Cash Management Checklist

Log into each bank's treasury portal (or pull via the BAI2 / MT940 feed if integrated) and capture prior-day ledger and available balances for every operating, payroll, sweep, and lockbox account. Export to the daily cash worksheet — don't eyeball balances from QuickBooks bank feeds, which lag 24–48 hours.

Roll prior-day actuals into the worksheet, layer in known same-day inflows (lockbox, ACH credits, wires expected) and outflows (scheduled payroll, AP check run, debt service). The output is today's available cash by account and total liquidity including revolver capacity.

Flag any transaction over $10,000 that doesn't tie to a forecasted item, plus any ACH return, wire reversal, or NSF notice. Common culprits: duplicate vendor wires, customer chargebacks, and unposted intercompany sweeps. Document findings on the cash log before close-out.

Compare projected end-of-day operating balance to the target peg (commonly 1–2 weeks of disbursements). If short, draw on the revolver before the bank's 2pm cutoff; if long, sweep excess to the investment account or pay down the line.

Roll the 13-week forecast forward by one week, replacing the prior week's forecast with actuals. Pull AR aging for expected collections, AP aging plus open POs for disbursements, and confirmed payroll dates from Gusto/ADP. Tools: Float, Dryrun, or a maintained Excel model.

Compute the prior-week forecast accuracy on receipts and disbursements. Variances over 10% on either side need a written explanation — typical drivers are slipped customer payments, mistimed vendor runs, and unforecasted tax deposits.

Capture each material variance with cause, owner, and corrective action in the variance log. Recurring variances feed the next forecast assumption update — this is how the 13-week tightens over time.

Summarize the lowest projected cash week, revolver utilization, and any covenant proximity. Highlight weeks where the cushion drops below the board-approved minimum so financing decisions can be made before the squeeze hits.

Apply lockbox file, ACH credits, and wire receipts against open invoices in QBO/NetSuite. Short-pays and unidentified deposits go to a suspense account with a same-day note — never let unidentified cash sit longer than 5 business days.

Tie each batch posted in the GL to the corresponding bank credit. Watch for credit-card merchant deposits that arrive net of fees — the gross-up entry is a frequent miss that distorts revenue.

Run the aging by customer and prioritize 60+ buckets. Each invoice gets a documented contact attempt — email, phone, or dunning letter — with a promised pay date. Anything over 90 days routes to the controller for write-off review.

For inventory and capex bills, confirm PO + receiving + invoice match on quantity, price, and terms in Bill.com or Ramp. Mismatches park in a hold queue until purchasing resolves — never release a wire on an unmatched bill.

Every disbursement batch over the policy threshold (commonly $10K) requires a second approver distinct from the preparer. Wire transfers always require dual approval regardless of amount — this is the primary control against payment fraud and BEC attacks.

Sequence payments by due date and early-pay discount. Capture 2/10 net 30 discounts when liquidity allows; stretch non-discount vendors to terms. Confirm payroll and tax deposits are funded first — federal 941 deposit timing is non-negotiable.

Upload the check-issue file to the bank's positive pay portal same day as the check run. Any check presented that doesn't match the issue file gets flagged for pay/return decision — this is the standard control against check fraud and altered payees.

Pull the bank statement and tie book balance to bank balance through the standard rec format: book balance + deposits in transit − outstanding checks ± errors = bank balance. Run the rec in QBO or NetSuite, not in a side spreadsheet that nobody reviews.

Anything outstanding longer than 90 days gets investigated — voided, reissued, or escheated per state unclaimed property law. Stale items snowball if ignored and corrupt the next month's rec; this is the single most common control failure in SMB close.

List each unresolved item with amount, date, account, and suspected cause. Items over $1,000 escalate to the controller; items over $10,000 escalate to the CFO before the rec is signed off.

Confirm the person initiating wires is not the person approving them, and the person posting receipts is not the person reconciling the bank account. Document the SOD matrix; this is the first thing an auditor pulls under SOC 1 / ICFR review.

Pull the current signer card and online-banking entitlements for each account. Remove terminated employees within 24 hours of separation — lingering wire access is a textbook audit finding and a real fraud vector.

Walk the bank's fraud-monitoring alerts and the firm's WISP (Written Information Security Plan) per IRS Pub 4557 and the FTC Safeguards Rule. Document any anomalies, MFA exceptions, or banking-credential resets in the control log.

Subtract the operating peg (typically 30–60 days of disbursements) and any committed near-term outflows from total cash. Anything left is investable surplus — but only if the 13-week forecast confirms it isn't needed back inside the horizon.

Stay inside the board-approved investment policy: typically Treasury bills, government money-market funds, or insured sweep arrangements with stated maturity caps. Document yield, maturity, and counterparty for each placement.

Pull the amortization schedule for term loans and the revolver interest accrual for the period. Confirm covenant compliance ratios (fixed-charge coverage, leverage) before the certificate is due — covenant breaches are far more expensive to cure after the fact than to anticipate.