PROFIT FIRST CASH FLOW CHECKLIST

To help keep your business running on rails. You can use this monthly, biweekly, or even weekly depending on your rhythm.

1. Check Bank Balances

  • Review balances in Income, Profit, Owner’s Pay, Tax, and Operating Expense accounts.

  • Confirm recent deposits landed in the Income account.

2. Transfer Funds (or create rules to automate disbursements to each account)

  • Calculate total funds in Income account.

  • Distribute according to your target allocation percentages:

    • Profit – __%

    • Owner’s Pay – __%

    • Tax – __%

    • Operating Expenses – __%

3. Pay Yourself

  • Transfer funds from the Owner's Pay account to your personal account. (Don’t “borrow” from other buckets.)

4. Set Aside Profit and Taxes

  • Leave the Profit account untouched except for quarterly distributions.

  • Use the Tax account solely for quarterly and year-end payments.

5. Pay Expenses from Operating Expense Account

  • Confirm upcoming bills.

  • Pay only from the OpEx account.

  • Delay non-essential expenses if the balance is tight.

6. Reevaluate Allocation Percentages (Quarterly)

  • Review income, expenses, and actual profit.

  • Adjust target percentages if needed using the TAPs (Target Allocation Percentages) in Profit First.

  • Compare with previous quarters for trends.

7. Reconcile Books

  • Make sure books match actual bank balances.

  • Categorize all transactions in your accounting software.

  • Flag any unusual spending or revenue drops.

8. Review and Reflect

  • Did you stay within your OpEx limits?

  • Did you pay yourself on time?

  • Are taxes and profit accounts growing?

  • What needs tightening or trimming?