What the cockpit is for
The profit and loss statement tells you whether the business works. It doesn’t tell you whether you can pay salaries at the end of the month. For that you need a view that answers only one question: how much money is actually in the account, and when? The cash flow cockpit answers this question for the next four weeks – on one page, updated weekly.
Four weeks is deliberately short. In this period you know most incoming payments by name (which invoice, which customer, which date) and most outgoing payments too. Longer periods belong in liquidity planning; the cockpit is the steering tool for the near horizon.
The calculation logic
The formula is simple and never changes:
The first week’s opening balance is the actual account balance on the cutoff date, minus payments already ordered but not yet booked. The cockpit calculates all other opening balances itself.
Three rules for clean numbers
- Never mix incoming payments with pipeline
- Only incoming payments with an invoice or a binding commitment and a date belong in the cockpit. A quote that will “probably” come is pipeline – it belongs in the forecast, not the cockpit. If you mix the two, you see liquidity that doesn’t exist.
- Every line item has a status
- Incoming payments: “invoiced,” “committed,” “overdue.” Outgoing payments: “fixed” (salaries, rent, taxes), “planned” (ordered services), “optional” (can be postponed). The status decides what you talk about that week.
- Every line item has an owner and a next action
- An overdue invoice without an owner stays overdue. The next action is concrete: “Call customer X’s accounting on Tuesday,” not “follow up.”
The fields
| Field | Meaning | Example (fictional) |
|---|---|---|
| Week | Calendar week in which the payment is expected or planned | Week 2 |
| Type | Incoming or outgoing payment | Cash in |
| Description | Invoice, customer or purpose | RE-1041 Customer Nord |
| Amount | Net payment amount in euros | 4.800 |
| Date | Payment term or due date as a date | 14.10. |
| Status | invoiced / committed / overdue or fixed / planned / optional | overdue |
| Owner | Exactly one person | L. Berger |
| Next action | Concrete step with a date | Call accounting Tue. |
The interactive cockpit
Below, you can fill in the cockpit directly in your browser. Example mode fills the table with explicitly fictional values so you can see the logic; “Reset” gives you an empty template. All entries stay in your browser: nothing is stored on a server, nothing is transmitted and there is no session – if you reload the page, the table is empty. Use the CSV export or print to keep your current state.
Interactive four-week view
Cash Flow Cockpit
Calculates only in your browser. Nothing is saved or transmitted – the view is empty when you reload. Export as CSV or print if you want to keep the current state.
Account balance minus payments already ordered but not yet booked.
Weeks with a closing balance below the reserve are highlighted.
Week 1
- Opening balance
- 0 €
- + Cash in
- 0 €
- − Payments out
- 0 €
- = Closing balance
- 0 €
Expected cash in (with invoice or binding commitment)
| Description | Amount (EUR) | Date | Status | Owner | Next action | Remove |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Planned payments out
| Description | Amount (EUR) | Date | Status | Owner | Next action | Remove |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Week 2
- Opening balance
- 0 €
- + Cash in
- 0 €
- − Payments out
- 0 €
- = Closing balance
- 0 €
Expected cash in (with invoice or binding commitment)
| Description | Amount (EUR) | Date | Status | Owner | Next action | Remove |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Planned payments out
| Description | Amount (EUR) | Date | Status | Owner | Next action | Remove |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Week 3
- Opening balance
- 0 €
- + Cash in
- 0 €
- − Payments out
- 0 €
- = Closing balance
- 0 €
Expected cash in (with invoice or binding commitment)
| Description | Amount (EUR) | Date | Status | Owner | Next action | Remove |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Planned payments out
| Description | Amount (EUR) | Date | Status | Owner | Next action | Remove |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Week 4
- Opening balance
- 0 €
- + Cash in
- 0 €
- − Payments out
- 0 €
- = Closing balance
- 0 €
Expected cash in (with invoice or binding commitment)
| Description | Amount (EUR) | Date | Status | Owner | Next action | Remove |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Planned payments out
| Description | Amount (EUR) | Date | Status | Owner | Next action | Remove |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Closing balance week 4
0 €
Lowest weekly closing balance
0 €
Total overdue cash in
0 €
The weekly routine
- 01Enter the account balance, subtract payments already ordered: that is the opening balance.
- 02Record all open invoices due within the four weeks as incoming payments; check the status and mark overdue ones.
- 03Enter fixed outgoing payments (salaries, rent, taxes, loans), then planned ones, then optional ones.
- 04Read the closing balances. If a week turns negative or falls below your minimum reserve, that is the task of the week.
- 05For every overdue incoming payment and every optional outgoing payment, set a next action with an owner.
- 06Export or print, file it, repeat next week. Compare with last week’s position: Which incoming payment didn’t arrive and why?
What the cockpit is not
- Not accounting and not a replacement for bank statements. The cockpit plans; booking happens elsewhere.
- No liquidity planning over months or years. That requires assumptions, which are deliberately absent here.
- Not tax or legal advice. Clarify due dates for taxes and levies with your tax advisor.
- No data storage. The cockpit stores nothing – neither locally nor on a server.
If you’d rather keep the cockpit in your spreadsheet, download the CSV template. It has the same columns and an explanation block in the first row.
Downloads
To take away
Markdown opens in any text editor or note-taking tool. CSV files are semicolon-separated and open directly in Excel, Numbers, or LibreOffice.
