mine when, how much, and for how long cash deficits or surpluses will exist for a farm business during an upcoming time period. That information can then be used to justify loan requests, determine repayment schedules, and plan for short-term investments. This publication focuses on preparing and using a projected cash flow statement in managing the farm business.
A projected cash flow statement is best defined as a listing of expected cash inflows and outflows for an upcoming period (usually a year). Anticipated cash transactions are entered for the subperiod they are expected to occur. The length of the subperiod depends upon whether a monthly or quarterly cash flow statement is used. The word cash is crucial in this definition, because only cash items are included in a cash flow statement.
Cash inflows include cash operating and capital receipts and can include nonfarm as well as farm revenues. Cash outflows usually include such things as farm operating and capital outlays, family living expenses, and loan payments. However, if the farming operation is completely ily, living expenses would not be included in the cash flow statement for the farming operation. An example of such an arrangement would be a farm that is incorporated and pays salaries to family members. Also included in the list of cash outlays are debt repayment commitments, both principal and interest.
What Information Is Provided?
Operating expenses are usually not paid evenly over the course of a year for many farm enterprises. Also, marketing patterns for many farm products are not evenly distributed throughout the year. Therefore, revenues usually do not flow into the business, and expenses do not flow out of the business on an equal and regular basis during the year. This results in periods of cash deficits and surpluses.
Knowledge of the amounts of cash deficits and surpluses and the timing and duration of each aids tremendously in setting up a line of credit with a lender. The projected cash flow statement clearly identifies when loan funds will be needed and when the lender can expect to be repaid. This information is extremely useful in justifying loan requests, especially during financially stressful times Lexington payday loan providers.
In addition, a projected cash flow statement enables the user to identify the amount and duration of cash surpluses, which is useful when ong the various short-term deposit instruments currently available to the investor (i.e., 3-month certificates, 6-month money market certificates, money market funds, etc.).
Of course, the accuracy of the information provided by a projected cash flow statement depends upon the accuracy of revenue and expense projections, the detail included in the cash flow statement, and whether the statement is prepared for quarters, months, or even weeks. Even though it may lack accuracy be cause of being an estimate, a projected cash flow statement does provide a projection of expected cash deficits and surpluses, which can be updated as the year progresses.
How Is The Statement Organized?
Perhaps the best way to understand how a projected cash flow statement is organized is to think in terms of a calendar, with the columns representing the subperiods for the planning period used in the projection. Usually the planning period is one year, but the subperiods can be as detailed as you desire. The subperiods can represent quarters, months, and even weeks.
The rows represent various categories for the beginning cash balance, cash receipts, cash expenses, borrowing, saving, and the ending cash balance. Of course, the beginning cash balance for each subperiod is the ending cash balance for the previous subperiod.