13-week cash flow planning: peace of mind for you and your bank account

Cash is king. CFOs have known this for years. But in times of economic uncertainty, insight into your liquidity is no longer a luxury – it is a pure necessity. Yet many organizations still work with indirect cash flow calculations or self-built Excel models. These are often prone to errors, time-consuming, and offer insufficient control. There is a better way.
With Smartbooks, you have access to a direct and indirect cash flow module that gives you genuine insight into your cash flows up to 13 weeks ahead. This provides peace of mind – for both your head and your bank account.

Direct or indirect? Both is better

There are two ways to plan your cash flow:
- Indirect cash flow is based on your profit and loss statement, with corrections for balance sheet items such as accounts receivable, inventory, and depreciation. Useful for monthly reporting, but less suitable for the short term.
- Direct cash flow looks at your actual receipts and expenditures. Think of expected customer payments, salaries, VAT payments, and rent. This method gives you a much sharper view of the coming weeks.
Both methods have their value – and Smartbooks supports both. Fully integrated with your accounting, without double work.

How it works in practice

A CFO of an organization with five entities used a complex Excel file for cash flow forecasts for years. Every month it was the same struggle: exports, formulas, error messages, unclear timing. They have since switched to Smartbooks:

- Daily, weekly, or monthly insight into cash flows
- Automatic integration with accounting software and outstanding items
- Manual entry of expected revenue that has not yet been invoiced
- Self-management of future payments such as salaries, VAT, and lease costs
- Immediate insight into peaks and troughs – even across the boundary between month and quarter

The benefits at a glance

- Fewer surprises: see well in advance where liquidity will come under pressure
- Better decision-making: substantiate your story to the bank, shareholders, or management
- Always up-to-date: every invoice or payment is automatically updated

Cash flow = confidence

Good cash flow planning goes beyond control. It's about confidence. Confidence in your figures. Confidence with your board, your investors, and your team. And ultimately: confidence in yourself as a finance professional. Smartbooks helps you deliver on that confidence. Every single day.