How To Use the Cash Flow Tool
What you need to know:
The cash flow planning tool helps you forecast and track the money flowing into and out of your operation throughout the fiscal year. By entering beginning cash balances along with projected income, asset sales, expenses, and inventory, you can see how your cash position is expected to evolve over time and identify potential cash shortfalls or surpluses before they occur.
As the year progresses, the tool also makes it easy to compare your projected amounts with actual results, helping you stay on track and adjust when needed. The ending cash flow calculation and monthly cash flow view provide valuable insights that can support informed decisions about spending, saving, borrowing, and overall financial planning.
The Monthly cash flow tab provides a visual representation of your actual cash in vs. actual cash out for the current fiscal year. This gives you a quick and convenient view of your operation's financial performance throughout the year.
What you need to do:
Gather the opening balances for your most liquid accounts, such as bank accounts, at the beginning of the fiscal year.
Review your chart of accounts so you know which accounts are included under cash in, cash out, and inventory.
Prepare projected monthly amounts for income, asset sales, expenses, and other cash flow categories.
Collect any inventory projections you want to track for the year, if applicable.
Have supporting documents available, such as budgets, sales forecasts, expense estimates, loan payment schedules, and planned purchases or sales.
How to (Step by Step):
Click Planning.
Select Cash Flow.
Click Cash in.
Note: You can use the drop-down menu to filter accounts in the first two tabs.
Select Set on any account line.
Enter your beginning cash on hand amount for the first month of your fiscal year and click Save.
Click Cash out.
Select Set on any account line.
Enter your ending cash on hand amount for the first month of your fiscal year and click Save.
Click Inventory.
Select Set on any account line.
Enter your ending cash on hand amount for the first month of your fiscal year and click Save.
Note: The Inventory tab will not affect your cash flow calculations but can be used to project your inventory flow for the year.
To print your cash flow report, click Report on the top right of the cash flow screen. You have a few options:
You can choose between Actuals or Projected numbers
You can choose to hide accounts with no balances by unchecking Show 0 balances.
Click the Printer icon to bring up your printer options.
Note: As you enter and update your projections, your ending cash flow will be automatically calculated and displayed at the top of the screen. This number represents your projected cash balance at the end of the fiscal year. Each section includes a live comparison of projected amounts versus actual results. A detailed line-by-line comparison is also available, making it easy to review variances and adjust your plans as needed.
References and Additional Resources
Still have questions? Contact support
Contact us at 1-800-667-7893 or email support@fccagexpert.ca if you require additional support. You can find other help options under the question mark Icon in the top right of AgExpert Accounting at any time.