Cash flow forecast
Thirteen weeks of cash, built from records rather than a spreadsheet.
Receipts come from Atlas: what customers owe and have promised, and how each one actually pays. Payments come from Cortex: approved bills on their pay dates. Billing comes from Apex. Payroll comes from your payroll calendar, and the rest from budget. Orion lays them out week by week from the opening bank balance and shows where cash runs below the minimum you set.
Where each line comes from
Every line of the forecast has a source.
| Line | Read from | How it is projected |
|---|---|---|
| Opening cash | Bank feeds and statement files | The balance on the latest statement, by account |
| Customer receipts | Atlas | Open invoices on each customer's own payment history, promises at the company's kept rate |
| Billing | Apex | Invoices scheduled by contract and usage |
| Vendor payments | Cortex | Approved bills on their proposed pay dates |
| Payroll | Your payroll calendar | Each run's expected funding |
| Everything else | Budget | The budgeted line, by week, shown as plan |
Against revenue and expenses
Cash beside the income statement, week by week.
Cash and accrual
Revenue billed against cash collected, expenses incurred against cash paid.
Minimum balance
Weeks below the minimum you set are marked.
Actuals replace forecast
As each week ends, the actual takes its place and the miss is kept.
Records and plan apart
How much of the 13 weeks rests on records, and how much on budget.
How it stays current
Rebuilt from the records as they change.
- 01
Opening cash
Set from the latest statement lines for every account.
- 02
As records change
A promise in Atlas or a bill approved in Cortex moves its week.
- 03
Week ends
The actual replaces the forecast; the difference is kept.
- 04
Reviewed
Your team reviews the 13 weeks beside last week's view.
What Orion works out, and what is yours
Orion does the arithmetic. People sign.
Orion builds and refreshes the forecast on its own. Assumptions, overrides and every decision about cash are a person's.
Orion matches, ties and calculates on its own, from the records already in your foundation. Every journal posted, every difference written off, every reconciliation signed off and every period locked is a person's decision, recorded with their name. Orion never moves money.
Orion works it out
- Builds 13 weeks from Atlas, Apex, Cortex, payroll and budget
- Refreshes as the records change
- Replaces each week's forecast with actuals and keeps the miss
- Marks weeks below your minimum
Always a person
- Assumptions and overrides
- The minimum balance
- Every decision about cash
FAQ
Cash flow forecast, run end to end.
How is Orion's forecast different from a spreadsheet?
Each line is read from a record rather than typed: receipts from Atlas, billing from Apex, payments from Cortex, payroll from your calendar, the opening balance from the bank. When a record changes, its week changes, and every figure opens to the records behind it.
How are customer receipts projected?
From Atlas: each open invoice on that customer's own payment history with your company, and pending promises at the rate your customers have kept them. Open disputes are held out.
Does the forecast include sales not made yet?
Only as plan. Receipts cover what is already invoiced or scheduled to bill in Apex; new sales come from budget as their own line, so you can see how much of the 13 weeks rests on records and how much on plan.
Is it a forecast of record?
It is an estimate built from your records and your assumptions, and it says so on the page. Your finance team decides what to present and to whom.
How does it relate to the cash views in Atlas and Cortex?
They are the same records. Atlas shows what comes in and Cortex what goes out; Orion puts both in one view with payroll, billing and budget, without copying either.
Related in Orion
- Bank feedsEvery account's statement lines in the foundation, matched to what Atlas, Cortex and the GL recorded.View
- Budget oversightActual against budget by department and account, with committed spend from Cortex, and every overrun shown before the close.View
- CFO overviewCash, receivables, payables, revenue, the close and budget in one view, read from the records each product already holds.View
- One foundationOrion reads what Atlas, Apex and Cortex already hold, with your GL, bank and payroll, in your company's own database.View
See the cash forecast work on your own cash.
Bring last month's close: the checklist, the reconciliations and the trial balance. We run it through Orion beside your team and show you where it would have tied, and give you an honest answer if the close is slow for a reason upstream that you should fix first.
Your close calendar, chart of accounts, thresholds, reviewers and sign-off order are yours, and they stay yours. Orion is configured to the way your team closes. You are not handing over a playbook or fitting into a template.