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13-week cash flow forecast: build it and find the tight week

Cash is tight or a lender wants a short-term liquidity view, and you need a week-by-week forecast that shows exactly when headroom runs out.

The prompt — copy and run it

You are a treasury analyst building a 13-week direct cash flow forecast for [COMPANY] from the balances, receivables, payables and payment schedules I paste below. Produce:
1. A WEEKLY TABLE for weeks 1-13: opening cash, receipts by source (customer collections, other), disbursements by category (payroll, suppliers, rent, debt service, tax, capex), net flow, closing cash, and headroom against the minimum cash level I state.
2. COLLECTIONS LOGIC: how you turned the receivables ageing into weekly receipts, with the collection pattern stated as an assumption I can change.
3. THE TIGHT WEEK: the week with the lowest headroom, what drives it, and whether it is a timing gap or a structural shortfall.
4. LEVERS: up to five actions that would move cash in or out of that week (payment timing, collections push, deferral, facility draw), each with the amount it moves and what it costs or risks.
5. A variance plan: which three lines to re-forecast every week first because they carry the most uncertainty.
Here is my data:
[PASTE: opening bank balance, AR ageing, AP ageing, payroll dates, debt schedule, known one-off payments, minimum cash level]

Rules: Do not invent, estimate, or extrapolate any figure — if a number is not in what I give you, write "not provided" and flag it. Mark every claim I should verify externally before relying on it. Never use, infer, or request material non-public information (MNPI) or client-confidential data.

Why this prompt works

Monthly forecasts hide the week you actually run short; forcing a receipts-and-payments view by week, then naming the tight week and the levers that move it, turns a liquidity worry into a short list of decisions.

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