How to read a charity cashflow forecast

What it needs before it works

Two things: a budget in use, and a bank balance to count from. Without a budget the page tells you so. Without a balance every figure counts up and down from nought, which is a shape without a scale.

Use "What is in the bank" at the top of the page. Take the figure off a statement and give us the date of that statement. Everything on the page counts up and down from that one number, so a guess there is a guess everywhere.

Actual and plan

Each month is marked either actual or plan. A month marked actual has finished and shows what really happened - money banked and bills marked paid. A month marked plan comes from the budget.

The month you are in counts as plan, on purpose. Half a month of receipts against a whole month of budget reads as a collapse in income, and a page that cries wolf every month gets ignored.

The line that matters

Carried forward is what the bank will hold at the end of each month. Read along it. If it goes red, the page says so plainly at the top: "On these figures you run out of money in March 2027".

It is a warning, not a prophecy. It is what your budget and what you have recorded say today. But it is the month to take to the committee.

Rows you did not put there

"Other income (not in the budget)" and "Other spending (not in the budget)" collect the real money that no budget line claims - either because you have not budgeted for it, or because a line has no heading against it.

A small amount there is normal. A large amount there means a budget line is missing its heading, and it is worth going back to fix.

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