# A twelve-month cash flow forecast > A cash flow forecast example, month by month with real payment timing: prepayments, payouts twice a month, quarterly invoices and the summer valley a yearly total hides. - Course: [Finance for Product People: From Unit Economics to Business Cases](https://productovi.com/courses/finance-for-product.md) - Module: How much cash does growth need? - Lesson 15/32, ~28 min - Source: https://productovi.com/courses/finance-for-product/twelve-month-cash-plan ## A good year on paper **Alex Tutor:** Still on Klasna's product team: Hanna has finished the 2027 cash plan, and Leo has read the total. **Leo:** The 2027 plan says we end the year with 4.5 million more cash than we start with. So we're fine all year, and I can sign the new Teams deals. **Hanna:** The year is fine. Not every month is. That's why I built it month by month. **Alex Tutor:** A **cash plan**, or **cash flow forecast**, shows cash in, cash out and the closing balance for each month, with the real timing of every payment. It answers one question the P&L can't: will there be enough money in the bank on every day of the year? **Dataset (CSV):** [Klasna's cash plan for 2027](https://productovi.com/datasets/finance-for-product/twelve-month-cash-plan/klasna-cash-plan-2027.csv) One row per month, UAH, made in December 2026. Cash on 1 January 2027: 250,000. Tutor payouts earned in December 2026: 3,281,000. Teams is invoiced on the last day of each school-year quarter (February, May, August, November) and paid 60 days later. - `families_paid_uah`: Cash in: package payments - `club_paid_uah`: Cash in: Club payments - `teams_invoiced_uah`: Teams invoices sent this month (not cash) - `teams_collected_uah`: Cash in: Teams invoices paid this month - `payment_fees_uah`: Cash out: the provider's 2.5% of package and Club payments - `tutor_payouts_earned_uah`: Payouts for this month's lessons, 1:1 and Teams (not cash) - `tutor_payouts_paid_uah`: Cash out: half of this month's payouts plus half of last month's - `video_ai_paid_uah`: Cash out: last month's bill for video, AI and Club hosts - `salaries_uah`: Cash out: team salaries and support coordinators (marketing_uah, office_tools_uah: the same month) - `net_cash_flow_uah`: Cash in minus cash out - `closing_cash_uah`: Cash at the end of the month **Alex Tutor:** Start with one line to see the timing. Tutors are paid twice a month: the first half of a month on the 20th, the second half on the 5th of the next month. So each month pays half of its own payouts and half of last month's. > **Exercise:** Tutor payouts earned were 3,281,000 UAH in December 2026 and 3,270,800 in January 2027. How much does Klasna **pay** tutors in January 2027? ## How to build a monthly cash flow forecast **Alex Tutor:** The other rules: families and Club members pay up front, minus the provider's 2.5%. Video, AI and Club hosts are billed monthly and paid the month after. Salaries, marketing and office go out in the month. **Hanna:** And Teams follows the invoice calendar. January collects the 640,000 we invoiced in November. After that, cash comes in April, July and October. **Sofia:** So Teams lessons happen every month, but their money comes four times a year. > **Exercise:** Nothing was invoiced to Teams in March 2027, yet the plan collects 864,000 UAH in April. Why? **Alex Tutor:** Every line of the plan has its own timing rule. Check that you have them all. > **Exercise:** Match each item of Klasna's cash plan to the month its cash moves. ## The summer valley **Alex Tutor:** Now follow closing_cash down the year. Spring prepayments lift it to 4.6 million in April. Then June arrives: families buy few packages, and we still pay for May's busy second half. **Hanna:** June alone takes 2.7 million out. July and August keep sliding until the September prepayments. **Sofia:** And it comes every summer. It's not bad luck, it's the calendar. **Alex Tutor:** Which is why it belongs in the plan in December, not in a surprise in August. **Alex Tutor:** Look at June's row on its own: where does 2.7 million go? > **Exercise:** Use the plan's June 2027 row. What is Klasna's **total cash out** in June: payment fees, tutor payouts paid, video and AI, salaries, marketing and office? > **Exercise:** Use the plan. What is Klasna's **lowest month-end cash balance** in 2027? ## Against the buffer **Leo:** But it never goes below zero. Isn't that the point? **Hanna:** Zero is where we stop paying people. I want 1,000,000 at every month end: one month of salaries, coordinators and office, plus room for a bad week. **Alex Tutor:** Then the question for each month is the distance to the buffer, not to zero. A month below the buffer is a **cash gap** waiting to happen if anything slips. > **Exercise:** **True or false:** because the 2027 plan adds 4,455,267.50 UAH over the year, Klasna never falls below its 1,000,000 UAH buffer, the minimum month-end balance Hanna wants to keep. **Hanna:** This is the habit I want from everyone who reads the plan. > **Exercise:** Klasna keeps a buffer of 1,000,000 UAH: one month of salaries, coordinators and office, plus room for a bad week. Which question should you ask of each month in the cash plan? ## How deep is the valley **Sofia:** So the annual total of 4,455,267.50 says nothing about August. **Alex Tutor:** Nothing at all. Size the gap: how much more cash would August need to end at the buffer? **Leo:** And if the new Teams deals start in spring? **Hanna:** Then the valley gets deeper. Let's first see how deep it already is. > **Exercise:** How much more cash would August 2027 need to end at Hanna's 1,000,000 UAH buffer? ## Your turn: what the plan tells Leo **Leo:** Before we even talk about new Teams deals: what does this plan tell me, and what should we do about the summer? **Alex Tutor:** The yearly number, the lowest months against the buffer, the reason, and one or two levers with their size. **Sofia:** Year first, then the valley. > **Exercise:** Leo asks: "What does the 2027 plan tell me, and what should we do about the summer?" Answer in 3–5 sentences: the yearly result, the lowest months against the buffer, why, and one or two levers with their size. > **Key ideas** > > - A **cash plan** forecasts every month's cash in, cash out and closing balance with real payment dates: prepayments now, payouts half now and half next month, bills a month later, invoices when they're paid. > - Klasna's 2027 plan adds 4,455,267.50 UAH over the year, yet July (915,930) and August (592,132.50) end below the 1,000,000 buffer. > - Measure each month against the buffer, not against zero. August is 407,867.50 short. > - The valley comes from seasonality and timing: spring prepayments are spent on summer lessons, June still pays for May, and Teams cash arrives only four times a year. > - Fix the valley in the plan, months ahead: when sales are planned, when invoices go out, when big payments fall. **Alex Tutor:** Now Leo's three new Teams deals. They're profitable. The case is whether this plan can carry them without a loan. - Previous lesson: [Receivables and payment terms](https://productovi.com/courses/finance-for-product/receivables-and-terms.md) - Next lesson: [Case: can Klasna grow Teams without a loan?](https://productovi.com/courses/finance-for-product/teams-growth-case.md) --- Productovi Learning. Free, no sign-up needed to read.