A cash flow forecast in 2 seconds? Easy!
At tailwindapp.eu, we have recently interviewed 200+ entrepreneurs running different services businesses to find out more about their financial planning habits with a particular emphasis on cash flow planning.
Many of those entrepreneurs said they don’t plan cash flows at all – not because they don’t want to but rather because they believe it takes a lot of time to even create a forecast, let alone keep it up to date.
This inspired us to simplify the forecast creation as well. You can now have your initial forecast created in literally 2 seconds if you have activated automated data import from your bank!
Choose Mirror Last Month
When activating automated data import from your bank during setup of your tailwindapp.eu account, at the very last step you will be asked to choose between Mirror Last Month or Start with Empty Forecast options.
Choose Mirror Last Month – it will take one second to click on it and after one more second your initial cash flow forecast will be ready! Your Tailwind account will receive you most recent transactions and will assume that whatever payments you have received or made during last 30 days will also be repeated during next 30 days.
For example, if your most important client made a EUR 12000 payment to you on 10 August, Tailwind will assume the same will happen on 10 September etc. Your forecast will look like this: the “mirrored transactions” will be shown with a dotted line, while those you have added yourself will be have a solid line:
Confirm or Delete
If you hover with your mouse over any “mirrored” transaction, you will be offered to choose between Confirm or Delete options.
Click Confirm if it is likely that the same transaction will take place again as suggested – when you do it the dotted line will turn into solid line. You will also be able to adjust the expected date an amount at any time should it be necessary. You will also be able to “clone” it ie make it repeat every month if you double click to open transaction details.
Or choose Delete if you believe this transaction is not likely to repeat.
Keep your cash flow forecast updated
Yes, we know – it is a bit of exaggeration that 2 seconds is all it takes. It is true that it only takes 2 seconds to generate a “mirrored” cash flow forecast which assumes everything will be just as it was like was last month. However many transactions do repeat from one month to another. When entrpreneurs use spreadsheets for cash flow forecasting, the main concern usually is “haven’t I forgotten something”. With Tailwind, you don’t need to worry about it.
Another reason why adding automated data import from your bank is a good idea is because it saves you a lot of time on updating your forecast. Every time you log in, your Tailwind account will compare the recent transactions from your bank account with the planned transactions in your forecast. If you expected EUR 12000 from Client A and Client A did indeed pay you EUR 12000 – Tailwind will mark this transaction as paid and remove it from your forecast.
You can then review the remaining transactions and adjust them by “drag and drop” if you now expect them to happen at a sooner or later date. Or you can adjust the amount or even counterparty name.
Automated data import keeps your data safe and for your eyes only
Automated data import from your bank is conducted in strict compliance with EU PSD2 directive or so called “open banking directive” and is handled by GoCardless, a licensed data exchange operator. Only you will have access to your data. More on how we keep your data safe: https://tailwindapp.eu/security
Check out the demo!
Does the above sound interesting? Please check out the demo at https://tailwindapp.eu (no registration needed) or contact us at karlis@tailwind.lv with any questions you may have!
