Chapter 26
Will there be enough money next month?
Profitable and solvent are not the same question. A shop can be making money on paper and still be unable to pay next week's supplier, if too much of that money is owed to it rather than held.
The forecast starts from what you actually have today — the same figure your fund report gives, not a second guess at it — and adds what is genuinely expected in the weeks ahead: money customers are due to pay, and money you are due to pay out.
What "expected" means here
It follows the due dates that were actually recorded, not a guess at when people usually pay late. That is a deliberate choice: a forecast built on an average is one you cannot check against anything, while a forecast built on real due dates is one you can walk through invoice by invoice if it looks wrong.
Money that is already overdue is shown on its own, separately from the weeks ahead — because it may never arrive, and folding it into next week's total would make the forecast look better than it honestly is.