As of 13 August 2026, AI can only partly make a monthly 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, chat-fluent skill, and roughly 1 hour until you can act on the result.

   How to actually do it

   1. Open your business bank account and accounting or bookkeeping records, then export the relevant transactions, current cash balance, unpaid invoices, unpaid bills, recurring costs, payroll totals, VAT or tax payment plans and finance payments.
   2. Remove unnecessary personal data and label each figure with its amount, expected payment or receipt month, whether it is actual or forecast, and whether it includes VAT.
   3. Paste the prepared data into the prompt, adding your forecast period, normal customer payment terms, supplier payment terms, payroll timing and any known one-off receipts or payments.
   4. Ask the chatbot to produce the forecast as a copyable table and to list missing figures and assumptions instead of filling gaps.
   5. Paste the table into Excel or Google Sheets, check that each opening balance equals the previous closing balance, and reconcile the first month’s actual receipts and payments to the bank record.
   6. Compare every forecast receipt and payment against your current invoices, bills, payroll information, VAT or tax schedule and finance agreements, then change unsupported assumptions and ask the chatbot to recalculate.
   7. Use the checked forecast to identify cash shortfalls, and send it to your accountant or finance professional before relying on it for major borrowing, payment or staffing decisions.

   Prompt

   Create a monthly cash flow forecast for my UK business from the data and assumptions below. Use pounds sterling and separate cash inflows from cash outflows. Show opening cash, customer receipts, other receipts, supplier payments, payroll, VAT and other tax payments, finance payments, other operating costs, closing cash and the lowest cash balance for each month. Keep actual historical figures separate from forecast figures. Do not invent missing figures: mark them as missing and list what I need to supply. State every assumption, including payment timing, VAT treatment, payroll timing, recurring costs and expected sales receipts. Flag any month where the closing balance or lowest cash balance is negative. Include a base case, a downside case and an upside case only where the supplied data supports them, and explain the changes between cases. Produce a clear table that I can copy into Excel or Google Sheets, plus a short list of checks I should perform. This is management information, not professional advice. Data and assumptions: [paste bank balances and transactions, invoices, bills, payroll totals, VAT or tax payment plans, finance payments, recurring costs, expected receipts, forecast period and scenario assumptions here].

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