Build a short-term (13-week) cash flow forecast to see if you can cover what's due. Use when asked to build a cash flow forecast, a 13-week cash flow, a cash projection, or to plan around a cash crunch. Produces a week-by-week forecast structure — opening cash, expected inflows, scheduled outflows, net movement, and closing/low-point — with the formulas and a worked example, plus the levers if cash goes tight. Not financial advice.
Start a fresh conversation. Replace the highlighted placeholders.
Use cash-flow-forecast to create a 13-week cash forecast for [business] using [starting cash] and [cash receipts and payments by week], with a roll-forward table, low-point and negative-week warnings, explicit assumptions, and tight-cash options; use labelled placeholders for missing figures and state that it is not financial advice.
Required inputs
[business]
[starting cash]
[cash receipts and payments by week]
User-approved starter prompt based on a pinned source version; check current skill requirements before running. Task evidence ↗
SKILL.md
name: cash-flow-forecastdescription: "Build a short-term (13-week) cash flow forecast to see if you can cover what's due. Use when asked to build a cash flow forecast, a 13-week cash flow, a cash projection, or to plan around a cash crunch. Produces a week-by-week forecast structure — opening cash, expected inflows, scheduled outflows, net movement, and closing/low-point — with the formulas and a worked example, plus the levers if cash goes tight. Not financial advice."
Cash Flow Forecast Skill
Profit is an opinion; cash is a fact — and businesses fail by running out of it even while "profitable". A
short-term (commonly 13-week) cash flow forecast shows, week by week, whether money coming in covers money
going out, and when the tightest point hits. This skill builds that forecast's structure and math so you can
see trouble early and act.
Note: this is a planning aid, not financial, investment, or accounting advice. It structures a forecast
from figures you provide and projects from your assumptions; it does not guarantee outcomes. Confirm material
decisions with a qualified accountant/advisor. Never invent actual balances or amounts.
Working from a brief
Given "build me a 13-week cash flow", produce the full structure anyway — lay out the model with the
formulas and a worked example using placeholder figures(replace with your numbers). Use the real numbers
where the user gave them; never fabricate a starting balance or a result.
Required Inputs
Ask for these only if they aren't already provided (else use labelled placeholders):
Starting cash — current bank balance (the opening position).
Inflows — expected receipts and their timing (customer payments, with realistic collection timing, not invoice date).
Horizon & purpose — 13 weeks (default) or other, and what decision it informs (a crunch, a hire, a raise).
Output Format
13-Week Cash Flow Forecast: [business]
How it works — the model in one line: Closing cash = Opening cash + Inflows − Outflows, run week over week (each week's closing is the next week's opening).
Forecast table — a week-by-week layout (template + a worked example with placeholder figures):
Week
Opening cash
Inflows
Outflows
Net
Closing cash
Break inflows/outflows into their main lines (receipts; payroll, rent, suppliers, tax…) so it's actionable.
Key read-outs — the lowest cash point and which week it hits, weeks that go negative (the warning), and total net movement over the horizon.
Assumptions — collection timing, what's committed vs. expected, and anything to confirm — stated explicitly (the forecast is only as good as these).
If cash goes tight — levers — accelerate receivables, delay/stagger payables, cut/defer discretionary spend, draw on credit, or raise — with the trade-offs.
Mark all placeholder figures (replace with your numbers).
Quality Checks
Built on cash timing (when money actually moves), not invoice/accrual dates
The week-over-week roll-forward is correct (closing → next opening) and the math is shown
The lowest cash point and any negative weeks are surfaced clearly
Assumptions (collection timing, committed vs. expected) are explicit
Numbers are real where provided and placeholders elsewhere — nothing invented
Practical levers are offered for a tight-cash scenario with trade-offs
Anti-Patterns
Do not use invoice dates for inflows — model when cash is actually expected to land
Do not invent a starting balance or amounts — use the user's figures or labelled placeholders
Do not hide the assumptions — a forecast without them is false precision
Do not bury the low point — the whole purpose is to see the crunch coming
Do not present projections as guarantees or as financial advice
Based On
Cash management practice — short-horizon (13-week) cash flow forecasting on payment timing, low-point analysis, explicit assumptions, and liquidity levers.