Cashflow Forecast Template (Free Google Sheet Tool)
Managing cashflow is one of the most important responsibilities for any e-commerce or Shopify business. Cash determines whether you can buy inventory, invest in growth, pay suppliers on time, and keep your business stable during seasonal fluctuations. Yet most founders either rely on bank balance guessing or struggle with complicated spreadsheets they don’t trust.
To make cash planning simple, we’ve created a free Cashflow Forecast Template in Google Sheets. It’s structured, easy to use, and gives you a clear 12-month view of your inflows, outflows, and cash position — with zero finance experience required.
This article walks you through the template, explains how it works, and shows how Verve AI can automate key forecasting tasks inside your Shopify store.
What Is a Cashflow Forecast?
A cashflow forecast estimates how much cash will enter and leave your business over a future period. For e-commerce brands, this typically means projecting:
Cash received from sales
Cash spent on inventory
Marketing & operating costs
Payroll
Software tools
Tax and loan repayments
Unlike profit forecasts, cashflow forecasting focuses on the actual timing of money movements, making it far more practical for real-world decision making.
What’s Included in Our Cashflow Forecast Template
This Google Sheets template is designed specifically for e-commerce merchants and early-stage operators. It contains four key tabs:
1. Cashflow Forecast (Main Engine)
A pre-structured table that separates:
Inflows:
Sales receipts
Other income
Loan drawdowns
VAT/tax refunds
Investor capital
Outflows:
Inventory purchasing (COGS)
Payroll
Marketing & ad spend
Rent & utilities
Software & SaaS tools
Loan repayments
Tax payments
Refunds & chargebacks
The template automatically calculates:
Monthly net cash
Opening and closing cash balances
Annual totals
This gives you a clear view of how your cash position changes over time.
2. Dashboard
A clean, visual summary for operators:
Starting and ending cash balance
Net cash movement
Inflows vs outflows
Lowest monthly cash balance
Line chart of your monthly cash position
Bar chart of inflows vs outflows
This is ideal for investor reports, team alignment, or monthly planning.
3. Methodology
A plain-English explanation of:
How cashflow works
Why cash doesn’t equal profit
How inventory purchases impact liquidity
How to adjust your assumptions safely
Great for users with limited financial experience.
Verve AI Sheet
A short guide showing how manual spreadsheets compare to real-time forecasting inside Shopify using Verve AI.
How to Use the Cashflow Forecast Template
Step 1 — Set your opening cash balance
Enter your current cash position (e.g., January opening balance).
This becomes the anchor for the entire forecast.
Step 2 — Add monthly inflows
Fill in how much cash you expect to receive each month.
This includes real customer payments — not just future revenue.
Step 3 — Add monthly outflows
List your expected expenses:
Inventory orders
Ad spend
Software tools
Payroll
Loan payments
Tax obligations
The template will calculate monthly totals automatically.
Step 4 — Review your cash trajectory
See how your closing cash balance changes month-by-month.
Identify:
Which months are cash-positive or cash-negative
When you may run low on cash
Whether you can afford upcoming inventory purchases
How long your cash runway is
Step 5 — Adjust your assumptions
Update inflows/outflows until you reach a realistic plan you can operate against.
Why Cashflow Forecasting Is Essential for E-Commerce
Shopify merchants in particular deal with volatile cash patterns:
Long supplier lead times
Inventory purchases that drain liquidity
Sales spikes followed by quiet periods
Payout delays
Return and refund cycles
A cashflow forecast gives clarity around:
When to place inventory orders
Whether you can afford a new marketing push
How much buffer you need for seasonality
Whether you need funding or a credit line
Which months require tighter cost control
It’s one of the simplest but most important tools in your financial toolkit.
Download the Cashflow Forecast Template - Instant Access Below
The file is fully editable — duplicate it, customise it for your team, or integrate it into monthly planning.Why Most Sales Forecast Templates Fall Short
Why Spreadsheets Eventually Break — and How Verve AI Helps
While this template is a great starting point, manual cashflow forecasting has limitations:
Numbers get outdated quickly
Forecast doesn’t adjust to real-time sales
Inventory replenishment isn’t linked to cash outflows
Spreadsheets struggle when you add more products
Forecasting becomes slow, manual, and error-prone
That’s where Verve AI comes in.
How Verve AI Improves Cashflow Planning
Verve AI:
Pulls real sales and inventory data from Shopify
Forecasts demand at variant level
Calculates reorder points using supplier lead times
Helps plan purchase orders that keep cashflow stable
Warns you about stockouts or overstock (both impact cash)
Provides a live, continuously updated forecasting model
Instead of manually guessing future cash needs, Verve AI gives you a dynamic forecast tied directly to your store’s performance.
Automate Forecasting With Verve AI
If this template helps you, you’ll love what Verve AI can do with your real sales data.