Meaning & use
cash flow budget
Last updated
Meaning
nouncountablebusinessfinance
A plan showing the expected timing and amounts of money coming into and going out of a business over a period.
Grammar: Countable: you can say 'a cash flow budget' or 'cash flow budgets'.
Patterns
- prepare a cash flow budget
- a cash flow budget for something
- a monthly cash flow budget
The startup prepared a monthly cash flow budget to avoid running out of money.
A cash flow budget helps you see when you will need a short-term loan.
The finance team revised the cash flow budget after sales slowed down.
Word forms
| plural | cash flow budgets |
|---|
Common combinations
- prepare a cash flow budget
- We prepare a cash flow budget at the start of every quarter.
- monthly cash flow budget
- The monthly cash flow budget showed a gap in June.
- cash flow budget forecast
- The cash flow budget forecast predicts a surplus by December.
- stick to a cash flow budget
- If you stick to a cash flow budget, you can control spending.
Synonyms and how they differ
- cash budget
- A shorter term with the same meaning; 'cash flow budget' is more explicit about timing.
- cash forecast
- Focuses on predicting future cash; a budget also sets spending limits.
Word family
- cash flow noun
- The actual movement of money in and out of a business.
- budget noun
- A plan for how money will be spent and earned.
Commonly confused: cash flow budget or profit and loss budget?
cash flow budget vs profit and loss budget
A profit and loss budget includes non-cash items like depreciation; a cash flow budget only tracks actual cash movements.
Practice
Which sentence uses 'cash flow budget' correctly?
Choose one answer.
Option 0 uses 'cash flow budget' as a noun subject. The others misuse it as a verb or adjective.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “cash flow budget”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.