Understand and forecast your cash flow in Aczen Bilz

Use Aczen Bilz’s AI forecasting engine to project your cash position. View historical trends, outstanding receivables, and net balance up to 6 months ahead.

The Cash Flow dashboard gives you a forward-looking view of your business’s financial health. Rather than just telling you what you have today, it projects where your cash position is heading — based on pending invoices, upcoming bills, and your historical income and expense patterns. This helps you plan ahead, avoid shortfalls, and make better decisions about payments, investments, and collections.

What the dashboard shows

Go to Finance & Payments → Cash Flow to open the dashboard. At the top you will see four summary cards:

Card	What it shows
Current Cash & Bank	Your current combined cash and bank balance, drawn from your accounting ledger
Accounts Receivable	Total outstanding amount across all unpaid invoices
Accounts Payable	Total outstanding amount across all unpaid vendor bills
Net Position	Current balance + receivables − payables — your theoretical position if everything settled today

Below these cards, the dashboard splits into two tabs: Historical Data and Forecast.

Historical data

The Historical tab shows your actual cash flow for the past 6 months. This data is drawn from your paid invoices and posted journal entries. Each month shows:

• Opening Balance — cash and bank balance at the start of the month
• Actual Inflows — money received (paid invoices, cash receipts)
• Actual Outflows — money paid out (vendor payments, expenses)
• Closing Balance — balance at the end of the month
• Net Change — net movement for the month (positive or negative)

A line chart shows the closing balance trend over the period. A bar chart shows monthly inflows versus outflows side by side, making it easy to spot months where spending outpaced income.

Historical data is derived from your Aczen Bilz records. If you have transactions that have not been entered — particularly older ones — the historical view will not reflect those periods accurately. The more complete your records, the more useful the forecast will be.

Forecast

The Forecast tab projects your cash flow for the next 3–6 months. Switch to it using the Forecast tab button.

How the forecast is built

Aczen Bilz uses three inputs to generate the projection:

1. Historical averages — average monthly inflows and outflows from your past 6 months of data
2. Outstanding receivables — your current accounts receivable balance, spread across the next 1–3 months based on typical collection patterns (approximately 60% in month one, 30% in month two, 10% in month three)
3. Outstanding payables — your current accounts payable balance, spread across the next 1–2 months (approximately 80% in month one, 20% in month two)

The forecast then applies your adjustable growth and expense assumptions on top of those baselines.

Forecast assumptions

You can adjust four parameters to tune the forecast to your business reality:

Monthly revenue growth (%)

The percentage by which projected inflows increase each month. The default is 5%. Set this to 0% for a flat projection, or higher if you are in a growth phase.

Monthly expense increase (%)

The percentage by which projected outflows grow each month. The default is 2%. Increase this if you are expecting rising costs.

Average payment delay (days)

How long customers typically take to pay after the invoice due date. The default is 30 days. Increasing this makes the forecast more conservative about when receivables will actually convert to cash.

Forecast period (months)

Choose 3, 4, 5, or 6 months. A shorter window is more accurate; a longer window helps with strategic planning but carries more uncertainty.

Changes to assumptions update the chart and table immediately — no need to save or re-run anything.

Accessing and reading the forecast

1. Open Cash Flow

   Go to Finance & Payments → Cash Flow.

2. Review your current position

   Check the four summary cards. The Net Position card gives you an instant sense of whether your business is cash-positive or cash-tight if all invoices settled today.

3. Switch to the Forecast tab

   Click Forecast (Next N Months) to see the forward projection.

4. Read the chart

   The line chart shows your projected closing balance by month. A line trending upward means you are accumulating cash. A line dipping toward zero or below signals a potential shortfall in that period.

5. Review the table

   Below the chart, the detailed table shows opening balance, expected inflows, expected outflows, closing balance, and net change for each month. Months with a negative closing balance are highlighted in red.

6. Adjust assumptions

   Use the Forecast Assumptions panel on the left to model different scenarios — for example, what happens if revenue growth slows to 2%, or if you delay some vendor payments by 30 days.

Interpreting the cash flow chart

A closing balance that stays consistently above your average monthly outflow means you have a healthy cash buffer. Aim for at least 1–2 months of operating expenses as a reserve.

What to look for:

• Dips approaching zero — a month where the closing balance falls close to zero is a warning sign. You may need to accelerate collections, defer a large payment, or arrange a short-term credit facility.
• Sudden outflow spikes — a bar much taller than usual in the outflows column often reflects a large payable coming due. Check your Payables aging to confirm.
• Widening gap between inflows and outflows — if outflows consistently exceed inflows over multiple months, your operating cost structure needs attention.

Tips to improve your cash position

Chase overdue invoices first. Go to Finance & Payments → Receivables and filter by Overdue. Send a payment link to each overdue customer. Even collecting half of the overdue balance can significantly change your 30-day cash position.

Schedule payables strategically. Not all bills need to be paid on the first day they are due. Review your Payables aging and pay overdue bills immediately, but schedule bills that are still within terms toward their due date — this keeps cash available longer.

Use vendor advances carefully. Advances reduce your immediate cash and show as a deduction against future payables. Record them promptly in Aczen Bilz so the cash flow forecast reflects the outflow correctly.

Exporting the forecast

Click Export Forecast (or Export Historical) at the top of the Cash Flow page to download a CSV file with the full month-by-month data. Use this for board presentations, CA reviews, or loan applications where a cash flow statement is required.

The export includes: Month, Opening Balance, Inflows, Outflows, Closing Balance, and a Type column indicating whether each row is historical or forecast data.