Microsoft Excel template cash flow forecast
This article provides details of Microsoft Excel template cash flow forecast that you can download now.
- Total free cash flow was a negative €21 million in the first quarter. The forecast for the current quarter has total MAUs at 289 million to 299 million, total premium subscribers of 133 million to.
- Still, Spotify took the opportunity to trumpet its in-the-black figures. 'For the first time in company history, operating income, net income, and free cash flow were all positive,' it noted in its financial release. 36% of Spotify's listeners are in Europe, versus 30% in North America, 22% in Latin America and 12% in the rest of the world.
Microsoft Excel software under a Windows environment is required to use this template
One other positive note that Spotify wants you to focus on: The company's so-called free cash flow has improved to about $133 million for last year. To be clear, cash flow is traditionally a.
These Microsoft Excel templates cash flow forecast work on all versions of Excel since 2007.
Examples of a ready-to-use spreadsheet: Download this table in Excel (.xls) format, and complete it with your specific information.
To be able to use these models correctly, you must first activate the macros at startup.
The file to download presents four Microsoft Excel template cash flow forecast
These accessible templates can help you predict whether your business will have enough cash to honor its commitments. Expected cash balances that fall below a minimum amount you specify. Enter your data and create a graph of your expected monthly balances.
A cash flow forecast is a tool used by finance and treasury professionals to get a view of upcoming cash requirements across their company. The main purpose of cash flow forecasting is to assist with managing liquidity, the larger the company the more complex and challenging cash flow forecasting becomes.
In this post we look at the main components of a cash flow forecast, the importance of actual cash flow data and a number of different types of cash flow forecasts.
Components of a Cash Flow Forecast
In its simplest form, a cash flow forecast will show you where your cash balances will be at certain points in the future. This helps highlight when and where funding needs arise and allows you to take advantage of times when excess liquidity is available. A more comprehensive cash flow forecast will show you where your cash is right now, where it'll be in the future and what will happen along the way (e.g. classified cash receipts and payments). Typically a cash forecast will contain some or all of the following components:
- • Opening Balance for the period;
• Receipts – broken down by cash flow item/ classification;
• Total Receipts;
• Payments – again broken down by cash flow item;
• Total Payments;
• Net Movement – either by individual cash flow item or at a minimum total net movement.
• Closing balance for the period.
Broadly speaking, most cash forecasts will be structured as shown below. The image below shows a cross section of 13 week cash flow forecast:
The cash flow items that make up the receipt and payment elements are unique to a company's forecasting needs. For example some companies would track high level Accounts Payable / Accounts Receivable cash flows and other companies would break the cash flows down to the level of individual customers and suppliers.
Actual Cash Flow Data
As well as capturing forecasted positions, cash flow forecasts often also capture actual cash flows in the same model or template. In the example above left of the red line indicates that the cash flows are actuals. The benefits of capturing actuals in a cash forecasting process are:
- It ensures that the projected cash flows are starting from the actual cash flow position.
- Historic cash flow data provides a good basis for making future projections.
- Capturing actual cash flows means that you can compare what was forecasted to what was actually received allowing you to analyse the accuracy of the previous forecasts.
Types of Cash Flow Forecasts
When setting up a cash flow forecast the first decision that needs to be made is how far into the future the forecast will look. This will be determined by business needs and the availability of information within your organisation. Generally there is a trade-off between availability of information and forecast duration. The longer the forecast the less detailed the forecast is likely to be.
- • Short term forecasts are used to manage the day-to-day cash needs of a business. Typically they look a couple of weeks into the future and contain a daily breakdown of cash payments and receipts. A daily forecasting process would often include a degree of automation capturing cash flows from bank accounts and ERP systems.
- • Medium term forecasts such as rolling 13 week cash flow forecasts are extremely useful from a liquidity planning perspective. The 13 week period is important as it gives a quarterly view for each submission.
- • Longer term forecasts such as a 12 month forecast is often the starting point for a budgeting process and is an important tool for assessing the cash required for longer term growth strategies and capital projects. The benefits of a long term forecast need to be balanced against the dependability of forecasts over a long period of time.
- • Mixed period forecasts involve a combination of time periods. For example, a forecast spanning six weeks in total could contain two weeks of a daily cash flows and four weeks of weekly cash flows. This approach ensures detailed visibility where it matters most. An example of a mixed period cash forecast is shown below. This example covers a period of four months where cash flows are captured weekly in the first two months and monthly thereafter.
In most companies forecasts are collected on a weekly or monthly basis from business units. Forecasts can either be rolling or fixed term. A rolling cash flow forecast extends with each new submission and a fixed term forecast counts down to an end point such as quarter or year-end.
Spotify Technology SA moved past a slump that hit early in the pandemic, as customers collectively spent more time listening to the service than before Covid-19 shutdowns.
The music-streaming giant added more users than expected in the most recent quarter and said consumption habits have normalized, with in-car listening hours--which had fallen with time spent commuting--exceeding their pre-pandemic peak. Listening on home devices, which exploded during lockdowns, also remained high.
At the close of the quarter ended Sept. 30, Spotify had 320 million monthly active users, higher than its guidance. Paying subscribers, its most lucrative type of customer, grew to 144 million, at the high end of the company's forecast.
During the quarter, average revenue per user for the subscription business slipped 10% to 4.19 euros, equivalent to $4.92, as Spotify brought in new subscribers via discounted plans and charged lower prices in new markets such as India and Russia. The company said it had raised the price of its family plan in seven markets this month.
Revenue from subscriptions was up 15% from a year earlier in the quarter, to EUR1.79 billion, equivalent to $2.1 billion. Advertising revenue returned to growth after sliding in the first half of the year, rising 9% to EUR185 million. Though advertising accounts for 10% or less of Spotify's overall revenue, it has become a growth area--on a double-digit rise before the pandemic--as the company has expanded its podcast business, which led the rebound in the recent quarter.
The company said it now has 1.9 million podcasts available on its service, and during the period 22% of its monthly active users listened to one, up from 21% in the previous quarter. 'The Michelle Obama Podcast, ' a Spotify exclusive launched in July, was the most-listened to podcast through August. 'The Joe Rogan Experience,' which arrived on Spotify in September, is now the No. 1 show in all of the service's English-language markets, the company said.
Revenue climbed 14% to EUR1.98 billion, in line with guidance.
Spotify swung to a loss of EUR101 million, or 58 European cents a share, in the third quarter, from a profit of EUR241 million, or 36 European cents a share, a year earlier. While the company has periodically reported a quarterly profit, executives have said it will continue to give priority to growth--attracting new subscribers and investing in podcasts.
Free cash flow, a measure of the cash a company generates from operations--viewed by many investors as a proxy for performance--was EUR103 million, more than double the EUR48 million a year earlier.
For the fourth quarter, the company forecast growth in monthly active users to between 340 million and 345 million, and in premium subscribers to between 150 million and 154 million. It guided for revenue of EUR2 billion to EUR2.2 billion.
News Corp's Dow Jones & Co., publisher of The Wall Street Journal, has a content partnership with Spotify's Gimlet Media unit.
Write to Anne Steele at Anne.Steele@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
Free Cash Flow Forecast
October 29, 2020 06:14 ET (10:14 GMT)
How To Forecast Cash Flow
Copyright (c) 2020 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.