It builds itself

There is nothing to enter. Every certificate already carries a valuation date, a due date and a final date for payment, and the forecast is what happens when money is put against those dates.

Open Cash Flow.
Set the payment behaviour you actually see, from on time to thirty days late.
Choose how the remaining work is spread: an S-curve or evenly across the remaining cycles.

Worth knowingAn S-curve is closer to how construction runs, and an even spread flatters the early months and hides the peak. If you are unsure, leave it on the S-curve.

The peak is the answer

The deepest point of the cumulative line is the sum that has to be funded. That is what the forecast exists to produce, and it is a number a snapshot of today cannot show you, because the peak is usually still ahead.

Model late payment. A forecast built on contractual dates is a best case, not an expectation. Setting a fortnight of slippage is realism, and it usually moves the peak by more than people expect.

What it does not include

This is the cash flow of the contract: receipts from client certificates against payments to subcontractors.

It does not include your own labour, plant, overheads or tax, because QScope does not hold them. That is stated on the screen rather than left for you to discover.

Worth knowingFor a company cash flow, take this figure into your accounts as the contract line rather than treating it as the whole picture.

The tail

Retention and an unagreed final account keep the position negative long after practical completion. A forecast that turns positive at handover is usually wrong by exactly that amount, which is why the forecast runs past the last certificate.

Still stuck?

Write to support@qscope.co.uk. Include the project reference and, if it is about a figure, the certificate number. Answers within one working day.

Reading the dashboardThe position today. Subcontract packagesThe money going out. Cost and valueMargin, which is a different question.

The cash flow forecast