ChatGPT prompt for a 90-day cash-flow narrative

This is the prompt we run every month to turn a cash position into a clear story: when it will be tight, when it will be fine. Its rule: it uses your numbers only, invents no revenue, and states at the top of its own reply that this is planning support, not accounting advice.

The prompt to copy

Here's our cash position and expected movements: {paste — bank balance, invoices due in with dates, payroll and fixed costs, one-off expenses}.
Produce:
1. A plain-language 90-day cash narrative — when we're tight, when we're fine. Use only my numbers; no assumed revenue.
2. A table: month, expected in, expected out, projected end balance.
3. If any month runs tight: the 2–3 levers with dates (chase invoice X by date Y, defer Z).
4. What I haven't given you that would change this picture.
This is planning support, not accounting advice — say so at the top of the output.

Replace the field in curly braces with your balance, invoices due in with dates, fixed costs, and one-off expenses, then run.

When to use it

Every month, or any time the bank balance makes you nervous. Instead of a spreadsheet that gives you vertigo, you get a plain-language read of the next three months, with dated levers to pull if a month looks tight.

What you get back

1. A 90-day narrative that says when it is tight and when it is fine.
2. A month-by-month table: expected in, expected out, projected balance.
3. For each tight month, 2 to 3 dated, concrete levers.
4. A list of what you did not supply that would change the picture.

Real example: cash position → 90-day narrative

Input: at Brightside Studio, an 8-person brand agency, founder Maya pastes her cash position. An excerpt:

Bank balance today: £19,100
Due in: Fernhill Coffee invoice £2,400 (expected end of August), project deposit £6,000 (mid-September)
Monthly fixed costs: £28,400 (payroll + rent + software)
One-off: equipment refresh £4,200 in September

Output, as generated, starting with the disclaimer it was asked for:

This is planning support, not accounting advice.

Across the next 90 days, August holds, but September is the tight point: fixed costs land before the £6,000 deposit comes in, and the £4,200 equipment refresh falls in the same month.

Levers for September:

1. Chase the Fernhill Coffee invoice (£2,400) to collect it by end of August rather than September.
2. Defer the equipment refresh, if possible, until after the deposit lands.

What I don’t have that would change this picture: your expected receipts in October, and the exact payroll payment dates.

Notice what the AI did not do: it assumed no revenue that was absent from Maya’s numbers, and it flagged the missing data itself rather than filling the gaps. The disclaimer at the top is not decoration: this output helps you decide, it does not replace your accountant.

This prompt is part of the library that ships inside the kit, with its usage note.