Business cash flow forecast or financial planning cash flow?

The short version

A financial planner’s cash flow is a model of your personal money. It tests whether your income, savings, pensions and investments can pay for the life you want, often for decades. A business cash-flow forecast, which is what I prepare, shows the cash going into and out of a business, charity or CIC, month by month, so a lender, funder or board can see whether it can pay its way.

I do not give personal financial, investment or pensions advice, and I do not recommend financial products. If that is what you are looking for, you need a financial planner or an independent financial adviser. I am the wrong person to ask. If you own a business, you may need both.

If the question is about your own money, ask a financial planner. If it is about the business’s money, that is my job.

What a financial planner’s cash flow is

Planners usually call it cash-flow modelling or cash-flow planning. They put your income, spending, pensions, savings, investments and property into a model and project it forward, often year by year for decades. The result is a picture of your future income and wealth, and often a measure of how well the plan holds up if markets or spending change.

It exists to support personal decisions: how much to save, when you could retire, how to draw on a pension. Advice on investments and pensions is regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority, so it should come from a firm the FCA authorises. You can check a firm on the FCA Register.

What a business cash-flow forecast is

I build it from the business’s own figures: sales, costs, VAT, PAYE, corporation tax, loan repayments, stock, how fast customers pay and how fast suppliers are paid. It runs month by month for 12 to 48 months, with a week-by-week view of the tightest stretch. It sits on a linked profit and loss account and balance sheet, so every figure ties.

The readers are a bank credit analyst, a Start Up Loans assessor, a grant funder, an investor or a board. Their question is whether the business can pay its way, how much headroom it has on its worst day, and whether the loan can be repaid. That is the question I answer.

Side by side

Which one do you need?

• A bank, funder or investor has asked for a business cash-flow forecast. They mean a business forecast. That is mine.
• You want to know if you can retire, take a lower salary or put more into a pension. That is personal financial planning. Ask a financial planner or an independent financial adviser.
• You own a business and want both. Many owners do. The forecast shows how much cash the business can safely pay out. A planner can then work out what to do with it. If you already have a planner, I can send them the forecast once you agree.

What I leave alone

I do not give personal financial, investment, pensions or mortgage advice. I do not recommend funds, pension providers or lenders, and I do not build a model of your personal finances. If a forecast raises a personal question, such as how much salary to take, I will flag it and suggest you ask your own accountant or planner.

The one personal document I complete is the personal survival budget that a Start Up Loans application asks for. It is a list of your household’s monthly living costs. I complete it from the figures you give me, as part of the application, and I give no advice on it.

Who regulates what

Advice on personal investments and pensions is regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. That is why a financial planner must appear on the FCA Register. I am not authorised by the FCA, and I do not arrange loans or investments.

Business forecasts and plans are accountancy work. ICAEW lists preparing cash flows, budgets and business plans for a fee as public practice, which needs a practising certificate and professional indemnity insurance. I hold both, and you can check me on ICAEW’s Find a Chartered Accountant directory. The rule is Annex 1 of ICAEW’s 2026 Statement on members engaging in public practice.

Common questions