A free 13-week cash flow model template in Excel, with a full worked case
The direct-method forecast week by week, liquidity on paper against liquidity you can use, a springing covenant test, six internal levers that buy weeks, and the weekly variance routine: seven sheets, one fictional company, no macros.
The file follows Brantwell Coatings Group, a fictional industrial coatings company, from the Monday its board first opens the forecast. At that moment it has $145.0 million of liquidity on paper, cash plus undrawn revolver commitments, but only $22.5 million it can actually use once the springing covenant and the operating minimum are counted. Thirteen weeks later ending cash is $19.89 million, after a trough of $19.88 million in week 12. Every one of those numbers is a formula you can move.
Download the template
One Excel file, no macros, nothing locked. No account, no email address.
Seven sheets, in the order the calculation runs. Blue type on a yellow fill is an input; black type is a formula.
README
What the workbook is, its conventions, how to use it, and the modelling notes behind the weekly calibration.
Inputs
Every driver: weekly run-rates, the 0/1 timing flags for each receipt and disbursement, rates, and the assumptions behind each lever.
13_Week
The direct-method forecast, one column per week: receipts, operating disbursements, debt service, ending cash against the minimum, the consistency check against LTM EBITDA, the bridge from a quarter of the annual free cash flow to the 13-week net flow, and the lever scenarios.
Liquidity
The annual cash cost of the capital structure, liquidity on paper against accessible and usable liquidity, and the springing covenant test with the EBITDA needed to pass it.
Levers
Six internal levers with their on/off switches, cash by week, the weeks each buys at two burn rates, the supplier reaction and its break-even insured share, the receivables program, and the plant sale swept to the term loan.
Variance
Weeks 1 to 4, actual against forecast, split between timing and permanent.
Checks
The 367 figures the book prints, set against the live cell that computes each one, with a pass or fail verdict.
What the worked case shows
Measure
Value
Liquidity on paper, week 0 (cash + undrawn revolver)
$145.0m
Usable liquidity above the operating minimum, week 0
$22.5m
Share of paper liquidity that cannot be used
84.5%
First-lien net leverage against the springing covenant
6.86x vs 6.50x
First week ending cash falls below the minimum
Week 11
Trough ending cash
$19.88m (week 12)
Ending cash, week 13
$19.89m
Net cash flow over the 13 weeks
$(25.1)m
Weeks bought if all six levers are switched on
22.7 weeks
Read the first four lines together. $145.0 million of liquidity on paper looks like a cushion, but the springing covenant is already failing, 6.86 times net first-lien leverage against a 6.50 times limit, and the operating minimum absorbs most of the rest: 84.5% of paper liquidity cannot actually be reached this week. That gap between liquidity on paper and liquidity you can use is the point Chapter 3 makes with a number, and the Liquidity sheet prints it live. The company burns $25.1 million over the 13 weeks before any lever is pulled; switching all six on buys roughly 22.7 weeks at this quarter's burn rate, not solvency.
How to use it on your own company
Open Inputs and overwrite the blue cells: a run-rate, a timing flag, a rate, or a lever assumption. Everything else recalculates.
Read Liquidity before 13_Week: the springing covenant test says whether the cash figure even matters yet.
Switch levers on or off on the Levers sheet. The scenario rows on 13_Week show ending cash with the levers on, with the coupon held, and both together.
Enter each week's actuals in the variance section of Inputs and classify the gap as timing or permanent; the Variance sheet keeps the two apart.
Keep the Checks sheet: once you change an input it stops matching the book, which is expected. Use its structure for your own tie-outs.
Questions people ask about it
Is this 13-week cash flow model really free?
Yes. It is a companion file to a book. There is no sign-up, no email address and no paid version.
Does it use macros or circular references?
No macros and no circular reference: every week's interest, debt service and lever reads only from earlier cells, never from its own result. The file recalculates in Excel, LibreOffice or Google Sheets without iterative calculation.
Why is the first week below the minimum week 11, but the lowest cash comes in week 12?
Ending cash first drops under the $25 million minimum in week 11, at $21.65 million, once a rent payment and the notes coupon land close together. It falls again in week 12, to $19.88 million, the lowest point in the forecast, and a small operating inflow lifts week 13 back to $19.89 million. The trough and the first breach answer two different questions: which week is worst, and which week first fails the test.
Can I use it for a real company?
You can reuse the structure: the driver-by-driver forecast, the liquidity waterfall and the lever mechanics. Brantwell Coatings Group and every figure in it are fictional, and nothing here is investment, legal or accounting advice.
The rest of the files
This template is one of the companion files for The Corporate Restructuring Handbook: the full set adds
the liability-management workbook, the valuation, waterfall and plan workbook, a blank reusable template, working documents and worked cases. Free, like this one.