How does the cash plan work?

It shows, month by month from today, whether your money lasts, ending on a balance for every month. In goes what the forecast's sales bring; out go the purchase plan's stock, when you pay for it, and the VAT return, when it falls due.

Money in is what the forecast's sales leave after the costs you pay as they happen, plus their product cost, because stock is paid when it is bought rather than when it sells, plus the VAT your customers pay, because that money sits in your account until the VAT return. In the current month only the days from tomorrow count; what came in already is in the bank.

Money out is the purchase plan's stock, with VAT, paid on your supplier terms: all on order; 30% on order, 70% on arrival; all on arrival; or 30 days after arrival. Then comes the VAT return: the VAT a period collected minus the VAT you paid on stock, due on the 10th of the month your filing cadence sets. You pick one of four cadences: monthly, paid the next month; monthly, with a one-month extension; quarterly, paid the next month; or quarterly, with a one-month extension. Filing monthly and paying the next month, the VAT collected in March is paid on 10 April. How those dates work in Germany, Austria and Switzerland is set out in the cash flow forecast with VAT.

Enter your cash in the bank today and the balances are real figures; without it they show the change from today. The VAT rate on stock starts at the rate your own sales carry and can be changed. Income tax, loans and the few days a payout takes to arrive are not part of the plan, and the tab says so. To sketch the same plan in a spreadsheet first, the ecommerce cash flow forecast template carries its lines week by week.

The low cash alert can email you when a month-end balance within the next eight weeks will likely drop below a threshold you choose.