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Build a fixed cash budget workbook from collection schedules, payment dates and approved financing assumptions. Use the worked cell layout to preserve the approval, reconcile cash and debt, and compare actual movements with budget.
A cash budget template connects approved receipts, payments and financing to an opening and closing cash balance for each period. The useful workbook includes the schedules behind those totals and checks that prove the balances. Preserve the approved columns, then compare actual bank movements against that fixed baseline.
Start with the company, account scope, budget period, approval date and owner. State whether restricted accounts are excluded and identify the minimum available cash management wants to maintain. These choices belong beside the numbers so another reviewer can rebuild the same result.
| Sheet | Required columns or fields | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| Approval and assumptions | Version, approver, period, cash floor, account scope | Preserve what management approved |
| Receipts | Customer, reference, settlement date, amount, owner | Schedule cash collections |
| Payments | Supplier or payee, category, payment date, amount, owner | Schedule cash leaving the business |
| Financing | Facility, opening principal, draw date, repayment date, interest payment | Separate funding from operating movements |
| Cash summary | Opening cash, receipts, payments, financing, closing cash | Show availability by period |
| Actual comparison | Reference, actual settlement date, category, actual amount, budget amount | Explain departures from approval |
The OpenStax financial-budget guide shows how collections, payments and capital spending feed a cash budget. Use that dependency when assembling the workbook: establish supporting dates before filling the summary.
This layout owns the fixed approval and financing checks. Use the cash flow forecast guide for a rolling outlook and the broader business budget template for the operating plan that supplies many of these assumptions.
Bring the opening reconciled bank balance, receivables expected to settle, supplier due dates, payroll calendar, approved asset payments and debt schedule. Record the amount actually expected to move through the bank. For example, a partly settled invoice needs its unpaid cash amount, rather than its original face value.
The SBA's guide to managing business finances distinguishes the timing of a sale from the later cash receipt. Apply that same discipline here: revenue assumptions do not become receipts until collection timing is assigned.
Give each row a unique reference and one payment category. Keep transfers between included bank accounts out of receipts and payments, because they do not change cash for the combined scope. Exclude noncash depreciation while including the dated equipment payment.
An activity-based budget template can explain operating resource demand. This cash workbook then translates the approved resource purchases into payment dates; it does not rebuild the activity calculation.
A US distributor begins January with $30,000 available cash and no borrowing on the illustrated facility. Management sets a $20,000 minimum balance. The following table places labels in column A, January in B and February in C, starting with opening cash on row 2.
Amounts are USD without rounding. Interest payments are supplied schedule assumptions.
| Row and line (USD) | January: B | February: C | Formula or entry for B |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2 Opening cash | 30,000 | 20,000 | Opening bank balance |
| 3 Customer receipts | 140,000 | 175,000 | Receipts schedule total |
| 4 Supplier payments | 85,000 | 90,000 | Payments schedule total |
| 5 Payroll and administration | 55,000 | 56,000 | Payments schedule total |
| 6 Equipment payments | 15,000 | 0 | Capital payment schedule |
| 7 Interest payments | 1,000 | 1,000 | Financing schedule |
| 8 Total payments | 156,000 | 147,000 | =SUM(B4:B7) |
| 9 Cash before financing | 14,000 | 48,000 | =B2+B3-B8 |
| 10 Minimum cash | 20,000 | 20,000 | Approved assumption |
| 11 Opening facility borrowing | 0 | 6,000 | Opening debt balance |
| 12 Required borrowing | 6,000 | 0 | =MAX(0,B10-B9) |
| 13 Principal repayment | 0 | 6,000 | =MIN(B11,MAX(0,B9-B10)) |
| 14 Closing cash | 20,000 | 42,000 | =B9+B12-B13 |
| 15 Closing facility borrowing | 6,000 | 0 | =B11+B12-B13 |
| 16 Cash reconciliation difference | 0 | 0 | =B14-B2-B3+B8-B12+B13 |
Copy the calculated formulas across. Link February's opening cash and opening borrowing to January's closing balances:
C2=B14
C11=B15
January payments total 85,000 + 55,000 + 15,000 + 1,000 = $156,000. Available cash before financing is 30,000 + 140,000 − 156,000 = $14,000. The borrowing formula identifies the $6,000 needed to reach the approved floor.
February has $48,000 before financing. Repaying the outstanding $6,000 leaves $42,000 cash and no facility borrowing. The repayment formula caps repayment at opening debt; it cannot create a negative principal balance.
The borrowing formula calculates a funding need. It does not prove that a lender has approved a draw or that the timing matches a facility agreement. Keep approved availability and settlement dates in the financing sheet, and flag any required amount that cannot be supported.
If repayments are contractually fixed, enter that schedule instead of using the illustrative discretionary repayment formula. Interest must follow the actual approved schedule as well. The cash budget explainer covers the management purpose behind these financing lines.
Every reconciliation difference on row 16 must be zero. Every new opening balance must equal the preceding close. Opening borrowing plus draws less repayments must equal closing borrowing, and repayments must not exceed the principal available to repay.
Across both months, receipts are $315,000 and payments are $303,000. Borrowing and repayments are both $6,000, leaving no net financing movement. The whole-period check is 30,000 + 315,000 − 303,000 + 6,000 − 6,000 = $42,000.
After approval, compare actual movements in the same category structure. The budget versus actual template supports variance presentation; keep receipt shortfalls and payment overruns clearly labeled rather than giving both an unexplained favorable or unfavorable sign.
Upload the approved cash budget workbook or Google Sheet and a sample of your own actual cash movements. Covirage maps the columns, and its tools compute and check the comparisons; the external AI model explains the result with every figure traced to its rows. Create a free Covirage account in about a minute, then set up your business and bring your file.
See financial planning and analysis reporting for the supporting use case.
Use an assumptions and approval sheet, a receipts schedule, a payments schedule, a financing schedule and a cash summary. Add an actual-versus-budget sheet after approval. Each summary amount should trace to dated supporting rows rather than a manually entered total.
Choose the period that reveals the company's payment constraints. Monthly columns can support a fixed annual approval, while weekly detail can expose payment dates hidden inside a month. Keep the scope and approval version consistent when aggregating the weekly schedule.
Preserve the approved version with its date and owner, and load actual movements into separate columns or a separate sheet. Reconcile actual cash to the bank before comparing it. Record later assumptions as a forecast rather than silently replacing the original budget.