A cash budget is the operating budget with a calendar: not what the year will cost but what leaves the account each month against what arrives, so the month the payroll lands before the client pays is seen in advance. A startup budget is the first cash budget a founder writes, because a startup has a runway rather than a year, and the runway is the cash budget's closing balance divided by the monthly burn. This page is about the cash budget as a monthly record, and the free project budget sheet on this site works the burn side of it, the spend per week and the forecast at completion, from the business's own numbers with no account.
Inflows and outflows by month
Every line in the operating budget lands in a month: payroll on the last working day, rent on the first, the annual license in March, the client's invoice thirty days after the work. The cash budget is those dates put against each other, and the month that goes negative is the month to see now.
The startup budget as a runway
A founder's budget is the monthly burn, the cash in the bank and the months between them; the project budget sheet on this site works the burn as spend per week and the forecast at completion, $7,500 a week and $270,000 on the worked example, and the runway is the cash over the burn. A startup budget that lists categories without dates has no runway in it.
Keeping it as a record
Commitments with their expected payment month, actuals with their paid date and the budget line each belongs to: the cash budget is a view over that record. Opexvo Pro keeps the commitments and actuals against their lines at one flat price; the sheets on this site work the burn free.
Questions people ask about cash budget
What is a cash budget?
The operating budget with dates: what leaves the account each month against what arrives, so the negative month is seen in advance.
What is a startup budget?
The founder's first cash budget: the monthly burn, the cash in the bank and the runway between them. The free project budget sheet works the burn.
How does the cash budget differ from the operating budget?
The operating budget is the year's figure by line; the cash budget is the same lines by the month they are paid.