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This article is a step-by-step guide to help you use Cash Manager and answer any technical questions you have.

Why you need Cash Manager

Cash flow forecasting is a manual and cumbersome process usually built in spreadsheets. The obvious problem is that spreadsheet forecasts are instantly out of date. With Cash Manager, your daily cash position is instantly updated with invoices, bills and other cash movements straight from your Xero, QuickBooks or Sage entity. You can also add once-off or recurring cash movements to your forecast to create an accurate and realistic projection of your entity's future cash position.

Creating your first Cash Manager forecast

Navigate to "Forecast" on the left-menu bar and then select "Cash Manager". You'll instantly have a real-time view of you cash position based on the data from your accounting provider. There are a few things you'll notice once you land on Cash Manager:

• Cash flow graph - Graphical projection of your cash position. You can change the interval and time period for this graph by clicking "Show Options".
• Summary table - The summary table is below the cash flow graph and includes a summary of cash in, cash out, cash balance and cash buffer days. The summary table provides current period, prior period and variance values.
• Daily transaction summary - The daily transaction summary is below the summary table and is a daily overview of all invoices due, bills due, cash movements and the daily balance.

Cash buffer days is the number of days until you run out of cash if you don't receive any cash in. It's a "worst case" scenario-type metric so it's important to keep an eye on it to avoid liquidity issues!

The cash flow graph, summary table and daily transaction summary are all the results of your invoices due, bills due, recurring cash and once-off cash transactions. These can be found in tabs running along the top of your screen.

Pro tip 💡 Clicking on the number in brackets next to invoices due, bills due, cash in and cash out on the daily transaction summary table will provide you with a view of the underlying transactions and their detail!

What's in your forecast

The cash flow graph, summary table and daily transaction summary are all the results of your invoices due, bills due, recurring cash and once-off cash transactions. Let's unpack each of them in a little more detail:

• Invoices due - all invoices due along with customer information, amount and due date.
• Bills due - all bills due along with supplier information, amount and due date.
• Recurring cash - recurring cash transactions, both cash in and cash out (you can add recurring-off transactions, in the future, we'll auto-populate with your historical recurring-off transactions).
• Once-off cash - once-off cash transactions, both cash in and cash out (you can add once-off transactions, in the future, we'll auto-populate with your historical once-off transactions).

Pro tip 💡 You can also exclude invoices and bills from your cash forecast by clicking "Exclude" next to each invoice or bill.

Invoices due
All invoices are listed by customer within the Invoices Due tab. For each invoice, there is additional information for each invoice including reference number, invoice issue date, amount, due date and payment lag. Payment lag is defined as the time that it takes to receive payment for each invoice. You can make adjustments to the payment lag for all invoices or for specific customers by clicking "Customer Adjustments" above the invoice table.

Each invoice can be edited to accommodate for changes to both the amount expected and date expected for receipt of payment. It's advisable to adjust invoices to reflect partial and delayed payments for an accurate projection of your cash position.

Pro tip 💡 You can sort all the data by date, value or name in invoices due, bills due, recurring cash and once-off cash by clicking any of the table headings.

Bills due
All bills are listed by supplier within the Suppliers Due tab. For each bill, there is additional information for each bill including reference number, bill issue date, amount, due date and payment lag. Payment lag is defined as the time that it takes to make payment for each bill. You can make adjustments to the payment lag for all bills or for specific supplier by clicking "Supplier Adjustments" above the bills table.

Each bill can be edited to accommodate for changes to the date of planned payments and the amount. It's advisable to adjust bills to reflect partial and overdue payments for an accurate projection of your cash position.

Recurring cash
You can create recurring cash transactions to impact your future cash position periodically using the recurring cash tab. Once you create a recurring cash transaction, you'll be given the option to set the amount, description, frequency, start date, end date and transaction type. Transaction type can either be cash-in or cash-out as follows:

• Cash-in -  Sales receipt, sales invoice or general cash-in.
• Cash-out - Supplier purchase, supplier bill or general cash-out.

Cash is received or paid immediately for sales receipts and supplier purchases while cash is received or paid after the payment lag for sales invoices and supplier bills. You can apply a payment lag to any transaction and select the customer or supplier it relates to.

Once-off cash
You can create once-off cash transactions to impact your future cash position using the once-off cash tab. Once you create a once-off cash transaction, you'll be given the option to set the date of the transaction, amount, description and transaction type. Transaction type can either be cash-in or cash-out as follows:

• Cash-in -  Sales receipt, sales invoice or general cash-in.
• Cash-out - Supplier purchase, supplier bill or general cash-out.

Cash is received or paid immediately for sales receipts and supplier purchases while cash is received or paid after the payment lag for sales invoices and supplier bills. You can apply a payment lag to any transaction and select the customer or supplier it relates to.

If you have any questions on Cash Manager, short-term forecasting, cash management, intelligent cash flow, scenario planning or 4-Way Forecast, chat to one of our representatives using live-chat assist on the website or send us an email at info@syftanalytics.com.