Most founders ask three questions about cash, over and over: how much do I actually have, when will I run short, and can I afford the thing I'm about to commit to? This article walks through how to get all three answers from Frank and links to details on each piece.
Your Real Cash Position
Start on the Dashboard. Available Cash is the sum of the current balances across every connected bank account, taken from your bank feeds rather than your accounting system. That distinction matters: Frank is showing you what is in the bank today, not what your books say once they're reconciled.
Alongside it, you'll see Total In and Total Out (the average cash in and out over the last 90 days), Net Cash Growth, and your invoices and bills outstanding as Money Coming In and Money Going Out.
If you hold money you shouldn't be counting as spendable, a tax set-aside, or a reserves account, exclude that account's balance from Available Cash. Click Edit on the account card and open Advanced Options. Founders running Profit First usually want this. Otherwise, your cash number looks healthier than your actual position.
Full detail: Where can I see cash for my business?
Your Runway
The Dashboard provides two runway figures, each answering a different question.
Simple Cash Runway assumes income stops today and shows how long you'll last at your current burn rate. It's the worst-case floor.
Dynamic Cash Runway factors in expected future money in and out, so it reflects the business you're actually running.
If your income is lumpy, seasonal, or project-based, the gap between those two numbers represents your risk. Watch both.
Seeing What's Coming
The cash flow forecast projects your position day by day, 365 days out. Rather than one line, you'll see a band with a best case and a worst case, so you can see how much variability sits in any given day. Steady income and predictable expenses give you a narrow band. Variable income gives you a wide one.
Click any future date to see the projected cash position for that day. This is where you catch a shortfall early: find the point where the worst-case line dips toward zero, click into it, and you can see which payments are landing that week.
A worked example. Payroll runs on the last Friday of the month, your largest client pays on 45-day terms, and quarterly insurance comes out the same week. On the Dashboard, those three facts sit in three different places. On the forecast, they land on the same day, and you can see the dip six weeks before it happens.
Full detail: How Frank's Cash Flow Forecast Works
Making the Forecast Accurate
A forecast is only as good as what Frank can see. Three things sharpen it:
Connect every bank account and card. There's no limit, and a missing account means a missing obligation.
Connect your accounting system and payment processors. QuickBooks or Xero gives Frank your invoices and bills. Stripe, Square, Shopify, and PayPal determine Frank's settlement timing, which often dictates whether money arrives before or after a payment goes out.
Send Frank your bills and invoices. Forward them to [email protected] or upload them on the Documents page. Frank reads the amounts and due dates and adds them to the projection.
That third one is the step most founders skip. A supplier bill for $12,000 due in three weeks doesn't appear in your forecast until Frank knows about it, which means the forecast is wrong in a way that hurts.
Staying on Top of It Daily
Your CFO Briefing arrives each morning with your cash position, what changed yesterday, and what's coming up. Reply to that email, and Frank writes back, so you can ask a follow-up without opening the app.
You control which accounts feed the Available Cash figure in that email, as well as the frequency and delivery time, under hellofrank.ai/briefings
Full detail: Choosing Which Bank Accounts Are Included in Your Daily Cash Summary Email and Replying to Your CFO Briefing
Answering "Can I Afford This?"
The Dashboard shows you the position. Conversations let you test a decision against it. Ask Frank directly:
If I hire someone at $65,000 starting next month, what does my cash look like in 90 days?
How many months of runway do we have at the current burn rate?
Simulate a 20% drop in revenue for the next six months. What happens to cash and runway?
If revenue stays flat for the next 90 days, when do we run out of runway?
Be specific. Include the time period and the figures. Which vendors did I spend more than $5,000 with in the last 60 days? Gets a far better answer than where is my money going?
Full detail: Frank's CFO Prompt Library
If Your Profit and Your Bank Balance Disagree
A common one. Your Dashboard shows profit, your bank account feels empty, and neither number is wrong. Profit and cash measure different things, and owner drawings, loan repayments, and timing differences all sit in the gap between them.
Summary
Check the Dashboard to see where you stand today, use the 365-day forecast to identify the weeks when cash gets tight, and keep bills and invoices flowing into Frank so the forecast reflects what's actually coming. Two sessions a week is enough to stop being surprised by your own cash flow.