The Forecast section helps you plan and track your company's finances over time. You can monitor your income and expenses by category, compare what you planned with what actually happened, and set future forecasts, all in one place. It’s a tracking and budgeting tool that centralizes your cash flow in one dashboard.

How is it represented?

Your forecast appears as a combined chart:

• The line shows your cash balance progression month by month.
• Bars display inflows (in green) and outflows (in red) for each period, making it easy to spot trends and compare forecasts with real results.

👆 Note: The balance curve may temporarily fall below zero if your outflows are higher than your inflows in a given month, illustrating periods with negative cash flow.

👉 Good to know: If you add the Cash Flow Management Plus Add-On to your plan, you can integrate Google Sheets with Cash Flow Management. With this integration, you can import forecasts from Google Sheets into Qonto and automatically sync categorized transaction data from Qonto back to your connected Google Sheet.

When to use?

• To use as a budgeting tool: set a forecast for each category and treat it as a target for your business, then track live how your actual performance compares to it.
• To analyze past transactions by category and understand where your money comes from and where it goes.
• To plan ahead, whether for short-term needs (anticipating upcoming cash requirements and avoiding running out of funds) or long-term goals (evaluating the impact of new projects, hiring, or seasonal changes).
• To simulate different situations using Scenarios: you can create up to 5 parallel forecasts to project various outcomes, such as a positive, neutral, and negative scenario, to anticipate any outcome and make informed decisions.
• To get a quick projection with a Flash Forecast, automatically calculated based on your historical data and industry averages. Keep in mind that it may not be accurate enough if you need the highest possible control over your forecast, in that case, opt for a Manual Forecast to set your figures yourself.
• To compare how your actual results align with your forecasts, month by month and by category.

How to customize it?

You can tailor the view to your needs using three main filters at the top of the section:

1. Forecast scenario: Select which forecast scenario you want to analyze (for example, the main forecast or an alternative scenario you’ve created). This allows you to compare different planning hypotheses and see the impact of various strategies.
2. Period: Choose the time breakdown for your analysis. You can view your data by month, quarter, or year, depending on the level of detail you need.
3. Accounts: Select one or more accounts to include in your analysis. You can focus on a single account, multiple accounts, or all accounts together—including external ones if connected. The data shown will adapt to your selection.

👆 Good to know:

• You can hover your mouse over the green or red bars to see detailed information about each cash flow movement.
• Hovering over a month displays a summary of that month’s inflows, outflows, and balance.