When you create a new forecast in Futrli, there are three options.

As well as 3 year cash flow and 3 year cash flow with due invoices forecasts, there is a 1 year P&L forecast option.

These forecasts are 12 months in length and can be started in a month of your choice, looking at P&L information only. They can be created from scratch, with Futrli's auto-predictions, with pre-built predictions referencing last year's actual data, or from an existing Futrli forecast.

Within a 1 year P&L forecast you can create your own manual predictions, you can build the new forecast to include Futrli auto-predictions, or you can import predictions in bulk.

1 year P&L forecasts can be locked, preventing any further changes from being made.

When you create a new forecast in Futrli, there are three options.

As well as 1 year P&L and 3 year cash flow with due invoices forecasts, there is a 3 year cash flow forecast option.

These forecasts will always start in the current month and look ahead at the next 3 full financial years, plus the remainder of the current financial year.

They can be created from scratch, with Futrli's auto-predictions, with pre-built predictions referencing last year's actual data, or from an existing Futrli forecast.

Within a 3 year cash flow forecast you can create your own manual predictions, you can build the new forecast to include Futrli auto-predictions, or you can import predictions in bulk.

There is also the option within a 3 year cash flow forecast to set where actual data displays until, then where forecasted data takes over.

Unlike the 1 year P&L forecast option, a 3 year cash flow will display all balance sheet accounts, all P&L accounts, as well as having a cash flow view.

When you create a new forecast in Futrli, there are three options.

As well as the 1 year P&L and the 3 year cash flow forecasts, there is a 3 year cash flow with due invoices forecast option.

These forecasts will always start in the current month and look ahead at the next 3 full financial years, plus the remainder of the current financial year.

They can be created from scratch, with Futrli's auto-predictions, with pre-built predictions referencing last year's actual data, or from an existing Futrli forecast.

Within a 3 year cash flow forecast you can create your own manual predictions, you can build the new forecast to include Futrli auto-predictions, or you can import predictions in bulk.

Where the 3 year cash flow with due invoices stands apart from the other two forecast options is that unpaid, due invoices are pulled into Futrli from the data source (Sage Accounting, Xero or QuickBooks Online).

These invoices can then have expected payment behaviour adjusted, creating a much more detailed short-term and medium-term cash flow forecast, along with the long-term cash flow forecast.

Unlike the 1 year P&L forecast option, a 3 year cash flow with due invoices will display all balance sheet accounts, all P&L accounts, as well as having the cash flow view.

When you create a new forecast, you will need to choose from one of three options:

Whichever option you select, you will have four methods to then use to build the new forecast:

Within the new forecast, regardless of how it was created, you will be able to create your own manual predictions, or import predictions in bulk.

New predictions can be made in any Futrli forecast - and you have plenty of options as to how they are built.

Formula - Reference accounts, other predictions, whatever you'd like to create detailed KPIs. Even set certain results based on 'if' statements. A help guide for formulas can be found here.

Freestyle - Each month can have unique figures added, or ignored, it's up to you. A help guide for freestyle predictions can be found here.

Repeating - If your prediction is nice and consistent, use this method to set the behaviour. Repeats can be set to daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly or annually, and you can add percentage or fixed amount increases or decreases for each period. A help guide for repeating predictions can be found here.

Unit - A helpful option for predicting product sales. Set the selling price and the quantity to sell and this prediction method will do the rest. Weekly, monthly, quarterly and annual periods are included, you can even add growth and refund percentages, or future price changes. A help guide for unit based predictions can be found here.

Auto-prediction - These prediction options are available when creating the forecast. Each account will have an automated prediction created using detailed algorithms specific to the account type. More information on those auto-predictions can be found here.

Import predictions - Bring through predictions in bulk via a range of templates. More on importing predictions can be found here.

When creating a new forecast, you will see the option to create the forecast using Futrli's auto-predictions. But what are those auto-predictions?

Futrli's 'Predicted' rows are the product of our prediction and accounting algorithms, and represent your future business if trends continue as they are.

Futrli pulls through historical values from your accounting data every day. Using calculations from these values, Futrli then creates an accurate future view of your business.

Each prediction is then assigned a colour, based on how confidently the predicted number has been produced. For example, for an account with consistent historical data, the predicted number will show as green. If the historical data is inconsistent, you may see an orange or red display.

If you'd ever like to see how that predicted number was found, you'll see an option in the top-right to display the explanation for the prediction.

For more information on these predictions, take a look at this help guide.

There are a number of other guides and walkthroughs to help you with Futrli's forecasting: