Estimate working cash tied up in a settlement delay
Revenue recorded today is not necessarily cash available for today’s acquisition invoice. A reproducible illustrative example with editable inputs and explicit limits.
Revenue recorded today is not necessarily cash available for today’s acquisition invoice. This worksheet models a fixed gap between spending and receiving funds. The delay is editable and illustrative; it does not claim to reproduce any store’s payout calendar or a studio’s actual contract.
Define the calculation before using it
Multiply daily cash outflow by days before the corresponding receipts become available, then add the separately chosen buffer. Use actual contractual timing in a real model. Weekends, adjustments and changing receipts can make a constant-delay approximation inaccurate even when its arithmetic is internally consistent.
Work through the synthetic example
At 1,500 units per day and a twenty-day gap, the simplified cycle ties up 30,000. Adding a 5,000 buffer implies 35,000 of working cash. A small timing change can alter that requirement while the same campaign’s reported ROAS stays unchanged; timing and value answer different funding questions.
| Output | Worked-example result |
|---|---|
| Cash tied up | 30000.0000 |
| Requirement with buffer | 35000.0000 |
Use the artifact and preserve its assumptions
Open the editable calculator to change the inputs and inspect the sensitivity view. The CSV records synthetic inputs and expected outputs; the JSON fixture keeps the equations available for reproduction. These calculations have been checked against the stated example. No measured campaign data is included.
The sensitivity rows vary only delay by 20% below and above the entered value. They are scenarios, not confidence limits or a forecast distribution. A row outside the model’s constraints is labelled rather than turned into a plausible-looking result. Save the chosen inputs with the decision so another reader can distinguish a changed assumption from a changed formula.
Evidence and limits
Google distinguishes served cost from billed cost after adjustments. Choose and document the cost basis used in this worksheet; its production, contribution and cash assumptions are our teaching examples, not provider benchmarks. See Manage your spend in Google Ads, especially “Access your billing and cost data; View costs from reports”.
The calculation does not net off interim receipts or establish liquidity from projected revenue. It cannot certify a real settlement date.
Background: Annual and quarterly UA budget planning and A Q4 UA Budget Planning Checklist Before the Rush. These existing articles provide context; the present calculation does not verify every archived claim.
