Plan the next 12 months of cash
No account, contact details or document upload required.
Use cash movement, not just annual profit
For each relative month, enter collections and actual variable, fixed operating, debt, equipment and other cash payments. Separate operating costs from debt principal and equipment purchases. Taxes, owner distributions, deposits or other obligations belong in the appropriate payment category if you want them modeled; the planner does not calculate them.
Membership counts or billed sales are not automatically collections. Use expected receipt dates and amounts. The template simply repeats your amounts; it does not supply an Indiana seasonal curve, a demand forecast, a financing rate or a typical margin.
The method and the opening-cash requirement
Monthly net cash = collections − variable payments − fixed payments − debt payments − equipment payments − other cash payments. Month-end balance = preceding balance + monthly net cash. All entries are rounded to cents. Month 0 is the opening position, before any modeled collections.
For each scenario, start cumulative net movement at zero and find its minimum across opening and all twelve months. Required opening cash = max(0, your minimum retained cash − that minimum cumulative movement). Additional opening cash needed = max(required opening cash − your entered opening cash, 0). This is a model requirement under entered timing, not a lender requirement or a funding commitment.
What the receipt stress changes
The comparison reduces each month’s collections by the percentage you enter. Every entered payment stays unchanged. This deliberately isolates receipt sensitivity; if you expect variable spending to change, edit the underlying monthly plan and calculate again. No recovery period, new loan, interest earnings, later equity injection or automatic expense reduction is assumed.
The first negative month and first month below your chosen minimum include the opening position. A negative modeled balance identifies unfunded payments, not an assumed overdraft. A later recovery does not erase an earlier shortfall. Review actual weekly or daily timing before relying on a month-end balance.
Worked example: a cash dip hidden by annual totals
Assume $20,000 opening cash, a $5,000 retained minimum, $30,000 monthly collections, $6,000 variable payments, $12,000 fixed payments and $5,000 debt payments. Add a $35,000 equipment payment in month 3 and no other payments. The annual net movement is positive $49,000, but month 3 ends at $6,000. Required opening cash to retain the chosen minimum is $19,000.
With collections reduced 20% and all payments unchanged, month 3 ends at −$12,000. Required opening cash rises to $37,000, so the entered $20,000 leaves $17,000 additional opening cash needed. The stressed year ends at −$3,000. These are hypothetical figures, not typical car wash results.
Keep the acquisition and equipment models aligned
Use the acquisition calculator for project sources, uses and debt schedules. Use the equipment reserve planner to organize quotes and replacement assumptions, then place actual cash work in the relevant month here. Do not subtract both an internal reserve transfer and the same equipment payment from the same available cash pool.
SBA’s finance guidance distinguishes accounting methods and discusses cash-flow planning. This planner uses your own dated cash assumptions and does not determine accounting or tax treatment.
Source and scope
Reviewed October 17, 2026. SBA business finance guidance supports the distinction between cash timing and accounting recognition. The equations and stress scenario above are this tool’s disclosed method.