A Day in the Life - Cash Flow Forecasting

This is a good starter activity for cash flow forecasting.

At the start of the lesson, I tell students that I am going to tell them what I did on the previous Saturday, ‘a day in my life’, and that they need to listen carefully.

I start off by saying something along the lines of, “I get up, get showered and get ready. I have £30 in my pocket. I walk to the metro station and on the way buy a newspaper and a bottle of Diet Coke costing £1.50. The metro costs £4.00 into town…”

I then describe a number of instances where I spend cash and receive cash. For receiving cash I say that I am returning some clothes to a number of shops and that I meet my brother who gives me back some money he owes me.

I then ask the kids to tell me how much money I have in my pocket at the end of the day.

Bingo. A mini-cash flow statement.

You normally need to do it twice and it works brilliantly with mini-whiteboards if the kids write down the ‘cash in’ and then the ‘cash out’.

I then move into ‘formal cash flow’.

The kids like it and you can make your day as ‘interesting’ as you like.

Enjoy….......

‘I read the news today, Oh boy’