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Practical guide / Free to read

Understand when the money needs to move.

Put dates beside receipts and payments so you can see the gaps that totals alone can miss.

Begin with the cash you are following

Choose the business accounts and cash you want to track together. Find the balance immediately before the first day of the plan. Record what is included and the date you checked it. If a payment is already reflected in that starting figure, do not also enter it as a future movement.

For each day, the planner adds expected receipts to the opening balance and subtracts expected payments. That closing balance becomes the next day’s opening balance. Your chosen start date defines eight consecutive seven-day weeks.

Background: SBA: Manage your business

Give the payment a date, not just an amount

A completed job, an invoice, and a payment can happen on different dates. Enter the date cash is expected to arrive or leave. If that date is uncertain, label the entry as an estimate and write down what would help confirm it.

A sales total and a cash balance answer different questions. In this planner, put a customer receipt on the day you expect the money to arrive, even if the invoice was issued earlier. Put each payment on its expected date too.

Background: SBA: Manage your business

Use the amount that actually moves

The planner asks for the full cash receipt or payment. Include tax contained in that amount when it is part of the money moving. Also record tax payments to an authority on the expected payment dates when relevant. The tool does not calculate what tax is owed.

Include other cash commitments that may not look like everyday operating expenses: debt repayments, equipment purchases, and owner withdrawals. Borrowing or an owner contribution is money in only when funds are expected to arrive; it is not customer revenue. Do not count unused credit as starting cash.

Transfers between accounts already combined in your starting cash do not change that combined total. A transfer across the boundary you chose does. Keep the boundary consistent so the same money is not counted twice.

Make repeating amounts easy to inspect

Use a repeat for a regular amount, such as weekly rent or a monthly subscription. Enter the first expected date and, if relevant, the last date that should repeat. The planner includes only occurrences inside the eight-week period.

Monthly repeats keep their original day. A payment anchored to the 31st uses the last day of a shorter month and returns to the 31st in a later month that has one. Weekend and holiday adjustments are not applied. If real payment dates differ, use separate dated entries instead.

If an amount changes, end that repeat and add a new entry. Do not add a separate copy of a payment that is already covered by a repeat. Check the dated movement list to see exactly what has been counted.

Read the lowest point as well as the final balance

A receipt late in the week can restore a balance after an earlier payment creates a gap. The planner therefore shows each day's closing balance and each week's lowest starting or day-end balance, as well as the week-end total.

You can enter a cash level you want to watch. The result shows the first crossing below it and the largest gap to it. That level is your own planning choice; the tool does not select a reserve or assess what is sufficient for your business.

Movements on the same day are combined. A positive day-end balance does not establish that a morning payment can clear before an afternoon receipt. Check the order of any tight same-day commitments separately.

Keep the starting plan while you try a change

Copy your starting plan into the comparison, then change one assumption. Move a customer receipt later, enter a different amount, or test a payment schedule you want to discuss. Each version keeps its own entries and starting balance.

The two-week delay button moves the selected receipt in the comparison only. For repeating receipts it moves the first date and any last repeat date too. Inspect monthly dates after a move because the new first date becomes the monthly anchor.

If an entry has no occurrence inside the window, it stays visible as an excluded entry. A receipt moved past the end has not disappeared from the business; it simply contributes no cash inside these eight weeks. An unchanged final balance can also conceal a very different low point.

Treat a checked entry as evidence, not certainty

Use a bill, payment agreement, recent pattern, or customer confirmation as the basis for an entry. Mark what you have checked and keep the source in a note. Checked and estimated entries are both included at their full amounts; the planner does not assign probabilities.

Keep estimates identifiable. Use the comparison to explore an uncertain date or amount, and update the plan as you learn more. The result is a forecast based on your entries, not a verified bank balance.

Background: SBA: Manage your business

Leave with one useful action

Choose the date or assumption that matters most. You might confirm a receipt, check the terms of a supplier bill, identify a missing commitment, or prepare a cash question for someone who helps with your finances. Record who to speak with and when to return.

Download the reusable file to keep both versions. Text and PDF copies provide a readable record of the weekly balances, entries, assumptions, and next steps. When moving the start date forward later, check the opening cash again; this tool does not reconcile actual bank activity automatically.

Try it in your own situation

Build a first view of the coming weeks

  1. Choose the cash you are following and check its starting balance.
  2. Choose the first day, then add dated receipts and payments.
  3. Mark estimates and note the basis for the amounts and dates.
  4. Review the lowest balance, its date, and the movements behind it.
  5. Copy the plan and change one uncertain receipt or payment.
  6. Choose a practical check, record a review point, and download the plan.

Keep exploring.

Understand what your price needs to cover. Explore Running a business
Sources and further reading

Original Brass Charter examples and exercises, with background reading from the sources below.

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