Intuit Cash Flow Continuity Playbook

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This playbook contains a wealth of information along with instructions to help users make the most of the power and robust nature of QuickBooks.  As your accounting platform, there is a multitude of information at your fingertips to evaluate the health of your business and to also help you make decisions for the near term and long term success of your business in weathering this storm. Additionally, the Continuity Playbook contains a cash flow calculator.  This calculator will allow you to enter some basic information and then it instantly provides you with your cash flow position.  This is an especially useful “at a glance” look to see where your business stands as a snapshot. Here are links to both the Playbook and free Cash-flow Calculator: Cash flow continuity playbook and free cash flow planner.  Now we will take a closer look at the playbook and the information it contains.

The guide contains five sections which are quick and easy resources to perform various evaluation tasks. These are:

  • Identifying clients who need help the most
  • Generating a cash flow forecast
  • Maximizing cash flow
  • Staying a step ahead
  • Running QuickBooks reports

Within each section of the guide, you will find links and instructions to help you determine which reports running for different queries.  For example, your business may need funds quickly.  QuickBooks contains reports to identify outstanding payments, age of outstanding payments, and amount of said payments.  This is useful in identifying opportunities to bill for maximum effectiveness.  Normally, you would want to bill as your schedule dictates.  However, in times such as these, it is good to know which bills you can send out to receive the biggest influx of cash for your client’s business. 

Another helpful part of the guide is the first section which will assist the pro advisor in determining which of your clients need help the most.  Given the fact that most of us are near-daily in a state of being overwhelmed with needs coming in from all directions not to mention the volume of information coming wave after wave as this situation unfolds a task which seems easy enough can seem monumental.  Such as, simply considering which client needs attention now and which clients can wait a day or two.  This all depends on the health of the client’s business.  This section of the guide is quite useful in helping you to sift through such data quickly and efficiently

QuickBooks Cash Flow Planner

This is but a small sample of what this Cash Flow Continuity Playbook contains. With some basic information you can easily project both the money-in and money-out for your business or your client's business.

But the numbers can be scary especially in a scary situation like this COVID-19 crisis, so if you are working with a client, you may want to skip from the Getting Started Worksheet to the Summary Worksheet when talking to your clients, at least initially.

The Summary can give them the 'Big Picture' and then you can 'go back' to the Cash-flow Planner Worksheet if you want to work on individual numbers and projections to build what-if solutions that may help get over rough periods.

By the way, this tool runs in either Google Sheets or Excel. I understand that the QuickBooks team is working to build enhanced inter-connectivity (perhaps like an App) between QBO and this tool, or at least allow for some sort of linkage between these products.

There are additional links to multiple resources as well.  All of this is a welcome help during this difficult and overwhelming time for us in the accounting industry.  To our clients in need of our assistance, this is a valuable tool for us as accountants to best help our clients.  Thanks Intuit!