Cash Flow in Sage 50 (Overview)

The Cash Flow statement is an important aspect of being able to better understand the financial position of your company and organization. Not just that, but the Cash Flow also helps in making sure that you are able to better monitor the cash coming into and going out of the business, by better understanding the cash flow in Sage 50. The fun does not stop here; in fact, the cash flow statement can also be used to forecast in order to estimate the kind of money that your business can have, require, or at any point in the future, can help you to better strategize your financial settings. So, how is this done? Simply put, the invoices that are due to be paid, the credit notes that are to be refunded, and any other recurring expenses or income for the period specified by you. 

The best part is that, if and when you need to run a forecast, you can also add manual adjustments that comprise the values that are not yet accounted for! Sounds great doesn’t it? For instance, you need to pay off a loan, but you need to check out how the projected cash flow can change if you add a ‘specific’ value to your accounts. This can also be done through manual adjustments, but it is only limited to the cash flow forecast, and the values are not added to your ledgers.

The Cash Flow Statement Forecast: What it Shows?

To start with, you need to know that the values that are calculated for the cash flow statement are usually from the payments and receipts that are already paid or received. Hence, the values on the forecast are based on when the payments and receipts are due to be paid or received.

The Opening Balance

Cash Flow-in: This is the net value of the money in and out and is less than any liability on the date before the running of the cash flow statement or the forecast. The total values included are:

• Customer receipts
• Vendor refunds
• Other income
• Bank transfers and deposits

Cash Flow-Out: This includes the values of:

• Vendor payments
• Customer refunds
• Other expenses
• Bank transfers

Closing Balance: This is the total cash flow in less than the total cash flow out.

Net Balance: This is the Closing balance for the said period of time.

Raed More-: How to Improve Cash Flow with Sage Payment Center

Steps to Produce Cash Flow Statement

• Navigate to Reporting.
• Next, Click Cash Flow Statement.
• Now Enter the range of dates for which you wish to view the cash flow statement.
• Use the Bank Accounts menu to select the bank accounts you wish to include within the statement.
• Now, Click Calculate.
• Use the Export menu in order to save or print the report as a PDF or CSV file.
• click the Detailed button, In order to view a more detailed cash flow statement,
• The detailed report will display the individual transactions that make up the values within the report. 
• This report can also be printed or saved within this Report…
• Now, click Back in your browser, In order to return to the Cash Flow Statement Report.

Steps to Produce a Cash Flow Forecast

• Navigate to Reporting.
• Next, Click Cash Flow Forecast.
• Now, Enter the range of dates for which you wish to view the cash flow forecast.
• Next, Use the Bank Accounts menu in order to select the bank accounts you wish to include within the statement.
• Now Click Calculate.
• If needed, click the Manual Adjustments icon for the required option,
• Now enter the information,
• Next, click Save.
• Note: Adjustments are only applicable for the purpose of the forecast and do not affect the ledgers. Any adjustments entered before the From date are included within your opening balance.
• Go to the Export menu in order to save or print the report as a PDF or CSV file.
• To take a look at a more detailed cash flow statement, go to the Detailed Breakdown menu and click Detailed.
• The detailed report will display the individual transactions that make up the values within the report. If necessary, you can print or save this report.
• To return to the Cash Flow Forecast Report, click Back in your browser.
• To check out the outstanding transactions before the date for which you are running the cash flow forecast, go to the Detailed Breakdown menu, and now click View Prior Transactions.
• This report will display the outstanding invoices that need to be paid or credit notes that need to be refunded. The user can print or save this report.
• To go back to the Cash Flow Forecast report, you need to click Back in your browser.

How to Export Sage 50 Cash Flow to Excel

• Go to the upper taskbar
• Click on the Excel icon
• This will display the options for your export
• Here you can either create a new Excel sheet or add an existing Excel sheet.

How to Define How the Header will be Displayed

Once the above steps are done, the Excel sheet will be automatically created with the following tabs

• Here you can View, Save and Print these as well. 
• Here you can see the Starting Cash File tab that lists every account together with the beginning cash balance for each account. 
• Within the File tab, you can see the Expected Cash comprises a list of Balances by the customers with the invoice of 87, 197.51. 
• Within the file tab, the Expected outgoing Cash is a list of balances by the Vendors by the invoice of 28374.68.

The Summary File Tab: How to Review

• The starting cash balance is $16,116.52 as of today.
• There is a total of +87,197.51 expected incoming cash included
• With a total of –28,374.68 expected outgoing cash included
• With a projected cash balance of =74,939.35

The Transaction List

This list comprises the transactions that are dated on or before the Forecast up to date. Within the All tab, all the transactions are displayed. A more precise breakdown of the Cash Flow areas is available through the Regular Payments, Forecast Payments, Regular Receipts, and Forecast Receipts tabs. 

Below are the various transactions types included:

Sales Invoices

Note: If the Payment Due Days are set to zero, Sage Accounts applies for a 30-day payment due days period.

• The forecast date can be calculated as the invoice date + Average Time to Pay from the customer record.
• In case the invoice is flagged as disputed, it will appear in the cash flow, but will not be selected by default.

Purchase Invoices

• Here the due date and forecast date are calculated as the invoice date + Payment Due Days from the supplier record.

Note: If the Payment Due Days are set to zero, Sage Accounts applies for a 30-day payment due days period.

Sales Credits

• If the invoice is flagged as disputed, it appears in the cash flow but is not selected by default.

Purchase Credits

• These Credits are not deemed as being subject to payment terms as they are due immediately

Recurring Bank/Cash/Credit Card Payments

• This is the due date and is the Next Posting Date from the Recurring Entry window.

Recurring Bank/Cash/Credit Card Receipts

• The due date is the Next Posting Date from the Recurring Entry window.

Recurring Journal Debits/Credits

• The due date is the Next Posting Date from the Recurring Entry window

Forecast

• This Displays the forecast date for the transaction to happen. This is the date on which the user can expect to receive or make the payments. By default, for invoices, this detail is the transaction date + the average time to pay. For all other transactions, it is the due date. If necessary, you can amend the information in this column.

Due

• This displays the due date of the transaction

A/C Ref

• In case the transaction is a sales or purchase invoice or a recurring sales or purchase payment on account, this column displays the customer’s or supplier’s account reference.
• In case the transaction is a bank payment, a bank receipt, a bill, or a recurring journal debit or credit, this column will display the nominal code.

Note: If any transaction is a manual entry, then the display within this column can be amended, or it is read-only.

Details

This Displays the details of the transaction. In case the transaction is a manual entry, then the details within this column can be amended, otherwise, it is rea

Overdue

This displays the number of days difference between the due date and the program date.

• In case the program date is before the due date, then this box is blank.
• In case the program date is the same as the due date, there is a zero in this box.
• In case the program date is after the due date, then the number of days difference appears.

Note: This calculation does not take into consideration the Start Period aging on the first day of the month after the Transaction Date setting, in the Customer Defaults.

Disp

• In case the transaction is flagged as disputed, a d appears in this column

Inc

• Once can select or clear those transaction values to include within the cash flow

Receipts

• This Displays the amount outstanding on the transaction. Receipt amounts appear for sales invoices, recurring bank receipts, recurring journal debits, recurring sales payments on account, and any manual debit transactions.
• One can only make changes to the information in this column if the transaction is a manual entry.

Payments

• This Displays the amount outstanding against the transaction. Payment amounts appear for purchase invoices, recurring bank payments, recurring supplier payments on account, recurring journal credits, and any manual credit transactions. One can only amend the details in this column if the transaction is a manual entry.

Balance for Day

• Within the last line for each day, this box displays the running total of the forecast Book Balance for the selected bank account(s) per forecast date.
• The balance is calculated as:

Opening balance for the day + the total debit amounts for the day - the total credit amounts for the day.

In case, the balance for the day is calculated as less than zero, or where only one bank account is selected for inclusion and the balance is below the selected bank account’s minimum limit, it appears in red.

Also Read-: Sage 50 Invoice Not Posted

The Advantages of the Excel Skills for Modification of the Report

One additional consideration is the Discounts that can affect the amount displayed on the Receipt, or the disbursement that can be expected. Those invoices that have been previously recorded will be used for planning. However, if you offer an early payment discount to your customers or the same has been offered to you, these need to be considered in case they are normally taken or given. 

Finally, we need to consider the ‘Timing’ of the receipt or the disbursement that needs to be addressed. For this, every invoice needs to have a Due Date associated with it, but as mentioned previously, the early payment discounts may provide enough incentives for anyone to make the payment before the required date. Additionally, though the invoice might have at least a net 30 days of terms associated with it; this does not mean that the average time on the invoice can stretch a bit. Most times, the systems do keep track of the average days required to be paid by the Customers and the Vendors. This number that has been added to the Invoice date can offer a more realistic model if and when utilized as required.

Frequently Asked Questions(FAQs)