Positive annual cash does not fund an advance due before collections: use the constant scenario alongside an actual payment timetable.
Check your project's monthly cash flow
Edit your assumptions. Results update immediately.
Simplified constant scenario. Cash runway is calculated only when outgoings exceed income. Timing changes, inflation and taxes are not modelled automatically. Saved data stays in this browser; this tool does not send it to the server.
Define the cash position being observed
First decide whether you are observing the owner’s cash position, an activity on the land or the whole project. Keep that perspective consistent across income, expenses, debt and reserve; do not include all sales of an unrelated operator while entering only the owner’s expenses. The calculator represents one repeated month, useful for exploring the ability to sustain recurring commitments. Land acquisition, construction advances and capital contributions need a separate timetable when they are one-off amounts. Inputs are Colombian pesos and do not automatically change over time. A utility quotation can identify specific obligations, but general EPM information does not replace a response or price for your project. Define which money is available to this cash position and which is reserved for other needs. The purpose is to establish whether a recurring scenario consumes or generates funds; the form does not keep accounts, certify income or independently establish that the activity is feasible.
Enter available receipts with supporting evidence
Monthly income should represent money expected to be collected and used within the chosen scenario. An invoiced sale that has not been collected is not available cash. For rental receipts, enter an amount consistent with vacancy, discounts and expected collection; for seasonal activity, first prepare a monthly schedule and use this tool only to summarise a constant phase. Do not present an annual average as though every month had identical liquidity. A loan paid out once belongs to initial funding rather than recurring income multiplied by twelve. The same applies to an owner contribution or occasional disposal of another asset. SFC guidance encourages understanding financial costs and obligations; relate those obligations to supported receipts before assuming payment capacity. Record the source, date, certainty and collection time for each material inflow. If it still depends on approval or an unsigned agreement, keep that condition beside the output and test a version without it. This makes an income dependency visible rather than hiding it in an average.
Separate operations, debt and monthly reserve
Operating costs combines recurring outgoings within your selected scope: maintenance, administration, services or other specified obligations. Convert annual amounts to a monthly equivalent for the summary while retaining actual due dates in the timetable. For Medellín property tax, consult the bill and period through the Tax Portal; another municipality requires its own document. Monthly debt means the full planned cash payment, rather than interest alone. Monthly reserve is an amount you choose to set aside and the tool deducts it from available flow. The money can remain your asset, but here it becomes unavailable for other project commitments. Do not place the same reserve in operating expenses and again in its separate field. Also exclude money already protected for another purpose from available starting cash. Include insurance and financial charges once, in the appropriate category for your model. The form does not calculate taxes, deductibility, rates or policies; documents and advice establish the actual amounts. Keep this allocation transparent so a reviewer can spot duplication.
Read monthly flow, annual flow and runway
Available monthly flow is income minus operations, debt and reserve. Scenario annual flow multiplies that difference by twelve without modelling different months. Runway appears only when outgoings exceed income: starting cash divided by the monthly deficit. It expresses how many months that cash would sustain the constant shortfall entered. When monthly flow is zero or positive, runway is not displayed; its absence does not mean infinite duration, guaranteed solvency or permission to spend starting cash. With a deficit and zero starting cash, runway is zero. The calculation applies no minimum balance, bank limit or legal reserve. Decide which resources may be consumed and exclude amounts that must remain protected beforehand. Results can be negative even though inputs must be positive or zero. SFC financial guidance helps frame questions about payments and charges; the algorithm on this page only summarises your inputs. The distinction matters when a displayed positive balance depends on a receipt whose timing has not yet been confirmed.
Check a hypothetical example and its stress case
Assume monthly income of COP 6,000,000, operations of COP 3,200,000, debt of COP 1,700,000 and reserve of COP 600,000. With available starting cash of COP 12,000,000, monthly flow is COP 500,000 and annual flow COP 6,000,000. No runway appears because there is no deficit. Reduce only income to COP 4,000,000: outgoings remain COP 5,500,000, monthly flow becomes negative COP 1,500,000 and annual flow negative COP 18,000,000. Runway is eight months, obtained by dividing COP 12,000,000 by COP 1,500,000. These invented amounts explain the calculation rather than represent rents, offered instalments or market budgets. If a COP 9,000,000 initial advance is also due, remaining cash would be COP 3,000,000 and sustain only two months of that deficit. Deduct the advance before entering the recurring scenario or locate it correctly in a dated worksheet. The annual number alone does not capture this initial funding need or the order of the payments.
Test actual dates and variable obligations
Prepare a row for each month when construction, seasonality or irregular collections are involved. Record opening cash, available receipts, payments and closing cash, with the conditions changing the timetable. Dividing an annual expense by twelve helps compare scenarios, but its bill can become due before the money is accumulated. A supplier can require an advance before a financing drawdown, and a connection can require steps before operations begin. Use provider responses to arrange those dependencies. The calculator does not incorporate inflation, tax changes, delays, rising insurance or automatic financing variations. If an obligation is denominated in UVR, Banco de la República explains its relationship with CPI; do not interpret a constant payment entered here as a forecast of every future instalment in pesos. Request the schedule and scenarios from the financier. Change inputs to represent different phases, retaining each version and its duration, rather than adding annual outputs from phases that do not each last twelve months. Their actual timing requires the separate timetable.
Decide what you will do if cash falls
Test changes you can explain with evidence: fewer collection months, a defined repair, delayed operations or a different payment in a lender scenario. Change one variable at a time to identify the cause of the deficit, then combine risks that could reasonably occur together. Do not use a reserve to conceal structurally negative operations or reduce it merely to obtain an attractive number. Ask which obligation can be adjusted, which needs another party’s agreement and which commitment can still be postponed. Set an internal cash level that triggers review before resources are exhausted; the tool neither monitors that level nor sends alerts. Consult actual financial charges in your institution information instead of assuming arrears are free or another loan will be available. If income depends on an activity whose feasibility is unresolved, address that condition alongside the budget. A useful plan connects each adverse scenario with a decision and an owner, rather than presenting eight months of runway as guaranteed time. The constant deficit may change before that period ends.
Retain a reproducible scenario
Save the scenario in this browser or download its inputs and outputs to retain a version. The file does not automatically include statements, agreements, bills or approvals; prepare a separate dated evidence index. Identify the cash perspective, constant period represented and exclusions, particularly taxes and one-off outlays modelled elsewhere. Sharing only monthly flow can lead another person to confuse an assumed receipt with confirmed money. Attach the timetable whenever a decision depends on advances or the sequence of funding. Tax and financial sources help obtain obligation information, but their documents must correspond to the actual property, holder and product. Finish with a specific action: verify income, correct an allowance, renegotiate timing or reduce scope before contracting. Recalculate when evidence changes a material input. The output helps explain pressure on cash and prepare decisions with their conditions visible. It remains a scenario even when a downloaded result contains currency formatting and precisely calculated totals.
Cash calendar to complement the constant-month model
The calculator applies a constant month and multiplies it by twelve. In a separate copy, repeat these items for each actual month to add one-off payments and seasonality. This worksheet does not add a new calendar to the automatic calculation.
| Item or decision | Information and evidence for your copy | Next check |
|---|---|---|
| Actually usable opening cash | Available balance at month start, funds reserved for other purposes and payments committed before operations. | Distinguish bank balance from unrestricted funds; an initial advance reduces cash available for later deficits. |
| Income in the month received | Amount, expected date, counterparty, evidence and uncertainty; distinguish invoicing from receipt. | Place seasons without receipts and hypothetical delays; do not repeat annual revenue as monthly cash. |
| Operating outflows and one-off payments | Maintenance, utilities, taxes, works and other payments, with date, purpose and amount evidence. | Assign each outflow to its month and avoid duplicating it as both monthly operations and an extraordinary payment. |
| Debt, reserve and period balance | Total debt payment, chosen reserve, inflows, outflows and closing balance carried into the following month. | Review negative months and funding to cover them; a positive annual balance can hide an interim deficit. |
| Stress scenario and response | Lower income, delay, unexpected cost or debt change, altering one identified assumption at a time. | Compare the amount and timing of cash gaps; constant-model runway does not replace this calendar. |
Sources & bibliography
Read the full document, its date, amendments and scope. The editorial review date describes this page; it does not establish an authorisation or a specific answer about your plot or financing.
- 01EPM · Servicio de aguas para constructores y urbanizadoreswww.epm.com.co · EPM service area
- 02Alcaldía de Medellín · Portal Tributario de la Secretaría de Haciendawww.medellin.gov.co · Medellín
- 03Superintendencia Financiera · Costos anuales de tus productos financieroswww.superfinanciera.gov.co · Colombia; supervised financial institutions
- 04Superintendencia Financiera · Guías informativas antes de adquirir un créditowww.superfinanciera.gov.co · Colombia; financial consumer education
- 05Banco de la República · Unidad de valor realwww.banrep.gov.co · Colombia; unit of account linked to CPI