Small Business Stock and Cash Flow Toolkit – Excel XLSX

BENEFITS OF THIS DOWNLOADABLE EXCEL DOCUMENT

1. Control stock levels, stock value and reordering in one workbook
2. Forecast 12 months of cash and get warned before the balance dips below your buffer
3. Two consistent, macro-free templates with full instructions and worked examples

INVENTORY MANAGEMENT EXCEL DESCRIPTION

Small Business Stock and Cash Flow Toolkit is an Excel template (XLSX) with a supplemental Excel document available for immediate download upon purchase.

This toolkit contains two ready-to-use Excel templates that cover two of the most common operational pain points in a small business: knowing what stock you have and what to reorder, and knowing whether there will be enough cash in the bank over the next 12 months. Both are intended to be used as working templates rather than as training guides, and both follow the same structure: a Start here tab with step-by-step instructions, a dashboard, input tabs and a settings tab.

Primary document: Stock and Inventory Tracker
The workbook keeps one row per product (up to 500) and a log of up to 2,000 dated stock movements: deliveries, sales, items used, returns, write-offs and stock count corrections. It calculates stock on hand, stock value at cost and at retail, margin, a colour-coded status (out of stock, reorder now, running low or OK), a suggested order quantity and days since each item last moved. The dashboard shows stock value, products to reorder, the out-of-stock count, cost to reorder, a reorder list, stock by category with a chart, reorder totals by supplier and the last six months of movements. Repeated product codes are highlighted. Stock is valued at cost before VAT using a simple running count, not FIFO or average cost.

Secondary document: 12-Month Cash Flow Forecast
The forecast plans 5 money-in rows and 16 money-out rows across 12 months and calculates net cash flow and the closing bank balance month by month. Any month below your chosen minimum buffer, or overdrawn, is highlighted. An Actuals tab records real figures with a bank statement check row and shows actual-versus-forecast differences, and the dashboard gives the lowest balance and the month it happens, months below the buffer, the balance after 12 months and two charts. Rows include VAT quarters and the January and July tax payments and can be renamed.

Both files are the EXAMPLE copies, filled with invented data (a made-up craft shop and a made-up florist) so every calculation can be seen working. Each Start here tab explains how to clear the example data and start with your own figures.

Typical uses include small shops, makers, cafes, salons and trades, and accountants, bookkeepers or consultants who need simple, robust tools to hand to small clients.

Design notes: figures are in pounds sterling with DD/MM/YYYY dates. Neither workbook contains macros, and both are designed for Microsoft Excel 2010 or later, Google Sheets and LibreOffice. These are planning and record-keeping tools, not financial or tax advice.

About the author: Andrew Wilcox runs Sheetsure, a UK business that builds practical Excel templates and provides fixed-price spreadsheet and data work for small businesses.

Source: Best Practices in Inventory Management, Cash Flow Management Excel: Small Business Stock and Cash Flow Toolkit Excel (XLSX) Spreadsheet, Andrew Wilcox (Sheetsure)