Tool
Cash gap planner
Map what goes out against what comes in, week by week, and find the deepest point before it arrives.
Most owners know they are heading for a squeeze and do not know how deep it goes or exactly when it lands. Those two numbers decide everything: how much to arrange, and whether you have time to arrange it cheaply.
Fill in what you expect each week. Leave a week blank if nothing moves. Use realistic payment dates for your customers, not your stated terms — the gap between the two is usually where the problem is.
Facility size adds a 25% buffer to the deepest shortfall and rounds up, because forecasts are optimistic and the season starts late more often than early. Nothing you type here leaves your browser.
Why thirteen weeks
Thirteen weeks is the standard horizon in cash management because it is long enough to show a pattern and short enough to forecast honestly. Beyond a quarter you are guessing; below it you cannot see a seasonal dip coming.
How to fill it in without fooling yourself
- Use the dates customers actually pay, not your terms. If your terms are net-30 and you are actually paid in 52 days, use 52. This single correction is the difference between a useful plan and a comfortable one.
- Put payroll in on the real dates. It is the outflow that cannot slip.
- Include tax and insurance, which are the two lumpy items people forget because they do not arrive monthly.
- Include existing debt payments, and if you have a daily or weekly debit, multiply it out properly — the debt stacking worksheet does that for you.
- Leave genuinely uncertain revenue out. A forecast that assumes the big order lands is not a cash plan, it is a hope.
What to do with the answer
| If the low point is | What that means |
|---|---|
| Nothing — no shortfall | You do not need financing for this period. Keep the plan and re-run it monthly. |
| Shallow and brief | Often solvable without borrowing: chase receivables, ask for supplier terms, delay a discretionary purchase. |
| Deep, 9 to 13 weeks out | Ideal. Arrange a line of credit now while your recent figures look strong. This is the cheapest money you will ever be offered. |
| Deep, inside 8 weeks | A bank or SBA facility may not arrive in time. Work the free levers hard first — see customers pay slowly. |
| Deep and recurring every quarter | This is structural, not a gap. Borrowing repeatedly to cover it postpones a pricing or cost problem. |
Then check you can afford it
Knowing the size of the gap is half the question. Whether your cash flow supports the repayment is the other half, and it is the test a lender runs first — the affordability calculator runs the same one.