What is a one-page cash forecast?
It's a single sheet that shows what your bank balance will be at the end of each of the next thirteen weeks. Opening cash at the top, money in and money out in the middle, closing cash at the bottom, and each week's closing figure becomes the next week's opening one.
The profit and loss tells you whether the business made money. The forecast tells you whether there will be enough in the account on the Friday payroll goes out, and those two answers can disagree for months, as the post on being profitable but broke walks through.
What goes on the page?
| Row | What goes in it | Where the number comes from |
|---|---|---|
| Opening cash | The bank balance at the start of the week | Last week's closing cash, or a reconciled statement for week one |
| Customer receipts | Payments you expect to land that week | Your unpaid invoice list and how each customer usually pays |
| Other money in | Loan draws, owner money put in, refunds | Agreements and letters you already have |
| Payroll | Net pay plus payroll taxes on the days they leave | Your pay calendar |
| Suppliers and overheads | Rent, materials, software, insurance, card payments | Bills on file and regular monthly charges |
| Tax payments | Sales tax, estimated tax, reemployment tax, receipts | Agency due dates |
| Loan payments and owner draws | Principal and interest, money you take out | Loan schedule and your own plan |
| Closing cash | Opening cash plus money in minus money out | Calculated |
Money in: count it when it lands
The most common mistake is putting a customer's payment in the week you send the invoice. Look at how that customer has actually paid before. If they always pay about five weeks after the invoice, that's the week it goes in, whatever your terms say.
A deposit taken before the work starts is cash in that week, even though it isn't earned yet. A new Palm Bay business with no payment history should put receipts later rather than earlier.
Money out: the payments people forget
Regular bills are easy. The ones that catch people are taxes and fees with fixed dates.
Sales tax is the big one if you collect it. The Florida Department of Revenue sales tax page says returns and payments are due on the 1st and late after the 20th of the month after each reporting period. That money came in with your sales, but it was never yours to spend.
If you pay estimated income tax, IRS Form 1040-ES for 2026 lists the payment dates as April 15, June 15 and September 15, 2026, then January 15, 2027. A forecast started in late October runs straight into that January date.
With employees, Florida reemployment tax is reported on Form RT-6 each quarter, and the Department of Revenue's employer brochure gives you one month after the quarter ends to file and pay. So the October to December quarter needs paying by the end of January.
Then there are the receipts. The City of Palm Bay has handled its business tax receipts through an online system called iMS since March 6, 2023, and its page says that once you hold the city receipt you apply to the county as well. The Brevard County Tax Collector says receipts are due and payable on or before September 30 each year. Under section 205.053 of the Florida Statutes, a late receipt picks up a 10 percent penalty for October. The dates and rules here were checked on October 22, 2026; the dollar amounts in your own forecast depend on your business.
Not sure the books under your forecast are right?
Call JE Ledger on (305) 748-1367, send an email or a WhatsApp, or use the contact form.
How do you build the first one from your books?
Build it from reconciled figures. A forecast that starts from a bank balance nobody has checked is wrong from the first line.
- Reconcile every bank and card account to its latest statement, so opening cash is a real number.
- List every unpaid customer invoice and put each one in the week that customer usually pays.
- List payroll dates, rent, loan payments, card payments and regular bills by week.
- Mark the fixed tax dates: sales tax, estimated tax, the RT-6 quarter and the September receipts.
- Add up each week and carry the closing balance forward as the next opening balance.
- Set a minimum balance you're not willing to go below and highlight any week that does.
If the first step turns into a project, that's a finding in itself. The post on why bank reconciliation matters explains why the bank balance alone can mislead you, and a new business that set up its chart of accounts cleanly will find the grouping above much easier to pull out.
What is your forecast telling you?
Once the thirteen weeks are filled in, the closing cash line usually shows one of these patterns.
| What the forecast shows | What it usually means | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Every week stays above your minimum | Cash is fine for the quarter | Keep rolling it weekly and plan big purchases around the high weeks |
| One or two weeks dip, then recover | A timing gap between bills and receipts | Chase named invoices or move a payment date before that week arrives |
| The balance falls a little every week | More cash going out than coming in | Look at margin and prices, not just timing |
| A deep drop in a tax week | Collected tax was spent along the way | Move collected sales tax aside as it arrives |
| Actuals miss the forecast every week | The inputs are guesses | Base receipts on real payment history and redo week one |
The third row is the one to take seriously. A timing gap can be managed. A steady slide means the business is using more cash than it brings in, and no amount of rearranging dates fixes that.
How do you keep it going each week?
Pick a day. Replace last week's forecast with what actually happened, add a new week thirteen at the end, and check the gap between forecast and actual. If customer receipts keep landing later than you guessed, move them later in every future week too.
That's the whole routine. It works best when the books underneath are kept current, which is what business bookkeeping is for, and JE Ledger also offers financial consultation. There's more on bookkeeping for Palm Bay businesses on its own page, or get in touch to talk it through.
