and freight rises $60,000, the low point is $205,000, which is $45,000 under a $250,000 buffer. Illustrative figures. The order can change for 10 more days, and that is when the forecast earns its keep. ## Works with what you have. Accounting - QuickBooks Commerce - NetSuite - Shopify Planning & BI - Excel or Sheets - Pigment We configure first A rolling 13-week schedule in the spreadsheet or planning tool you already use. A plain, well-kept schedule often does the job. We build when Purchase orders, growth plans and payment timing live in different files, and a scenario takes days to build. ## What a first build includes. Built in your accounts, around your team. Scope, fee and baseline agreed before we start. 1. 1 Design 2. 2 Build 3. 3 Run it, or hand it over [Start with a review]() [Scope this build]() ### We build - A 13-week cash schedule joined to open orders and receipts - Named scenarios with their assumptions - A weekly log of every forecast version - A decision packet for each purchase order ### We start from - Bank, receivables and payables balances - Open purchase orders and their terms - Growth and promotion plans ### From your team Owner Finance lead Involves - Finance - Supply chain - Growth ## Questions teams ask. Do we need a planning platform? Often not. A deterministic 13-week schedule in a spreadsheet can be enough. We check what your current tools do first, and we’d only recommend a planning platform if scenarios still take too long. Is this a sales forecast? No. It’s a schedule of dated cash in and out, with the sales assumptions written down. Where we do forecast demand, we compare it with a simple baseline and your own team’s numbers before relying on it. Does it move money or change the order? No. It prepares the numbers and the options. The deposit, the order and any payment are changed by the people authorized to change them. Who owns it once it’s running? You do. It’s built in your accounts, documented, with training for the people who run it. Ownership usually sits with your finance lead. We can keep running it with you, or step back. How do we start? Usually with a finance review: two to four weeks, a fixed fee credited to the build, and a plan that’s yours. If the job is already clear, we can scope the build directly. ## Part of your finance engine. One of 11 use cases, in 5 parts. [See the whole finance engine]() 1. [Trusted records **2**]() 2. [Margin **2**]() 3. [Cash & commitments **2**]() 4. [Payables & receivables **2**]() 5. [Reporting & decisions **3**]() In cash & commitments - **Cash scenarios**You’re here - [**PO cash check**Test a purchase order against your cash buffer]() Works with - [**Landed cost**Put true landed cost into every margin number]() - [**Trading brief**Run a weekly trading brief that ends in decisions]() - [**Stock-aware spend**Keep ad spend on products you can sell]() See it at work - [**In Fernway’s first month on TikTok Shop**Week 6: the winter order]() - [**Also in**Growth & acquisition]() ## See the low point before it arrives. Start with a finance review. [Start with a finance review]() [**Talk it through first**15 minutes]() We reply within one business day. --- Source: [https://www.thekeating.co/use-cases/cash-scenarios/]() [Contact Keating & Co](mailto:nelson@thekeating.co) · [Agent guidance](https://www.thekeating.co/llms.txt)