Whatever your business, it's important to be able to handle your cash flow with confidence. This will ensure accuracy, cut down on mistakes and save on resources. Here's a look at three of some of the most popular cash flow forecasting tools for small businesses.

1) Fluidly

You can sign up for a Lite Fluidly account completely free. This entry-level package provides single-user, 90-day forecasting with unlimited edits, in-app support and Intelligent Chase Lite, which helps you pinpoint which invoices are in most urgent need of attention. Upgrading to Pro at £79 per month expands the forecasting period to 12 months and removes any limit on user numbers. Fluidly says that a scenario builder will be added to this level soon. You'll also get phone and email support. The top level, Max, costs £149 a month and provides one-to-one support personalised to your requirements as well as a dedicated account manager. Access to the Fluidly University knowledge base is also part of the Max offering.

David Howard have discounts available to Fluidly through a Partner arrangement and signing up through us will give you access to significant discounts.

2) KashFlow

KashFlow's core business offering costs £16.50 per month plus VAT. This supports unlimited bank transactions and invoices as well as an unlimited number of bank transaction reconciliations. It's also multi-user: the cheaper starter level at £8.50 a month is single-user only and has limits on invoice and bank transaction numbers. If you want payroll support, you'll need to upgrade to Business + Payroll for £22.50 a month. KashFlow's supported features include automated credit control, integration with apps including Xero, Google Contacts and Dropbox as well as restricted user options for extra security. KashFlow is a strongly UK-focused product with hosting, support and technical terms all fully localised for British users.

3) Float

Float offers both monthly and annual subscriptions with the base Essentials package costing £49 a month. This gives you a three-user package with up to three years' future forecasting and a weekly cash summary. It is limited to five additional scenarios but you can increase this to ten by upgrading to Premium at £99 a month. This higher level supports up to ten users and offers free training. A free trial for 143 days is available. Float supports forecasting, budgeting, exporting for records and easy syncing with a range of accounting software packages. Its scalability may be of particular interest to you if you have a growing company and don't want to move to a new forecasting platform as your business expands.

4) Xero Cash Flow

Xero now have cash flow tools within their products. At the moment the forecasting is not as advanced as some of the more bespoke products but can still be useful for basic forecasting.

5) Bespoke Solutions Using Excel and David Howard Cashflow to Link to Xero

In addition to cashflow software, many businesses will perform cashflow forecasting using spreadsheets which have more flexibility to write detailed forecasts on individual income and expenditure lines which generally the online tools don’t do so well. Spreadsheets usually do not update based on live accounting information and therefore are time intensive and can become out of date quickly.

Another area of complexity is VAT. Many cash flow tools don’t forecast VAT and again forecasts can become too inaccurate or time consuming to bring in VAT elements, and the same may apply to PAYE/NIC and corporation tax forecasts.

David Howard have bespoke cash flow forecasting tools which link Xero to Excel with ‘live’ cash flow forecasts that update from the accounting software and also forecast VAT and other taxes, giving the best of both worlds.

Making The Best Decision For Your Business

Cash flow forecasting software can make a big difference to your company's financial management as well as assisting you with product launches, investment decisions and meeting seasonal demand.

With such a wide range of pricing and features, signing up for a free trial can help you decide which is right for you. If you’d like to discuss your requirements with one of our accountants, please contact us to find out how we can help.

Image Source: Unsplash