FP&A · Budget control

Actual vs budget

Monthly budget control for Northwind Shipping (fictional), an 8-vessel fleet of tankers, bulk carriers and offshore supply vessels. Actuals are closed through Sep 2026. All names and figures are synthetic; the structure mirrors a real budget-control model I ran in shipping.

Overview P&L Fleet Outlook Cash & scenarios

Three linked statements for 2026 (Jan–Sep actual, Oct–Dec forecast) and a 13-week cash forecast. Move the levers: the forecast months, the statements, the simulations and the briefing recalculate in your browser.

Scenario levers · Oct–Dec

Charter rates0%Extra off-hire0 days/vessel/monthCrew & running cost0%Collection period (DSO)30 daysInterest rate0bpMinimum cashUSD 6.0M

FY EBITDA

USD 9.3M

actual + forecast

Lowest cash

USD 8.4M

1 Oct · +2.4M vs minimum

Cash at 31 Dec

USD 9.2M

simulating…

Chance of breaching

…

the minimum, 1000 simulations

13-week cash · weekly close, intraweek low and the 5–95% simulation band

Week to	7 Oct	14 Oct	21 Oct	28 Oct	4 Nov	11 Nov	18 Nov	25 Nov	2 Dec	9 Dec	16 Dec	23 Dec	31 Dec
Receipts	1,598	–	1,598	–	1,679	–	1,679	–	1,734	–	1,734	–	–
Payments	−286	−286	−390	−1,446	−466	−285	−285	−1,408	−466	−287	−287	−287	−3,169
Closing cash	9,795	9,510	10,718	9,272	10,485	10,200	11,595	10,187	11,454	11,168	12,615	12,328	9,159

USD thousands. Hire is received on the 1st and 16th, payroll on the 25th, interest and debt repayments at month end.

CFO briefing · rewritten from the numbers on every change

▸Running the simulations…

Three statements · linked month by month

USD thousands	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct F	Nov F	Dec F	FY
Net income	127	89	−208	−109	89	61	145	167	−139	142	108	139	611
Depreciation	501	501	501	501	501	501	501	501	501	501	501	501	6,012
Drydock provision less spend	178	178	−1,272	178	178	178	178	178	−972	178	178	178	−464
Change in receivables	68	−76	412	−257	−106	−3	−74	−42	335	−275	4	−4	−20
Change in payables	−5	20	9	94	−93	14	−12	11	1	−4	8	−5	40
Change in tax payable	−608	30	–	−72	30	20	−2	56	–	−57	36	46	−520
Operating cash flow	261	742	−558	335	598	772	737	871	−275	485	835	856	5,659
Debt repayment	–	–	−1,500	–	–	−1,500	–	–	−1,500	–	–	−1,500	−6,000
Net cash flow	261	742	−2,058	335	598	−728	737	871	−1,775	485	835	−644	−341
Closing cash	9,761	10,502	8,444	8,779	9,377	8,650	9,387	10,258	8,483	8,968	9,802	9,159	9,159

Receivables follow revenue at the collection period, payables follow supplier costs at 30 days, tax is paid quarterly, drydocks are provisioned monthly and paid when they happen, and the loan amortises USD 1.5M a quarter. The simulations draw charter rates by segment (σ 8%), off-hire (including rare long breakdowns), costs (σ 3%) and collections.

Synthetic data for a fictional company, for illustration only.