Cash Flow Forecast Report

Use the Cash Flow Forecast report to forecast projected cash amounts for future periods, based on budget amounts in the General Ledger budget.

Cash flow generally consists of two parts. The Cash Flow Forecast report shows both parts:

• Inflow of revenue through accounts receivable and other income. Additional funds come from disposal of fixed assets, issuance of stock, and borrowing from long-term sources.
• Outflow through accounts payable from overhead, debt, and taxes. Additional outflow may be for purchases of fixed assets, payment of dividends, retirement of long-term liabilities, and repurchase of equity.

By analyzing the inflow and outflow of cash on the Cash Flow Forecast report, you can explain changes in cash during a given accounting period. You can also use this report to do the following:

• Determine if sufficient funds are available from financing activities.
• Show funds generated from all sources.
• Show how funds are applied.

For example, the Cash Flow Forecast report can show if there is enough cash to pay suppliers' bills and also pay bank loans, interest, and dividends.

The Cash Flow Forecast report includes amounts for cash inflow, cash outflow, other changes in cash, and a net cash total. The accounts receivable, accounts payable, and salary cost ranges contain a formula that generates the amounts from the general ledger budget, based on average collection days and average payment days.

Use the Cash Flow Forecast report to do the following:

• Forecast up to six future periods.
• Report actual current and year-to-date inflow and outflow of cash.
• Specify up to 26 prior fiscal periods to use in calculating the average collection or payment period.
• Override DPS calculations of average collection and payment days to use specific numbers.
• Base forecasted amounts on one or more budgets.

Set Up the Cash Flow Forecast Report

To set up the Cash Flow Forecast report, you must add accounts to the General Ledger budget. Since all future calculations are based on the General Ledger budget, enter accurate budget predictions. DPS evaluates projected budget amounts for each future period by calculating budget amounts from the last day of each period. For example, the budget for the first future period is calculated from the last day of that period, counting backwards to the prior periods. Each month is based on thirty days.

Future Period Calculations

The future period calculations on this report assume that your firm does not pay vouchers in the same month as it incurs the expense. The calculations also assume that you do not receive the cash from clients in the same month for which the revenue was budgeted.

For this reason, DPS includes the average collection period and average payment terms in the calculation. DPS looks at the previous month's budgets to see cash inflow and outflow in the calculated month. For example, if the average collection period is 34 days, then DPS takes a piece of the budget (26/30) from the previous month and a piece of the budget from the month before (4/30) to calculate the amount you expect to receive in the future period.

Multiple Companies

If you are using multiple companies, this report only shows data for the active company.

Options Dialog Box

Use the Options dialog box to specify reporting options for a report. Depending on the report, the dialog box contains one or more of the following tabs: General, Sorting/Grouping, Columns, Budget, Metrics, User Defined Sections, Activity, Drill Down, Layout, and Graph.