As of 13 August 2026, AI can only partly create a 13-week cash flow forecast.

What to actually do

1. Hand it to a person

   The route this page recommends

   A person who owns the outcome does this end to end, worth it when the failure is dear.

2. Use a tool built for this

   Second choice

3. Do it yourself

   The distant third

   A chat interface, power-user skill, and roughly 1 hour until you can act on the result.

   How to actually do it

   1. Open the business bank accounts and accounting or bookkeeping records, then record the opening cash balance and the date of each balance.
   2. Gather unpaid customer invoices, expected sales receipts, loans and other income, including the amount, expected receipt date, customer or source and confidence in payment.
   3. Gather payroll dates and amounts, PAYE and National Insurance payments, VAT and corporation tax payments, supplier bills, rent, finance payments, direct debits and other committed costs.
   4. Paste the gathered data into the prompt and set the start date for the first forecast week, asking the model to use only supplied figures and to flag missing information.
   5. Export the forecast into a spreadsheet and check every opening balance, receipt, payment and weekly total against the bank records, invoices, payroll information and tax payment records.
   6. Ask a colleague or accountant to challenge the payment-timing assumptions and cautious and severe scenarios, then update the forecast and use the final closing balances to plan cash actions.

   Prompt

   Create a 13-week cash flow forecast for a UK business from the data below. Use one column for each week, starting on [START DATE]. Show opening cash, cash received, cash paid, net cash movement and closing cash for every week. Put receipts and payments into clear categories such as customer invoices, card sales, loans, payroll, VAT, PAYE and National Insurance, corporation tax, rent, suppliers, finance payments and other overheads. Use only the figures and dates supplied. Do not invent missing values, assume that an invoice will be paid on its due date, or treat uncertain receipts as certain. Flag missing, contradictory or late data. For each receipt and payment, state the source, expected date, amount, confidence level and the week assigned. Include a base case, a cautious case where uncertain receipts are delayed, and a severe case where material receipts are delayed and essential costs remain due. List every assumption separately. Reconcile the opening cash to the supplied bank balance and show the calculation for each closing balance. Return a copyable table, followed by assumptions, exceptions, cash pinch points and the specific information I need to provide next. Business details: [BUSINESS TYPE AND VAT STATUS]. Opening bank balances: [PASTE BANK BALANCES]. Expected receipts: [PASTE CUSTOMER INVOICES, SALES RECEIPTS AND OTHER INCOME]. Planned payments: [PASTE PAYROLL, TAXES, SUPPLIERS, RENT, LOANS AND OTHER COSTS]. Other timing information: [PASTE PAYMENT TERMS, DIRECT DEBITS, COMMITTED ORDERS AND KNOWN CHANGES].

   Open it prefilled in ChatGPT or Claude, or copy it into Gemini, which takes no prefill link.