Best cash flow forecasting software UK in 2024

What is cash flow forecasting software?

Cash flow forecasting software uses your financial data, as well as powerful forecasting and reporting tools, to give you a clear view of your cash flow position now and looking forwards  - helping to significantly improve your cash flow. Business leaders use it to make more confident decisions and achieve clarity about their evolving financial outlook.

Why does your business need cash flow forecasting software?

Before cash flow forecasting software was invented, staying on top of the cash position and planning ahead for future cash inflows and outflows was a time-consuming process involving lots of complicated spreadsheets, a great memory for figures, and a healthy dose of luck. Thankfully things are much easier now thanks to the development of easy to use cash flow forecasting software.

Using this kind of tool can make your life as a business leader or finance professional a lot easier. Cash flow forecasting software automates the data-crunching process and gives you greater clarity and accuracy by drawing upon your own data in real time and looking ahead at your expected inflows and outflows. Ultimately, good cash flow software will reveal the story behind the numbers and help you run your business with foresight and confidence.

Benefits of using cash flow forecasting software

There are a whole range of benefits to using cash flow forecasting software – as you can see from the list below.

Improved accuracy and reliability

It’s so much easier to make fast and effective decisions when you trust your data. Cash flow forecasting software draws upon finance data from across your business and operations, which means you can have confidence in the overall accuracy of your reports and predictions.

Better cash management

Because cash flow software uses data from all of the various parts of your business, it gives you a clear picture of your cash position at any point in time. It highlights issues such as late payments so that you can respond accordingly; it also provides long term or strategic cash flow forecasting which gives insight into the impact of different business decisions on future cash flow.

Access to real-time data

The cash position of your business can change quickly – so it’s vital that your cash flow forecast stays up to date at all times. By using integrated data flows in real time, you can make more informed decisions about your cash position.

Simplified financial management processes

One of the key benefits of integrating and consolidating data into your cash flow forecasting software is the it removes the need for manual rekeying which so often results in errors and inaccuracies which can create nasty surprises further down the line.

Improved financial planning

With the right information at hand at the click of a mouse, it’s so much easier to make robust and confident financial decisions and plans. It’s great for reporting too – especially when you want to give regular updates to the senior leadership team in your business.

Features of the best cash flow forecasting software

When you are considering what functionality you need from cash flow forecasting software, there are some common features to look out for. 

Integrated reporting

This feature enables you to keep track of planned inflow and outflow versus actual inflow and outflow and include this detail in your management reporting.

Instant calculations

A key part of managing cash flow is the ability to understand the impact of different scenarios on your overall cash flow position. The best solution enables you to calculate forecasts instantly instead of having to make time-consuming spreadsheet updates.

Driver-based planning

If drivers are a key part of your operations, they are also a vital element within your business finances. Software that enables you to perform driver-based forecasting or operational forecasts is useful for business where revenue is dependent on how much of a product or service is being delivered. 

Lightning-fast forecasts

Sometimes business leaders need to make decisions in an instant. If you can identify trends early and quickly see expected changes to your financials, you can project ahead quickly and, if necessary, adjust your direction of travel.

Rolling forecasts

The days of pulling together the time-consuming monthly budget report are over. With cash flow forecasting software, live or rolling forecasts are maintained in real time and always at hand to support your decision-making. That means no need to rebuild your forecasts when the actuals have changed.

Three-way forecasting

It’s useful to take into account operations, investments and finance activity in your cash flow forecast. Three-way forecasting integrates cash flow, profit and loss, and balance sheet forecasts – it’s also increasingly requested by finance providers. Check whether the cash flow software solution you choose is able to support this.

Consolidation of multiple entities

Some businesses are more complex than others, particularly those that have multiple entities or operating divisions within a group. It’s useful if the management reporting tools siting alongside or within your cash flow forecasting software can also consolidate these to give you the full picture.

Standalone versus integrated

Decide whether your business is best suited to either a standalone cash flow forecasting software solution or an integrated one. The former is as it sounds and is a good solution for smaller businesses. The latter integrates with a broader Finance function (such as Access Financials) and offers data flows directly from other areas of finance.

Watch 5 short videos of the features within our cash flow forecasting system to see them in action.

Best cash flow forecasting software UK in 2024

To help you identify the best cash flow forecasting software for your business, we’ve taken a quick look at a few of the leading players. The most popular cash flow forecasting systems in the UK in 2024 include all of the following:

• The Access Group
• Sage (including Futrli)
• Xero
• Quickbooks
• Spotlight
• Syft
• Castaway

The Access Group

Access cash flow forecasting and management software is aimed at medium-sized businesses across all sectors. It’s also popular with financial advisors who need to provide cash flow forecasts for their clients.

In addition to all the standard or integrated cash flow forecasting and reporting tools you would expect, key features include instant calculations, driver-based planning, and rolling forecasts using real-time data.

Sage

Sage offers cash flow reporting and forecasting software aimed at accountants seeking a tool that enables them to inform and advise their clients.

It offers budgeting, forecasting and reporting to help predict cash flow and profit. Like all cash flow accounting software, it saves time by enabling you to see the information you need without merging documents or building new reports and spreadsheets.

Futrli

Futrli is a stand-alone Sage product which does cash flow forecasting and reporting, and includes 3-way profit and lost, balance sheet and cash flow forecasts for 3 years.

Xero

Xero cash flow forecasting is designed to support small business owners, providing a glimpse of financial health and helping to plan future spending.

It provides a step-by-step process for creating a 12-month cash flow forecast in a few clicks, taking into account the business incomings and outgoings and using a simple template rather than building a separate spreadsheet.

Quickbooks

Quickbooks Cash Flow Planner is aimed at start-ups, small businesses, accountants and bookkeepers.

It makes it easy to create a 24-month cash flow forecast which includes tracking projects, specific jobs, and locations, to give greater insight into where money is coming from. It is available as IOS and web versions and also links to the business bank account and credit card to keep data up to date.

Spotlight

Spotlight offers solutions for business advisors and accountants as well as business owners and Finance professionals.

Key features of this platform include consolidated forecasting and reporting including 3-way cash flow forecasts, budgets and scenarios. The dashboard offers an instant and visual snapshot of performance. Spotlight can also be integrated with Xero.

Syft

Syft integrates with a range of finance solutions popular with small and mid-level business in different sectors sizes including Xero, QuickBooks, Stripe and Shopify.  

Designed as an interactive and collaborative financial reporting tool, Syft produces a wide range of reports from the simplest to the most complex. Key features include attractive visuals which bring insights to life as well as easy-to-use forecasting tools.

Castaway

The Castaway solution offers benefits for SMEs up to enterprise level organisations as well as finance advisors and accountants.

Using integrations to pull data from accounting packages such as Xero, or via Excel, Castaway produces reports, forecasts, and ‘what if’ scenarios using a customisable dashboard, drag and drop functionality and image widgets to create the outputs you need.

Cash flow forecasting software: Free vs Paid

Cash flow forecasting software is one of those key areas where it really is worth investing because you’ll gain practical benefits. You really do ‘get what you pay for’. Yes, it’s possible to create a cash flow forecast yourself, for free, using a spreadsheet: but to be honest, do you really have the time? And will you feel 100% confident that every piece of relevant data has been included? Manually produced cash flow forecasting spreadsheets can be problematic if any inaccuracies creep in. It’s also time-consuming to keep them updated. These are some of the reasons why a software tool that all the information automatically feeds into is such a useful and helpful addition to your decision-making armoury.

Find out more about how to do a cash flow forecast.

Choosing the best cash flow forecasting software for your business

It’s clear to see that staying on top of your cash flow forecast – what’s expected to come in and what need to go out – is vital for businesses of all sizes, especially during times of uncertainty or when pushing forwards with ambitious growth plans for example. Cash flow forecasting software can help, not only because it gives you a constantly updated view in real time, but also because it saves you time and effort too.

So are you ready to find out more about cash flow forecasting software and what it can do for you?

Whether you are a start-up or small business with plans to grow, a sports club or a medium-sized company looking for a comprehensive option that fits with the specific requirements of your business – why not check out Access cash flow forecasting software? It will help you get to grips with your cash flow forecast as you push ahead with your plans. You can use the links below to find out more.