Your cash forecast missed the mark. Find out why.
The actual bank balance is lower than expected
Imagine the forecast predicted a comfortable closing balance, but the week ends much tighter. A customer paid late, an unrecorded supplier invoice was paid and an estimated receipt was too optimistic. One large difference hides three separate causes.
Keep the forecast used to make the week's decisions. Replacing it with actual figures before comparing them removes the evidence needed to improve the next estimate.
Compare the same accounts and dates
Check that the actual result covers the same business accounts and reporting period as the forecast. Reconcile internal transfers and any opening-balance correction before concluding that operations performed differently.
business.gov.au recommends comparing estimated and actual income and costs. Use the same reporting basis so a mismatch does not become an invented business explanation.
Distinguish a delay from a changed amount
A receipt that moved to next week differs from an invoice now expected to be only partly paid. Record whether the difference concerns timing, value or both, and identify the evidence behind the new expectation.
Do not move an unpaid receipt forward every week without checking it. A repeated delay may call for a separate collection or dispute decision rather than another automatic date change.
Find commitments that were missing altogether
Check whether the supplier invoice was genuinely unexpected or simply absent from the forecast. Ask how approved purchases, site orders and payment arrangements reach the person maintaining the cash view.
Fix the handover that allowed the omission. Blaming the spreadsheet will not help if the site team commits to spending and accounts learns about it only when the bill arrives.
Update the assumption and its owner
For each material difference, record the reason, next action and person responsible. An invoice query belongs with the person able to resolve it; an estimate needs the person who knows the underlying job.
Revise future weeks using what has changed. Keep a short version note explaining major amendments. Avoid treating one unusual week as proof that every future receipt or cost must move by the same percentage.
Ask whether the decision still works
Review commitments made using the old forecast. Does the revised position still support the planned purchase or creditor proposal? Seek advice promptly if the business's ability to meet debts has deteriorated.
Bring the old forecast, actual result and explanation to CRP if the cash pressure needs broader attention. The useful output is a more informed decision, not a perfectly tidy history in which every prediction appears to have been right.