Cash basis
It counts when the money comes in or goes out. You delivered a service in March and the customer paid in April: for cash flow, the money in belongs to April. It answers the question “will I have money to pay the bills?”.
Free Excel spreadsheet
Simple cash flow, ready to use
A free cash flow spreadsheet for small businesses: categorized entries, an automatic monthly summary with a chart and a forecast for the next 90 days. Download it and start in 5 minutes, no sign-up.
5 ready-made tabsNo sign-upNo macrosProtected formulas
Download the spreadsheet (Excel)
A light .xlsx file, no macros and no password. Made for Excel.
What is inside the file
- 1
Instructions
How to use it in 5 minutes, what each tab holds and what each color means.
- 2
Entries
Date, description, category, money in and money out. Room for 500 rows, with a category list.
- 3
Monthly summary
The 12 months of the year with monthly balance, running balance, a chart and totals by category.
- 4
90-day forecast
13 weeks of expected money in and out. A week with negative cash turns red.
- 5
Categories
Typical income and expenses of a small company that sells to other companies. Edit as you like.
What the spreadsheet looks like inside
A preview of the tabs, with illustrative values from a fictional company. In the file, the yellow cells are for typing and everything else calculates itself.
cash-flow-spreadsheet.xlsx
| Date | Description | Category | In | Out |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 05 Jan | Service delivered to customer Alfa | Services | R$8,500 | - |
| 10 Jan | Materials bought from a supplier | Suppliers and raw materials | - | R$2,300 |
| 20 Jan | Office rent | Rent and building fees | - | R$1,800 |
The gray rows are examples to delete. The category comes from a list; room for 500 entries.
cash-flow-spreadsheet.xlsx
| Month | In | Out | Balance | Running |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | R$8,500 | R$4,100 | R$4,400 | R$6,400 |
| Feb | R$7,200 | R$6,900 | R$300 | R$6,700 |
| Mar | R$9,800 | R$7,400 | R$2,400 | R$9,100 |
| Apr | R$6,100 | R$7,300 | -R$1,200 | R$7,900 |
| May | R$10,400 | R$7,600 | R$2,800 | R$10,700 |
| Jun | R$8,900 | R$8,100 | R$800 | R$11,500 |
cash-flow-spreadsheet.xlsx
Cash at the start: R$3,000
| Week | Expected in | Expected out | Weekly balance | Projected balance |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Week 1 | R$2,000 | R$3,500 | -R$1,500 | R$1,500 |
| Week 2 | - | R$4,800 | -R$4,800 | -R$3,300 |
| Week 3 | R$6,500 | R$1,200 | R$5,300 | R$2,000 |
| Week 4 | R$1,500 | R$2,000 | -R$500 | R$1,500 |
| Week 5 | R$4,200 | R$1,900 | R$2,300 | R$3,800 |
Yellow is for typing. A week with negative cash turns red; the spreadsheet has 13 weeks.
cash-flow-spreadsheet.xlsx
Income
- Product sales
- Services
- Recurring contracts
- Commissions received
Expenses
- Suppliers and raw materials
- Salaries and payroll charges
- Owner's pay
- Taxes and fees
- Software and subscriptions
There are 23 example categories. Rename, delete or add your own.
Ready to use: download it, delete the examples and record your first transaction.
Download the spreadsheet (Excel)What cash flow is
Cash flow is the record of all the money that comes into and goes out of the company, on the date it happens. A customer payment came in: that is money in. You paid the supplier, the rent or the tax: that is money out. The difference between the two, added to what was already in the bank, is the balance: how much the company actually has to pay its next bills.
It sounds simple, and it is. The value is in doing it consistently. With your cash flow up to date, you know which month had money left over and which month fell short, where it went and where it came from, and you see the squeeze coming weeks in advance. It is the most basic management tool for a small company, and the one that prevents the most surprises.
This spreadsheet was designed for people who run the business and have no time to learn a system. Five tabs, ready-made and protected formulas, and nothing that requires Excel skills beyond typing amounts and picking a category from a list.
How to fill in the spreadsheet, step by step
- 1
Enter your starting point
On the Monthly summary tab, check the year and enter the cash balance on the first day of the year: what was in the company account plus the cash on hand. If you start mid-year, use the balance on the day you started and record from there.
- 2
Delete the examples
The Entries tab comes with three gray rows, just to show how to fill it in. Select all three and delete them when you start.
- 3
Record each transaction
One row per transaction: the date, a description you will understand six months from now, the category picked from the list and the amount in the In column or the Out column. The amount never takes a minus sign, because the column already says whether the money came in or went out.
- 4
Check it against the bank statement
Once a week, compare the running balance in the Monthly summary with the bank balance. If they do not match, an entry is missing, almost always a fee, an automatic debit or a card payment.
- 5
Read the summary and plan ahead
The Monthly summary builds itself, with the running balance chart and the year's total by category. With it in hand, fill in the 90-day forecast with what you expect to receive and pay.
Cash basis or accrual basis?
Two ways of answering the question “when does this amount count?”. It sounds like an accountant's detail, but it changes how you read the numbers.
Accrual basis
It counts when the sale or the expense happens, no matter when it is paid. The same March service goes in as March revenue. It answers the question “did the business make a profit this month?”.
Both are right and they complement each other. The spreadsheet uses the cash basis because its goal is to make sure you never run out of money. A company can sell well in March, show a profit on the accrual basis and still run out of cash in April, if customers pay on credit and suppliers want cash up front. That mismatch is exactly what cash flow shows in time.
5 common cash flow mistakes
Almost every cash flow that does not match the bank trips over one of these. None of them takes technical knowledge to fix, just habit.
- 01
Mixing business and personal money
When the company account pays for the household groceries, the spreadsheet stops showing the business. Keep the accounts separate and record what you take out as owner's pay, at an amount you agree on with yourself.
- 02
Recording the sale instead of the payment
A sale closed today with a 30-day invoice is not cash in the bank yet. Record it when the money lands in the account. If you record it earlier, the spreadsheet balance will be higher than the bank's.
- 03
Leaving everything for the end of the month
On the 30th nobody remembers the bank fee, the software subscription or the freight paid by card. Small forgotten expenses are exactly the ones that keep the balance from matching.
- 04
Forgetting bills that do not come every month
Year-end bonuses, vacation pay, annual taxes, license renewals and equipment maintenance always arrive, just not every month. Put these expenses in the forecast well in advance.
- 05
Only looking back
Last month's records show what happened. The forecast shows what is coming, and it is what gives you time to chase a customer, negotiate a deadline or postpone a purchase before cash runs out.
How to forecast cash for the next 90 days
Forecasting means filling in the future with what you already know and honest estimates for the rest. The 90-day forecast tab splits the next three months into 13 weeks. A week is short enough to reveal a squeeze the monthly total would hide: the month can close in the black and payroll can still fall due ten days before your biggest customer pays.
The forecast does not need to be accurate to the cent. Its job is to warn you early, and a warning three weeks ahead is worth more than a perfect statement from last month.
- 1
Start with today's balance. The spreadsheet already calculates it from the entries; if you prefer, type the balance shown at the bank.
- 2
Record what is certain first. Money in: recurring contracts, invoices already issued and installments to receive. Money out: payroll, rent, taxes, loan installments and purchases already made.
- 3
Then estimate what varies, looking at the last few months in the Monthly summary: one-off sales, freight, commissions, materials.
- 4
Be conservative. When in doubt, put the payment you receive a week later and the payment you make a week earlier.
- 5
Look at the week with the lowest balance, which the spreadsheet shows at the bottom of the tab. If any week turns red, there is still time to act: chase late payers, negotiate terms with the supplier, postpone a purchase or look for new customers.
- 6
Every week, move the first day of the forecast forward and fill in the new week. That way the 90 days move along with the calendar.
Frequently asked questions
Is the spreadsheet really free? Do I need to sign up?
It is free and the download is direct: we ask for no sign-up and no email. The file is yours. You can use it in your company, copy it, change the categories and adapt it however you want.
Does it work in Google Sheets?
The spreadsheet was built and checked in Excel. You can import the file into Google Drive and the regular sums keep working, but the category dropdown and the formula protection may behave differently. We do not have a version ready for Google Sheets yet.
Does it work for a sole proprietor?
Yes. For a one-person business, the most important thing is to keep the company account separate from the personal one and record what you take out as owner's pay. Delete the categories you do not use, such as employee salaries, and the spreadsheet fits the size of your business.
Why can't I edit some cells?
Cells with formulas are protected, with no password, so no calculation gets deleted by accident. The yellow cells and the Entries tab are free to edit. If you want to change a formula, use Review and then Unprotect Sheet.
What is the difference between cash flow and an income statement?
Cash flow shows the money that came in and went out, on the date it happened. The income statement your accountant prepares shows whether the company made a profit or a loss in the period, by the date of the sale and of the expense. A company can be profitable and run out of cash in the same month, which is why the two complement each other.
How often should I update the spreadsheet?
At least once a week, always on the same day. If you have many transactions, it pays to record them every day, with the bank statement open alongside. Use the same stop to update the forecast for the coming weeks.
Cash flow under control? The next step is selling more.
Your company's first business round is on us, with just your CNPJ (Brazilian company tax ID). Choose an open round and enter the CNPJ on its page.