A big one-off bill — taxes, insurance, a renewal. Type 0 if you don't have one.
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Every box above is required, including the question. If one is genuinely zero, type 0 — a blank box and a zero are not the same answer.
thirteen-week cash curve
Thinnest week
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Where you end (week 13)
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That's the curve. The read — is it a fluke or a trend, which costs are your leverage, and the one bill that could tip you over — is what a CFO sees next. It's right below, free.
The Reality Check — your CFO's readFree
Put your numbers in and press Get my Reality Check. Your read shows up right here: whether you’re getting better or worse, the questions a CFO would ask, and your moves in order. Free, start to finish.
Sharpen the model
The free curve uses one flat number a week. Real businesses don't run flat — so this is where the model starts to breathe, and where a flat "variable" cost gets caught.
One to hold onto: suppliers & materials get paid on your supplier's terms — whether or not your customers have paid you yet. Committed in timing: a slow-collections week doesn't make this bill wait.
Are you getting better, or getting worse?
The questions a CFO would ask you
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What I see in your numbers
The whole quarter, as a CFO reads it
Every line totaled across 13 weeks, and — the part owners skip — each one as a share of the cash that came in. The big percentages are where your leverage is.
If I were you, in this order
Opens your usual print box — choose Save as PDF and it lands on your device. The file is made right here; nothing is sent anywhere. It’s yours to keep: we never see it, and we can never take it back. Run this again next quarter and put the two side by side.
All of this is free. Nothing is sent anywhere, and your figures are gone when you close the tab.
OK, but what do I do?
Keep watching it yourself Free
Cash moves. Run this again in 90 days and put the two side by side.
Or get the newsletter, every other Friday, at the bottom of this page. Either way, your numbers stay here.
Know what your banker will see $39 kit
The Owner’s Reality Check Kit: move one thing and watch your worst week change, then see what your cash pattern does to your payment record, your credit use and your scores. A file you keep.
Coming soon.
Have MJ read them $250
“I’ll tell you what I’d do, in order, and sign it.”
What you are reading is an instant read of the numbers you gave us. It is an honest read, but it only knows what you typed: not your season, not the customer who always pays late, not the invoice landing next Tuesday. You know those things and this page does not. Use it to decide where to look, then check what you find against what you know.
Where we draw the line between comfortable and thin is our judgment, not a rule of accounting. Your bank, your accountant, or your own gut may draw it somewhere else.