Why your profit is not in the bank

The example business above makes 22,135 profit in a year. It still runs out of cash in January and stays overdrawn until July. Nothing is wrong with its sales. The money is simply somewhere other than the bank: in invoices customers have not paid yet, in a piece of equipment bought in cash, in loan repayments that are not costs, and in what the owner takes home.

Most owners only find this out when wages are due and the account is short. The kit shows it twelve months ahead, and its Profit vs Cash tab names the reason, line by line. In the example, the biggest drain is the 18,000 the owner takes out over the year. Knowing that, the decision is clear: time the drawings to the months the business can afford them, or arrange funds before April.

What’s inside

Tab	What you do	What it tells you
Setup	Enter what you have and owe today, and how your business runs	Your starting capital, worked out for you
Monthly Plan	Adjust any month: seasons, a new hire, an annual bill	Twelve months that match real life
Dashboard	Read it in two minutes	Fourteen key numbers, each marked Good, OK, Watch or Problem, with a plain-English note and two charts
Profit & Loss, Cash Flow, Balance Sheet	Nothing to type	All three statements for every month, linked and checked against each other
Profit vs Cash	Nothing to type	Exactly why your bank balance differs from your profit, and the biggest drain
Pricing	Enter up to ten products or services	True cost per unit including your time and overheads, true margin, and the price you need
What If	Try six changes	The effect of raising prices, losing a customer, hiring, cutting costs, getting paid sooner, or taking less out

You type into yellow cells only. Everything else calculates. Example figures are filled in when you open it, so you can see how it behaves before you type over them. A 9-page guide walks you through each tab and gives you a 15-minute monthly routine.

Why a spreadsheet, not another subscription

Accounting software is good at recording what has already happened, and it charges for that every month. QuickBooks Online, for example, starts at $38 a month in the US: more than $450 a year, every year. This kit does a different job. It plans the year ahead and explains your numbers, and you pay for it once.

If you already use accounting software, keep it; the kit sits beside it, and you can copy your figures across. If you don’t, you can still understand your business properly without signing up for anything.

• No monthly fee. One payment. Start a fresh copy every year.
• Easy to use. About 30 minutes to set up, 15 minutes a month after. No accounting knowledge needed.
• Any currency. Dollars, pounds, rupees, rufiyaa, dirhams or ringgit.
• Nothing hidden. Every formula is visible, so you or your accountant can check how each number is made.
• Your data stays with you. It is your file, on your computer or your Google Drive.

Free calculator or the Kit?

Start with the free Cash Flow Forecast Calculator. It shows your next twelve months of bank balances in your browser. If it raises questions, the Kit answers them.

	Free calculator	Cash & Profit Kit
12-month cash forecast	Yes	Yes, adjustable month by month
Profit & loss, cash flow and balance sheet	No	Yes, every month, linked and checked
Profit vs cash, line by line	Summary	Full, including stock, equipment and loans
Pricing with your own time counted	One product (separate calculator)	Up to ten products
Break-even and safety margin	No	Yes
What-if tests	No	Six
Dashboard with plain-English notes	No	Yes
Save and update every month	No	Yes, in Excel or Google Sheets

Who it’s for

It’s for owners of small businesses who sell, pay staff and suppliers, and never had formal finance training: shops, workshops, cafés, service businesses, small manufacturers and freelancers who have grown into a business. It suits a business with up to about ten products or services.

It’s not bookkeeping software. It does not record transactions, run payroll or calculate tax. It is the planning and understanding that comes before and after those.

I built it as an ACCA-qualified finance professional, using the same three-statement method accountants use to plan larger businesses, made simple enough to fill in on a quiet evening. The ideas behind it are explained in my book, The Small Business Financial Survival Guide.

Questions

Do I need to know accounting?
No. You enter figures you already know: sales, wages, rent, what you owe. The kit does the accounting, and every result comes with a sentence explaining what it means.

Does it work in Google Sheets?
Yes. Upload the file to Google Drive, open it, and choose File, then Save as Google Sheets. It also works in Excel 2010 or later and LibreOffice.

I sell services, not products. Will it work?
Yes. Set stock to zero. The pricing tab is especially useful for services, because it counts the hours each job takes.

What about tax or zakat?
Profit is shown before tax. Add any regular tax or zakat payment to other running costs, so the cash forecast includes it.

Can my accountant use it?
Yes. All formulas are visible, and a Workings tab shows every step behind the statements.

What if it isn’t for me?
Email me within 14 days of buying and I’ll refund you in full.

A planning tool for general education, not financial, tax or legal advice. Example figures are illustrative. QuickBooks Online price is the US list price for its Simple Start plan as reported in 2026; prices vary by country and change over time.