Cash

Know where it’s heading. Act while you have choices.

DriversIdentify what changes the amount and timing of cash.
ForecastUse the drivers to forecast the next 36 months of cash.
ReviewMonitor drivers weekly. Review the cash outlook monthly.
ActionMake corrections early and manage future obligations.

Cash Forecasting · EO Accelerator

For 20 years, I was maxing out my personal lines of credit and credit cards to make payroll.

A leader supports a payroll tray with personal credit cards.

Target time: 2 minutes and 30 seconds.

Open with the sentence on the slide.

Pause after saying it.

Let the consequence register before adding context.

Describe the 20-year pattern of relying on personal credit to make payroll.

Use late 2008 and 2009 as documented examples of the longer pattern.

Those records show payroll cash shortfalls.

They show substantial bank borrowing.

They also show repayment against Byron and Daina's personal line of credit.

Do not add an unverified personal borrowing amount.

Transition: The turning point came when I installed a disciplined operating system.

[Sources]

Byron confirmed the 20-year duration and the personal lines of credit and credit cards wording in the active presentation task.

December 2008 and March and October 2009 Rise Vision email records summarized in darlison/presentations/eoa-cash/records/eoa-cash-source-record.txt.

darlison/presentations/eoa-cash/deck/assets/opening-personal-credit.png

[/Sources]

Cash Forecasting · EO Accelerator

In 2018 I adopted a business operating system.

Target time: 2 minutes.

Historical records use Scaling Up and Rockefeller Habits language. Byron now teaches the integrated operating disciplines through Metronomics.

The change was not one tool. It was the discipline of planning, measuring, reviewing, and acting as one system.

Give full credit to Shannon Byrne Susko as the creator of Metronomics.

Transition: That adoption transformed how we ran the company.

[Sources]

Byron confirmed the 2018 Metronomics adoption in the active presentation task.

January, July, August, and November 2018 coaching and planning records summarized in darlison/presentations/eoa-cash/records/eoa-cash-source-record.txt.

Metronomics attribution and logo: https://www.metronomics.com/

[/Sources]

Cash Forecasting · EO Accelerator

Adopting Metronomics transformed how we ran the company.

Within 18 months, we had one year of operating expenses in cash.

Two years later, I sold the company at a premium industry multiple.

Target time: 1 minute and 30 seconds.

State both outcomes without implying that cash alone created the exit.

We built the reserve against a deliberate 18-month plan.

It reached one year of operating expenses during 2020 and 2021.

The sale closed on 25 July 2022 at more than five times recurring revenue.

Adopting Metronomics transformed how the company planned, measured, reviewed, and acted.

The cash system supplied the fuel and capacity to keep executing the plan without crisis-driven choices.

The premium exit was the compounded result of the complete system, not a result of cash forecasting alone.

Transition: Begin with the measurable operating drivers that change future cash.

[Sources]

Byron confirmed the one-year operating-expense reserve, 18-month plan, and cash-as-fuel interpretation in the active task.

December 2019 reserve policy, 2020 and 2021 financial records, and 25 July 2022 closing records summarized in darlison/presentations/eoa-cash/records/eoa-cash-source-record.txt.

The more-than-five-times recurring-revenue exit is recorded in Byron's canonical bio and published article.

[/Sources]

Cash Forecasting · EO Accelerator

The sequence starts with countable activities (cash drivers) that change future cash.

Count itbefore cash moves

Sales-qualified leads

New business booked

On-time delivery

Average accounts receivable (AR) days

Cash Forecasting · EO Accelerator

Map How Your Key Functions Drive Cash

Leads

Marketing

Sales-qualified leads

Sales

New business booked

Delivery

Work ready to bill

Billing & Collection

Cash collected

Cash

Handoffs: Sales-qualified leads · New business booked · Work ready to bill · Cash collected

Quick response code for the How Your Company Makes Money article

Read the methodHow Your Company Makes Money

Target time: 2 minutes.

A Key Function Flow Map shows how work moves through the business and ends in cash.

Keep the first map simple: three to six primary functions.

Label each handoff with what passes to the next function.

The map shows handoffs. The accountability table shows the measures each function manages.

Leads become sales-qualified leads, booked business, work ready to bill, and collected cash.

The quick response code opens the How Your Company Makes Money article.

The article explains the method before participants use the mapping tools.

This is not a mapping workshop. The slide gives participants a practical way to continue after the session.

Transition: Once you find a driver, ask how much cash it changes and when.

[Sources]

https://www.darlison.com/how-your-company-makes-money/

artifact-review-library/kffm.md

[/Sources]

Cash Forecasting · EO Accelerator

Each driver tells us the quantity and timing.

Amount

New business booked

How much cash?

Timing

Average AR days

When will it arrive?

Cash Forecasting · EO Accelerator

Each function manages a critical number that affects cash.

Function	Leading indicator	Critical number	Lagging indicator
Marketing	Leads received (#)	Sales-qualified leads produced (#)	Leads received that become sales-qualified (%)
Sales	Sales-qualified leads received (#)	New business booked ($)	Sales-qualified leads that become customers (%)
Delivery	Booked work due for delivery ($)	On-time delivery (%)	Deliveries accepted without defects or rework (%)
Billing & Collection	Receivables due for collection ($)	Average accounts receivable days	Bad-debt rate (%)

Target time: 3 minutes and 30 seconds.

This is an illustrative accountability table, not a claim about Rise Vision's complete scoreboard.

Leading indicators signal incoming work. Critical numbers identify the main accountability.

Lagging indicators add evidence about the result. They need not match the outgoing handoff.

Sales agrees on qualification criteria. Compare conversion within the same group of leads.

On-time delivery uses the agreed customer date. Acceptance excludes defects and rework.

Define bad-debt rate against credit sales and assess it over a longer period.

Credit terms and customer selection also affect collection performance.

The table is not a complete forecast. Quantities, dollar values, and timing remain necessary.

Now connect the table to the real Rise Vision collection example.

The weekly Scoreboard set a 35-day target for average AR days.

That target tells the forecast when customer cash should arrive.

The forecast is not a finance invention.

It expresses operating assumptions in cash and time.

The next slide translates these operating measures into both cash receipts and cash payments.

Transition: First, use these operating relationships to build the 36-month cash forecast.

[Sources]

darlison/presentations/eoa-cash/records/eoa-cash-source-record.txt

https://www.darlison.com/who-owns-the-forecast/

[/Sources]

Cash Forecasting · EO Accelerator

Our drivers turn the business plan into a 36-month cash forecast.

Model the business

Leading indicators
Critical numbers
Lagging indicators

Realistic volumes, conversion rates, capacity, and timing.

Cash in

Revenue and collection timing

Cash out

People, resources, and expenses required to deliver

36-month rolling forecast

Plan
The cash outcome we intended.

Rolling
Actuals to date
+ remaining Plan

Forecast templatesExcel and Google Sheets

Target time: 2 minutes, using the existing delivery buffer.

The forecast comes from how the business operates, not a desired revenue number alone.

Leading indicators, critical numbers, and lagging indicators together inform realistic volumes, conversions, capacity, and timing.

They are not interchangeable spreadsheet inputs. Use operational relationships to translate them into financial assumptions.

The same drivers determine revenue, receipt timing, staffing, resources, expenses, and payment timing.

Include opening cash and other known cash commitments when calculating the cash position.

Plan records the intended cash outcome. Rolling combines actuals to date with the remaining Plan.

Enter financial actuals monthly and review the remaining assumptions. Rolling then recalculates the 36-month cash outlook.

This is not multiplying one week's results by 156. Model quantities and timing across the forecast horizon.

Transition: Next, schedule the coming quarter's driver targets across thirteen weeks.

[Sources]

Byron-approved explanation and wording, 2026-09-09; presentation brief.

[/Sources]

Cash Forecasting · EO Accelerator

Schedule the drivers week by week to deliver the quarterly plan.

36-month Plan→Quarterly 13-week plan→Weekly targets

Function / critical number	W13	W12	W11	W10	W9	W8	W7	W6	W5	W4	W3	W2	W1
Marketing (Alex)Sales-qualified leads producedQuarter: 260 leads	15	20	20	20	25	25	25	20	20	20	20	15	15
Sales (Jordan)New business booked ($k)Quarter: $650,000	40	45	55	60	65	65	60	55	50	45	40	35	35
Delivery (Taylor)On-time delivery (%)Maintain at least 95%	≥95	≥95	≥95	≥95	≥95	≥95	≥95	≥95	≥95	≥95	≥95	≥95	≥95
Billing & Collection (Morgan)Average accounts receivable daysMaintain at most 35 days	≤35	≤35	≤35	≤35	≤35	≤35	≤35	≤35	≤35	≤35	≤35	≤35	≤35

Set weekly targetsArticle and template access

Target time: 2 minutes, from the remaining delivery buffer.

The 36-month Plan informs the coming quarter's operating commitments. Schedule quantities according to activity, capacity, and timing, not equal division.

The lead targets total 260. Bookings total $650,000. These are made-up teaching values and owners approved by Byron.

Percentage and day-based standards remain standards, not quarterly quantities divided by thirteen.

Each function has a named owner. Read the table from the latest week at left to the earliest at right.

The later weekly scoreboard keeps these same owners, measures, and targets. Transition: First, distinguish the weekly and monthly review rhythms.

[Sources]

Byron-approved quarterly targets and fictional owners, 2026-09-09; https://www.darlison.com/scoreboard-day/

[/Sources]

Cash Forecasting · EO Accelerator

One plan. Two review rhythms.

DriversQuantities and timing

36-month
cash forecastWhere cash is heading

Quarterly
13-week planWeekly targets per driver

MONTHLY REVIEW

Manage the cash outlook

Compare financial Actual with Plan.
Rolling 36-month forecast updates automatically.
Act on future cash obligations.

Rolling forecast informs future cash plans

WEEKLY REVIEW

Manage the drivers

Compare weekly actual with target.
Flag variances and take corrective action.
Follow up until resolved.

Action corrects the driver. Tracking confirms the correction.

Target time: 3 minutes.

Start with the planning path across the top. Then explain Weekly Review on the left and Monthly Review on the right.

Weekly review compares actual driver performance with targets. Flag variances, take corrective action, and follow up until resolved.

Recap how drivers build the forecast and the quarterly plan before introducing the two review rhythms.

Drivers describe measurable operating activity.

The 36-month forecast translates drivers into future cash assumptions.

The forecast informs the next quarter's 13-week plan, which sets weekly targets for each driver.

Translate quantities into weekly commitments, allowing for timing and capacity. Do not simply divide every quarterly target by 13.

Maintain standards such as average accounts receivable days each week. Do not divide them into weekly amounts.

Weekly review compares results with targets. Corrective action changes operations; follow-up confirms the response.

Monthly review compares financial Actual with Plan. Enter monthly actuals and review assumptions; Rolling recalculates automatically.

Use the Rolling forecast to manage future cash obligations and inform future cash plans. Weekly review does not update Rolling.

Transition: Start with the weekly scoreboard and compare actual results with the targets we just set.

[Sources]

darlison/presentations/eoa-cash/brief.md

[/Sources]

Cash Forecasting · EO Accelerator

Review weekly actual against target.

36-month Plan→Quarterly 13-week plan→Weekly targets

The same targets, now with actual results underneath.Weeks 1–4

Function / critical number	Week 4	Week 3	Week 2	Week 1
Marketing (Alex)Sales-qualified leads producedGreen: target met · Yellow: 75–99% · Red: below 75%	Target2022	Target2018	Target1516	Target1515
Sales (Jordan)New business booked ($k)Green: target met · Yellow: 80–99% · Red: below 80%	Target4549	Target4038	Target3537	Target3536
Delivery (Taylor)On-time delivery (%)Green ≥95% · Yellow 90–94% · Red <90%	Target≥9593	Target≥9596	Target≥9595	Target≥9597
Billing & Collection (Morgan)Average accounts receivable daysGreen ≤35 · Yellow >35–40 · Red >40	Target≤3542	Target≤3539	Target≤3536	Target≤3534

Weekly scoreboardArticle and template access

Target time: 2 minutes and 30 seconds.

The scoreboard carries the four critical numbers from the approved accountability table.

These weekly results and tolerance bands illustrate the method. They are not a historical company scoreboard.

The latest week is on the left. Each target matches the preceding 13-week plan and sits above its coloured result.

Targets come from the approved quarterly plan, not a revised Rolling forecast. Schedule quantities using working days, capacity, and timing.

Percentage and day-based standards are not monthly quantities divided across weeks.

Now follow the average AR days row, using the real 35-day target.

Slower outcomes such as bad debts require a longer measurement period.

The difference is the variance.

The variance supplies early warning before the financial consequence appears.

This is weekly operating analysis.

Weekly actual means the measured operating result. This is not the monthly financial Plan-Actual-Rolling review.

It does not update the rolling forecast.

Transition: Look closely at average accounts receivable days: 42 against the 35-day target.

[Sources]

darlison/presentations/eoa-cash/brief.md

https://www.darlison.com/scoreboard-day/

[/Sources]

Cash Forecasting · EO Accelerator

Our weekly review caught average AR days at 42 against a 35-day target.

Target35days

Current result42days

7 days over target

Cash Forecasting · EO Accelerator

A red critical number triggers a Situation Report.

Situation

Average accounts receivable days reached 42 against our target of 35. Customer payments are arriving later than planned.

Cause

We follow up only after invoices become overdue. Missing purchase orders and incorrect billing contacts delay payment.

Correction

The collections owner will check invoice receipt and payment requirements within one week of billing. They will resolve outstanding blockers immediately.

Follow-up

The collections owner will report progress each Thursday. At month-end, we will check whether average AR days returned to 35 or below.

Situation Report guideSituation · Cause · Correction · Follow-up

Target time: 2 minutes and 30 seconds.

The function owner writes one report when the critical number turns red.

Situation: Average accounts receivable days reached 42 against our target of 35. Customer payments are arriving later than planned.

Cause: We follow up only after invoices become overdue. Missing purchase orders and incorrect billing contacts delay payment.

Correction: The collections owner checks invoice receipt and payment requirements within one week of billing. They resolve outstanding blockers immediately.

Follow-up: The collections owner reports progress each Thursday. At month-end, confirm whether average accounts receivable days returned to 35 or below.

Situation states the factual gap. Cause identifies the structure behind that gap.

Correction changes the process. Follow-up defines a date, metric, and check-in. Thursday progress checks continue before the month-end confirmation; corrective action does not wait.

Do not write another report while awaiting the agreed follow-up date.

At that date, close a corrected situation. A remaining red requires a new report and correction.

The method draws on The Managerial Moment of Truth by Bruce Bodaken and Robert Fritz.

Byron's Scoreboard Day article describes its use in this weekly cadence.

This cause and correction are illustrative, not a verified account of the historical 42-day result.

The cash consequence may not appear yet.

Weekly review manages the operating cause.

It does not update the rolling forecast.

Transition: Action corrects performance. Follow-up confirms whether the driver has returned to target.

[Sources]

darlison/presentations/eoa-cash/brief.md

https://www.darlison.com/scoreboard-day/

[/Sources]

Cash Forecasting · EO Accelerator

Immediate action brought average AR days from 42 back below target before month-end.

Weekly variance42 days35-day target

Immediate responseCorrective actionmanage the cause

Before month-endBelow 35 daysback in the green

Cash Forecasting · EO Accelerator

At month-end, update Rolling to see where cash is heading over the next 36 months.

Look back

Plan

What did we expect?

Actual

What happened?

36-month view

Rolling

Where is cash heading now?

Target time: 4 minutes.

The monthly process begins after actual results become available.

Management reviews Plan, Actual, and Rolling together.

Plan preserves the approved expectation.

Actual records the completed financial result.

Enter the completed month's financial actuals and review the remaining assumptions.

Rolling recalculates automatically from actuals to date plus the remaining Plan. Maintain the forward 36-month horizon.

The main question concerns future cash.

Is the outlook off track?

If so, leaders manage upcoming obligations.

Keep the approved Plan visible; do not replace its targets with Rolling to hide a variance.

Weekly review does not update Rolling.

Transition: February's monthly review showed the resulting cash consequence.

[Sources]

darlison/presentations/eoa-cash/brief.md

darlison/presentations/eoa-cash/records/eoa-cash-source-record.txt

[/Sources]

Cash Forecasting · EO Accelerator

The result: cash was $80,000 ahead of forecast.

What contributed Average AR days improved Sales volume increased

Cash result $80,000 ahead of forecast

Cash Forecasting · EO Accelerator

So the evidence supported staying the course.

DecisionStay the course.

Continue with the planned hiring and capital expenditures.

Cash Forecasting · EO Accelerator

The system gives you time to manage future obligations before your bank balance forces the decision.

See it earlyFuture cash is visible

Act before urgencyManage future obligations

Cash Forecasting · EO Accelerator

Together, discipline and cash capacity helped us move from payroll crisis to a cash surplus.

For 20 years Personal credit for payroll

2018 Adopted Metronomics

2022 One year of operating expenses in cash, plus substantial investable assets.

Target time: 2 minutes and 30 seconds.

Return to the opening story.

For 20 years, personal credit and credit cards were part of making payroll.

In 2018, I adopted the operating discipline I now teach through Metronomics.

The 2022 milestone is one year of operating expenses in cash, plus substantial investable assets.

End this story on cash surplus and capacity, not the sale multiple. The complete operating system supported the transformation.

Cash was the fuel that preserved options and let the complete operating system keep compounding.

Transition: The complete operating system comes from Shannon Byrne Susko’s Metronomics work.

[Sources]

Byron confirmed the story spine and attribution boundary in the active presentation task.

darlison/presentations/eoa-cash/records/eoa-cash-source-record.txt

[/Sources]

Cash Forecasting · EO Accelerator

To learn the complete operating system, go to Shannon Byrne Susko’s original books.

Shannon Byrne Susko created Metronomics and wrote all three books.

My additions and interpretations are my own.

Metronomics

3HAG WAY

The Metronome Effect

Cash

From reactive observer to proactive manager.

DriversKnow what moves your cash.
ForecastKeep a rolling 36-month view.
ReviewDrivers weekly. Cash outlook monthly.
ActionAct before your bank balance forces the decision.

Questions?

Cash Forecasting · EO Accelerator

Take the presentation, articles, and working templates with you.

PresentationOpen the online deck

QR code for How Your Company Makes Money

Identify driversArticle and mapping tools

Own the forecastArticle and worked model

Forecast toolsExcel and Google Sheets

Manage weeklyArticle and scoreboard template

✉️ Or, email ai@darlison.com to request the materials.

Target time: 1 minute.

Give participants time to scan the resources they want.

The links include the online presentation, related articles, and a worked forecast. They also include forecast and weekly Scoreboard templates. Scan a code in the room, or click it in the shared slideshow.

Each resource opens in a new tab. Alternatively, email ai@darlison.com to request the materials. Leave this final slide visible.

[Sources]

Resources restored from the previous EO Accelerator cash presentation at Byron's direction.

https://slides.darlison.com/eoa-cash/

https://www.darlison.com/how-your-company-makes-money/

https://www.darlison.com/who-owns-the-forecast/

https://www.darlison.com/forecast-tools/

https://www.darlison.com/scoreboard-day/

[/Sources]