Business Forecasting

Sadie Channing - Menzies Accountancy Firm

Sadie Channing –
Business Forecasting Specialist

A cashflow forecast enables businesses to track the expected cash movements over a period of time in the future. 

So why is cashflow forecasting important

When it comes to future expectations of their profit and loss, in our experience business owners tend to know their business inside and out. They know what margin they will make on each product or service that they offer and have a good understanding of their overheads. 

What business owners do not necessarily know inside and out though, is how and when changes (however small) to sales, purchases and other general business costs will affect their bank balance. Whether the impact is positive or negative, the phrase ‘turnover is vanity, profit is sanity and cash is king’ has never been so relevant than to the value of cashflow forecasting. 

In summary, good cashflow forecasting helps a business owner to: 

  • See when money is coming into / going out of the business 
  • Predict regular expenditure and plan ahead for cashflow bottlenecks. 

 
Three-way cashflow forecasting: how to delve deeper 

‘Three-way forecasting’  brings together your profit, balance sheet and cashflow data together into a single model and will be bespoke to your business. This data ‘link’ can give your business a fuller picture on the assets and expenditure that may not be captured in your cashflow analysis but appear elsewhere. 

How we help businesses make better decisions 

Good cashflow forecasting starts with GREAT management information. Here’s how we help business owners to develop reliable ‘near real-time’ business data for robust forecasting that feeds better business decisions:  

  • We get to know our clients businesses inside out 
  • We sit down with them and go through their business and its processes in detail 
  • We obtain an understanding of how every single element of the business works together to provide the product/services that the client offers and we analyse how this turns into cash 
  • We obtain an understanding from our clients of their future expectations and how they intend to achieve these 
  • We will also consider their current reporting to ensure it is useful to management and suggest improvements where necessary 

How does forecasting influence business strategy? 

origami question
  • It enables clients to make informed business decisions 
  • To plan for the future 
  • To compare their actuals with budgets on a regular basis to see why they are potentially under achieving, and what they can improve 
  • A cashflow forecast is imperative for businesses that want to grow. 
  • It can be used to increase profitability and reduce risk within businesses. 

Are you running cashflow forecasts for your business?

To speak to a partner or for more information about our cashflow and three-way forecasting services, please complete the contact form below.