Free Cash Flow Forecasting Model (Excel)
12-month cash flow projection template
The template is one Cash Flow Forecast sheet with 13 rows: a starting-balance row followed by Month 1 through Month 12. Rename the month labels to your actual calendar months and you're forecasting a full year.
Each month has two inputs — cash in and cash out — and the sheet computes net cash flow and a running ending-cash balance for every row, so you can see the trajectory of your cash position across the whole year, not just one month at a time.
A line chart plots ending cash by month, which makes it easy to spot at a glance whether the trend is climbing, flat, or heading toward a shortfall well before it happens.
Building your monthly cash in and cash out
Cash in should be everything you expect to actually receive that month — collected revenue, not invoiced revenue, plus any financing or owner contributions. Cash out is every real cash outflow: payroll, rent, loan payments, taxes, and vendor bills.
Because the model only asks for two numbers per month, it's fast to build the first draft and just as fast to update once real numbers come in — swap an estimate for the actual figure and every downstream calculation updates instantly.
The forecast doesn't split inflows or outflows into categories; if you need a category breakdown of spending, use it alongside a bookkeeping ledger and roll the category totals up into this month's Cash out figure.
Reading your ending cash, average burn and runway
The summary totals 12 months of inflows and outflows, shows net cash flow for the year, and calculates your average monthly outflow (burn) and your runway — how many months your current cash position lasts at that average burn rate.
If the ending-cash line on the chart crosses zero at any point in the 12 months, that's your funding gap: the month where, on these assumptions, you'd run out of cash before covering that month's outflows.
Runway in months is the single number worth watching month to month — a shrinking runway across successive forecasts is an early warning to cut costs or raise cash before the ending-cash line actually goes negative.
Who this cash flow forecast is for
Small business owners, freelancers, and early-stage founders who need a simple 12-month cash view without building a financial model from scratch are the main fit.
It's also useful heading into a lender conversation or an investor update: a clean 12-month cash flow forecast with ending cash and runway is a standard ask, and this template produces exactly that without extra formatting work.
Update it monthly by replacing each month's estimate with the actual once it's known, and re-forecast the remaining months — that habit keeps the runway number honest instead of stale.
How to use it
- Enter your starting cash balance in the first row's Cash in cell.
- Fill in expected cash in and cash out for each of the next 12 months, renaming the month labels to match your calendar.
- Watch net cash flow and ending cash update automatically as you type.
- Check the summary for total inflows/outflows, average monthly burn, and runway in months.
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Small Business Bookkeeping & Tax Dashboard
If you need your actual cash in and cash out categorized for taxes with a quarterly set-aside, the paid Bookkeeping template ($19) turns your bookkeeping into the real numbers this forecast needs.
See the full versionFrequently asked questions
Can I use this cash flow forecast in Google Sheets?
Yes. Upload the downloaded file to Google Drive, then open it and choose File > Save as Google Sheets. All the totals and the chart keep working.
Is this template really free?
Yes. You give an email address to download it, and then it's yours to use with no further cost.
Does it include best/expected/worst-case scenarios?
No, it's a single 12-month scenario. To model a different case, duplicate the sheet tab and adjust the cash in / cash out assumptions in the copy.
Does it track actual vs. forecast variance?
Not as a separate column. Replace an estimate with the actual figure once it's known and re-forecast the remaining months; the ending-cash and runway numbers update from there.
Can I forecast 13 weeks instead of 12 months?
The template is built as 12 monthly periods, not weekly. You could relabel the periods as weeks, but the runway and burn formulas assume monthly figures.
What's the usage license?
Personal use or use within one business. It's not meant to be resold or redistributed as a template product.