# AR Forecast Dashboard

See how customer terms convert monthly billings into collections, closing AR, weighted DSO, peak balance, and timing distribution across a 12-month forecast for cash planning and working-capital review.

- Canonical: https://finamodel.com/excel-dashboard/ar-forecast
- Excel download: https://finamodel.com/templates/ar-forecast.xlsx

## About this dashboard

The AR Forecast dashboard turns a customer-level billings plan into outputs for cash and working-capital decisions. It shows weighted-average DSO, peak AR balance and month, AR intensity at peak, closing AR at M12, annual billings, in-period collections, and post-period spill. A timing distribution shows annual billings collected in the +0, +1, +2, and +3 month buckets.

The supporting workbook holds customer terms, monthly billings, opening AR, bucket cutoffs, and DSO and AR-intensity thresholds. Customer Master summarizes annual billings, panel share, DSO contribution, and timing bucket. Collection Schedule routes billings through a 12x12 matrix; AR Schedule rolls opening AR, billings, collections, and closing AR with implied monthly DSO.

Use the dashboard to understand when forecast billings become cash, size peak customer financing, and test how terms changes affect collection timing and AR. Traffic-light statuses compare DSO and AR intensity with selected thresholds. The model assumes billed dollars are collected and does not show bad-debt or write-off outcomes.

## What's included

- Weighted-average DSO and status
- Peak AR balance and peak month
- AR intensity at peak and status
- Annual billings, collections, and post-period spill
- Monthly closing AR with implied DSO
- Collection timing distribution by bucket

## Frequently asked questions

### What does the AR Forecast dashboard show?

It summarizes weighted-average DSO, peak AR balance and month, AR intensity at peak, closing AR at M12, annual billings, in-period collections, post-period spill, and collection distribution across four timing buckets.

### How are customer terms reflected?

The workbook maps each customer’s terms days to a same-month, +1, +2, or +3 month collection bucket using cutoffs. Those buckets route monthly billings into the collection schedule, feeding collections, closing AR, DSO, and timing outputs.

### What is weighted-average DSO?

Weighted-average DSO gives each customer influence according to its share of annual billings, then applies that customer’s terms days. The dashboard reflects the cash-timing mix of the billing panel rather than treating every customer as equally large.

### Why is there post-period spill?

Billings late in the 12-month forecast can collect after M12 when customer terms place them in a later bucket. Post-period spill keeps those collections visible and preserves the link between total billings and scheduled collections.

### Does the dashboard model bad debt?

No. The AR Forecast focuses on timing and assumes billed dollars are eventually collected. It does not present bad-debt, write-off, or recovery-rate outputs, so those considerations require a separate adjustment or analysis alongside the timing forecast.

## Related dashboards

- [Financial Health Dashboard](https://finamodel.com/excel-dashboard/financial-health)
- [Board Reporting Pack Dashboard](https://finamodel.com/excel-dashboard/board-reporting)
- [Cash Flow Dashboard](https://finamodel.com/excel-dashboard/cashflow)
- [Income Statement Dashboard](https://finamodel.com/excel-dashboard/income-statement)