Cash flow projections are an essential part of running a business because they provide you with data-backed insights into your business’s operations. The projections you make can help you plan for your business’s future.
We’re going to help you answer:
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A cash flow projection is an insight into the future health of your business. Cash flow is the sum of your cash inflows and outflows. If you have more outflows than inflows, your business is running in the negative, which is unsustainable in the long term.
Projections take into account:
Your projections can be for a week, month, quarter or longer. Traditionally, projections tend to become less accurate the longer their period. For example, if you try projecting your cash flow for three years, it will be far more accurate in three months than three years because there are just so many elements involved.
For example, you may:
However, all major corporations run cash flow projections to try and determine what their financial health will be in the future.
Projected cash flow is all about planning. You can plan for the future when you have a complete understanding of what the future may look like. A few of the reasons that businesses worldwide are running these forecasts for their business include:
Cash flow projections may show that you have enough excess cash to open another office or hire employees, too.
You can use two main methods to determine your future cash flow:
Both methods are acceptable, but you may prefer one method over another. Accountants tend to have a “favorite” method, but it’s truly up to you on which to choose. For the purpose of this article, we’re going to define each method and allow you to choose the right one for your business:
Direct Method
Utilizing the direct method of cash flow projections, you’ll be forecasting the following cash received:
Once you have all of your inflows down, you’ll go into cash spent:
You’ll then need to subtract the outflows from the inflows to determine your cash balance.
Indirect Method
The indirect method of cash flow projections is more popular, and you’ll notice a lot of differences here:
You’ll have to determine net cash flow from operations and net profit. You’ll use the five categories above to determine all of your income and expenditures during the period.
Cash flow projection software makes it faster, easier and more accurate to run projections. Unless you’re an accountant, running cash flow projections without using software is often a poor use of resources that could be better spent elsewhere.
Projecting your business’s cash flow is just another accounting tool your business can utilize to prepare for the future. Whether you find that the projection states you’ll have double the cash flow or fall into negative cash flow, the insight will help you run your business more effectively.
Every business can benefit from cash flow projections and forecasts.
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