Short answer
Cash flow management tracks and forecasts when cash enters and leaves so obligations and funding needs are visible. Use it for operating cash visibility and timing decisions, not for the broader banking, investment, and financial-risk mandate of treasury management.
About Cash flow management
Forecasts and manages cash movements to meet obligations and make funding needs visible. It connects expected receipts, payments, opening balances, timing uncertainty, and actions within an appropriate forecast horizon.
Use this competency for
- Roles that maintain short-term or medium-term cash forecasts and monitor payment timing.
- Work that identifies liquidity gaps and coordinates operating actions before obligations fall due.
Do not use this competency for
- Roles focused on bank relationships, debt, investments, or financial risk without owning operating cash forecasts.
Important distinctions
Treasury management
Cash flow management focuses on cash timing and operating liquidity, while treasury management also covers banking, funding, investments, and financial risk.
Financial planning
Cash flow management manages expected cash movements and obligations, while financial planning models the wider financial path from organizational assumptions.
Expectations by level
IC1
Cash schedule maintenance
Updates a defined cash schedule with guidance, matches known receipts and payments to source records, and flags missing dates or unexplained differences.
Observable behaviors
- Records expected cash movements in the correct dates and categories.
- Reconciles the opening balance and completed movements to source records.
- Marks uncertain items and asks the accountable owner for an update.
Examples
- Updates a weekly payment schedule from approved invoices and flags one item without a due date.
- Reconciles the prior forecast to actual bank movements and documents timing differences.
IC2
Independent cash forecasting
Independently owns a cash forecast for a complete entity or operating area, tests material timing uncertainty, and coordinates actions when a gap may affect obligations.
Observable behaviors
- Maintains a rolling forecast with stated timing assumptions.
- Compares forecast and actual movements to improve the next update.
- Raises a projected shortfall with its date, size range, and available actions.
Examples
- Models delayed customer receipts and identifies the week when scheduled payments exceed available cash.
- Works with payable and collection owners to update timing before recommending a payment sequence.
IC3
Multi-entity cash coordination
Defines cash forecasting and response practices across multiple entities or teams, resolves inconsistent inputs, and frames liquidity actions under material uncertainty.
Observable behaviors
- Sets common forecast horizons, categories, update times, and variance reviews.
- Separates movable timing assumptions from fixed obligations in consolidated views.
- Defines escalation thresholds and decision owners for projected liquidity gaps.
Examples
- Consolidates entity forecasts with different payment cycles and documents transfer timing constraints.
- Creates a response sequence for a range of collection delays and assigns each action to a decision threshold.