The verdict and your cushion

The sentence at the top of the Dashboard is the verdict. It compares the forecast balance, week by week, with your cushion: the balance you never want to go under.

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• If the balance stays above the cushion for the whole forecast, the verdict says so, and tells you your lowest point and when it is.
• If it crosses the cushion, the verdict names the week, how far under you’d go, and what’s driving it.
• If it goes below zero, the verdict leads with that.

Setting your cushion

Open Settings › Your numbers. A good cushion covers the payments you can’t miss: one payroll plus two weeks of your other regular bills. Right under it, a business can see and change what its cushion is made of, including the payroll reserve and the tax set aside.

What would fix it

When a week dips, the verdict says the best fix: the one step, or the fewest, that keeps you above the line through every dip in the 13 weeks. It is always something that is yours to do: collecting an invoice that is late, moving a purchase you typed in by a week or two, drawing on a line of credit and paying it back, or holding back your own pay. It names the day to act by and, when it depends on a customer paying, what to do if they don’t. Payroll, taxes, loan payments, rent, insurance, regular bills and bills from your books are never offered. Nothing changes until you act.

When your bank data is old

The forecast starts from your newest bank balance. Once some of your bank data is more than four days old, the top bar says so on every page, with a link to update it, and Money coming up says the day it starts from. A linked bank updates itself; for a file, upload a fresh export.

Three outlooks

The Simplified view is always Expected. In the Detailed view, the Dashboard’s Cash flow card can draw Cautious or Optimistic over Expected (Compare with), and Outlooks and scenarios puts the lowest point of each side by side. Cautious assumes money comes in slower and lighter. If you’re fine even in Cautious, you have real room.