Business Cash Flow Calculator

About this tool

A business cash flow calculator is essential for understanding when your company will have enough cash to cover payroll, inventory, and operations. Many business owners rely on profit-and-loss statements alone, which report profitability but ignore timing—you can be profitable on paper while running out of cash in the bank. This calculator solves that gap by projecting your actual bank balance forward 12 months, accounting for the real timing of when money comes in and goes out. Knowing your cash runway prevents the surprises that sink otherwise healthy businesses.

You need this tool if you're a freelancer or small business owner managing irregular revenue, contractors waiting 30 or 60 days for payment, seasonal swings, or upcoming expenses like equipment purchases or payroll taxes. Service businesses, e-commerce sellers, and contractors are hit hardest by cash timing mismatches—you might invoice a client in January but not see payment until March, while your own bills are due weekly. A cash flow forecast tells you exactly how much cushion you have and when you'll need external funds or must cut expenses.

The free preview shows your baseline monthly balance for three months, enough to spot obvious problems. The paid version generates a full 12-month month-by-month breakdown with columns for opening balance, inflows, outflows, and closing balance. It also runs three scenario variants—a cautious estimate (lower revenue, higher expenses), a realistic mid-case, and an optimistic case—so you can see the range of outcomes and plan for the downside. Most spreadsheet templates don't account for tax timing, loan repayments, or owner draws; this calculator surfaces those line items explicitly.

For example, a consulting firm with $120,000 annual revenue but highly variable monthly income ($5,000 to $25,000 per month) and $8,000 in fixed monthly costs enters their numbers and instantly sees they'll hit a cash trough in month 7 at $3,200—below their $10,000 safety buffer. The scenario analysis shows that in a bad-case (20% lower revenue), the trough drops to negative $8,000, signaling when to line up a credit facility. The paid report is downloadable as a PDF and imports directly into planning spreadsheets.