A 13-week forecast shows a low week before it arrives. An auto repair shop can collect at pickup, invoice business customers the day a vehicle is ready and keep less stock on the shelf. A credit line can carry a low week, and the forecast shows how large a line to ask about.
13-week cash flow forecast for case costs: a Marquette County, MI law office lays out expert fees beside payroll
Illustration only, invented figures: a Marquette County, MI law office opens the quarter with $16,000 in its operating account. It pays $7,850 of payroll in odd-numbered weeks, rent with overhead of $3,600 in weeks 1, 5, 9 and 13 ($450 in the other weeks), and case costs as they fall due, the largest an expert witness retainer of $6,500 in week 6. The table carries each week to an ending balance.
| Week | Fees collected | Payroll | Rent and overhead | Case costs | Ending balance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Week 1 | $8,200 | $7,850 | $3,600 | $0 | $12,750 |
| Week 2 | $5,600 | $0 | $450 | $0 | $17,900 |
| Week 3 | $7,900 | $7,850 | $450 | $0 | $17,500 |
| Week 4 | $4,300 | $0 | $450 | $1,280 | $20,070 |
| Week 5 | $6,800 | $7,850 | $3,600 | $0 | $15,420 |
| Week 6 | $2,400 | $0 | $450 | $6,500 | $10,870 |
| Week 7 | $3,100 | $7,850 | $450 | $0 | $5,670 |
| Week 8 | $12,600 | $0 | $450 | $3,750 | $14,070 |
| Week 9 | $7,300 | $7,850 | $3,600 | $0 | $9,920 |
| Week 10 | $6,900 | $0 | $450 | $940 | $15,430 |
| Week 11 | $8,700 | $7,850 | $450 | $0 | $15,830 |
| Week 12 | $9,900 | $0 | $450 | $620 | $24,660 |
| Week 13 | $7,400 | $7,850 | $3,600 | $0 | $20,610 |
In this invented forecast the balance bottoms out in week 7, at $5,670. An office that wants $8,000 on hand every week would be $2,330 short in that week and in no other, which is the size of credit line draw to ask about; the quarter still ends at $20,610.
How can a business improve cash flow? Parts accounts at a Marquette, MI auto repair shop
For an auto repair shop, much of the cash sits in two places: parts already bought and customers' bills not yet paid. Moves that can shorten the wait:
- Collect at pickup: the vehicle leaves once the bill is paid by card or check.
- Invoice fleet and business customers the same afternoon the vehicle is ready, with the due date printed on it.
- Pay parts suppliers on the date their terms allow, not the day the statement arrives.
- Send unused special-order parts back inside the supplier's return window.
- Keep shelf stock to the filters, pads and fluids that turn over every week, and order the rest per job.
- Hold a credit line for a week when a big parts order and payroll land together, and pay it down as invoices are collected.
How to prepare a cash flow forecast: a Marquette County, MI example built on weekly food orders
A sit-down restaurant can build a forecast from the bills it already has. The steps:
- Write the operating account's balance as of the first Monday; every other line adds to it or takes from it.
- List food orders by week from the supplier invoices: produce and dairy each week, meat and dry goods on their own days.
- Add payroll on its real paydays, and rent, card fees and loan payments on their due dates.
- Estimate sales by week from the last several weeks of point-of-sale reports, and keep the estimate plain.
- Carry each week's ending balance into the next week's start.
- Mark any week that falls under the cushion the restaurant wants on hand, and note what it would draw on a credit line that week.
Illustration only, invented figures: food orders of $4,350 a week come to $56,550 over 13 weeks before any other cost, which is why the order line deserves its own row.
Full-service restaurants (NAICS 722511) counted 57 employer establishments in Marquette County, MI in 2023, with $25,614,000 of annual payroll among them (County Business Patterns).
Business funding articles for Marquette, MI home builders and sit-down restaurants weighing payroll
Each article on this blog follows a single cost from the bill to the payment. For a home builder, the payroll question is a framing crew's pay coming due every week or two while the homeowner's draw has not yet been released; the working capital page works through that wait with a loan, while the line of credit page carries lumber and windows on a credit line until the draw pays. For a sit-down restaurant, it is how many cooks and servers to carry against a week of sales.
Topics the articles cover:
- Kitchen and payroll funding: a pizzeria mixer, cook-line refrigeration and a lunch shift
- Restocking a bike shop between deliveries, with its repair stand and display racks
- Dental practice funding for Saturday hours and an appliance lab bench
- Loans of six to eighteen months at a grooming salon and a flooring installer
- Records to gather before a loan request, trade by trade
- A credit line for supplier bills that arrive unevenly, at an optometry office
Residential building construction (NAICS 2361) counted 71 employer establishments in Marquette County, MI in 2023 (County Business Patterns).
By Cloverbrook Capital Group · Updated
