Which is the best mobile app for cash flow forecasting?

How do you ensure you always have enough cash to invest in growth opportunities, cover your expenses, and deal with uncertainties? Your answer is probably cash flow forecasting. While 76% of CFOs consider cash flow forecasting their top priority, only 16% of them are satisfied with their current forecasting processes.

In a dynamic business environment, it is difficult to forecast accurately. Plus, the manual, outdated, and time-consuming processes make consolidating information and forecasting a lot more tedious than it has to be.

That’s why you need a mobile app for cash flow forecasting that can help you automate and simplify your cash flow forecasting process. In this blog, we will describe the best mobile app for cash flow forecasting in 2023.

What is cash flow forecasting?

Cash flow forecasting is a method to estimate the future cash levels of a company depending on past inflows and outflows.

What is a cash flow app?

A cash flow app helps businesses manage the inflow and outflow of money. It can have the ability to track income, savings, expenses, budget, and even forecast your future inflows and outflows based on past trends.

Why use Cash forecasting solutions? Mobile app

Cash forecasting solutions can help businesses save time and improve accuracy by automating the data collection and analysis process. Here are some reasons why you are better off using a cash forecasting solution rather than rely on manual analysis:

• A cash flow tool can provide more comprehensive and up-to-date information than manual methods. This can, in turn, help businesses make better decisions, anticipate cash shortages, and plan for seasonal variations, depending on the industry you operate in.

• It can also help businesses shrink excess cash inventory and increase capital availability for growth and investment purposes. It will also help you prepare for emergency deliveries, which could improve your relationship with your clients and customers and boost loyalty.

• Using a cash flow tool empowers businesses to compare different business scenarios based on internal and external environments, giving you an edge when it comes to making financial decisions.

What is the best way to forecast cash flow?

The best way to forecast cash flow is to use cash flow forecasting software or apps that can collect data, organise the cash flow from different sources, and curate it on a dashboard. The app or software should be able to forecast the data and compare it with the actual data without creating errors.

How do you create a cash flow forecast in a mobile app?

The process of creating a cash flow forecast may differ from industries and businesses, however some general steps remain the same, such as the following:

1. Identify and list the liquidity accounts your business wants to track, such as accounts receivables, payables, bank accounts, or cash.

2. Configure how each type of transaction will affect your cash flow forecast. You can use historical data, industry benchmarks, or data-driven assumptions to configure these behaviours. For example, how frequently you expect to receive or pay for each transaction.

3. Calculate and analyse the expected cash impact of each transaction over a given period, such as a month or quarter.

4. Subtract the planned spending from the planned income to get the net cash flow for each period.

5. Add the net cash flow to the opening balance of the liquidity accounts to get the closing balance.

6. Repeat these steps for each period until you reach your desired forecast horizon.

Alternatively, you can use cash flow forecasting tools to create a template and automate these steps.

Mobile apps for cash flow forecasting

While choosing a mobile app for cash flow forecasting, you might want to consider the following features:

• App interface and user experience: The interface should be clean, free of ads, and easy to use.

• Features of the app: Does it offer reliable forecasts? Does it allow you to create scenarios? Does it allow you to compare actuals with forecasts?

• Pricing: Double-check whether the app offers a free trial and demo. You might want to confirm that there are no hidden charges on the purchase and that the price is fair.

Based on these features, we have shortlisted the following top three mobile apps for cash flow forecasting.

Agicap

Agicap’s cashflow mobile app for iOS and Android allows small and mid-sized companies to manage, forecast, and analyse their cash flow. It allows you to analyse your cash flow and outstanding balances, which can be used to build a reliable forecasting base. And then based on this data, it can create reliable cash flow forecasts.

You can also automatically generate cash flow forecasts from the projected income statement in just three steps.

Using this app, you can create and compare different scenarios, calculate key indicators, export and share reports, build dashboards, and collect customer receivables. It can bring up data from multiple business tools and integrate them into your dashboard. Some of the tools it supports are Stripe, Shopify, Quickbooks, Sage, Xero, and more.

Agicap has a customised pricing model depending on your budget and needs.

PlanGuru

PlanGuru online app helps businesses, entrepreneurs, non-profits, and accountants forecast their cash flows. It can forecast all three financial statements — balance sheets, cash flow statements, and income statements.

Plus, you get to choose from 20 different powerful forecasting methods. Your data can also build custom drivers, including non-financial data. You can also use non-financial data to forecast your future cash flows and generate standard reports in Excel, Word, and PDF formats. The number of analyses can also be unlimited.

PlanGuru’s pricing depends on the number of entities—for a single entity, it costs $99/month, and for multiple, it costs $299/month.

Pulse

Pulse is another cash flow forecasting app that helps businesses forecast cash flow on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis. With Pulse, you can enter cash flow projections manually or via a spreadsheet and create a recurring income that scales automatically.

If you anticipate growth, dial in the app's growth and expense curves, and Pulse can automate that too. You can then share your forecasts with collaborators and investors or attach files such as invoices to help evaluate income and expenses.

This app also integrates with QuickBooks Online, so you can sync your data easily. If you want to export your data to a CSV file, you can do that too. The pricing of this app depends on the features you want to access. The small business plan costs $59/month and gives you the basic functionality. The extra features plan costs $89/month and gives you more advanced options.

Float

Float is a digital cash management and forecasting tool that helps creative agencies create accurate and up-to-date cash flow forecasts. With Float, you can automatically sync your accounting software to keep your forecast up-to-date with real-time data.

Rather than focusing on account cash flow, Float focuses on the operational cash flow to show you future cash positions. It uses your invoice and bill data to forecast the cash flow and updates it daily rather than weekly or monthly. Plus, it alerts you of potential cash gaps and surpluses.

It also allows you to create multiple if scenarios and compare them to for a clear picture of where you are headed. You can integrate it seamlessly with popular accounting software.

It has three pricing plans — Essential, Standard, and Premium — costing $49, $99, and $199 per month respectively.

Xero

Xero is an accounting software that can give you a clear picture of your business’s cash flow. It has two main features — business snapshot and short-term cash flow. So you don’t have to import your data from a third-party tool, if you’re already using Xero.

Business snapshot is a visual dashboard that shows key financial metrics of your business and performance at a glance. It shows you metrics such as income, expenses, average time to get paid, pay suppliers, balance sheet, and cash balance.

Short-term cash flow takes all your relevant data from your Xero account to give you an up-to-date view of your business’ future cash positions. You can adjust the expected payment due dates and amount to see their impact on your cash flow.

Xero also offers three payment terms — Starter, Standard, and Premium — costing $25, $50, and $65 per month, respectively.

What is the best cash flow analysis app?

The best cash flow analysis app depends on your needs and preferences, which might make one app more suitable than others. Some of the top cash flow analysis apps are Agicap, Pulse, PlanGuru, Float and Xero.

Where can I find a cash flow forecast?

You can find several online apps and software on cash flow forecasts on the web. For example, Agicap’s cash flow forecast solution allows companies to make informed financial decisions with its dynamic forecasting abilities.

What other tools are available in cash flow management software?

You can also use other tools for cash flow management such as Cube, Casual, HighRadius, Tesorio, and Sage.

What is the best way to monitor cash flow?

Businesses can use tools such as cash flow projection and cash flow statements to monitor their cash flow.

For monitoring cash flow, cash flow statements are helpful in that they show how much cash came from operations, loans, and selling assets. Plus, cash flow projection plots expected income and expenses on a cash flow calendar to predict future cash positions.

What are the applications for cash flow forecasts?

Cash flow forecasts can be useful for planning and managing the finances of a business. Some of its applications are as follows:

👉 Identify potential problems such as cash shortages or surpluses.

👉 Decrease the impact of cash shortage by helping you save more, collect receivables faster, and establish a line of credit.

👉 Make data-driven decisions for financial planning.

Can you use cash flow apps for personal use?

Yes, you can use cash flow apps for personal use. These apps will help you manage your money—your avenues of cash inflow and the places where you’re spending money.

Key takeaways

While selecting a mobile app for cash flow forecasting for your business, ensure that it is compatible with your accounting software to make integration easier. It should be able to alert you of any potential cash flow anomalies and suggest ways to avoid them. And most importantly, its pricing plan should fit your budget.

Depending on these factors, Agicap is the best mobile app for cash flow forecasting with its automatic forecast generation features, affordable pricing, and ability to integrate with various business tools.