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Looking forward

The picture of what is coming — commitments, the cash view, budgets and scenarios. None of it is the books.

Four kinds, never mixed

Future money is expected in four kinds. Must pay is a cost the society is bound to, or the board has decided. Expected — awarded is a grant already owed to the society. In the picture it is a collection, never new money.

Guessing is a pattern with no one behind it. Thinking about is a scenario, a question with a price on it. No screen adds the kinds into one total.

The cash view

The cash view starts from the bank balance in the ledger — never the bank plus what is owed. It shows three balances a month: spendable money, money tied to a purpose and the bank total last.

Its first lines say how many months the must-pay costs are covered, and when the picture dips below the floor the board set.

When the future happens

A forecast item is settled by what actually happens. The spend enters the books the usual way, and on its entry page a person links it to the item it settles — never on resemblance alone.

Reversing the entry re-opens the item. The monthly routine gathers anything past due or unlinked, one by one.