Daily Cash Positioning: Know Your Cash Every Morning

Before you can manage cash, you need to know where it is. Daily cash positioning is the practice of knowing your exact cash balance across all accounts, every day. It sounds simple, but most growing businesses don't do it—until they have a cash crisis.

Last Updated: January 2026|9 min read

"What's our cash balance?" seems like a simple question. It isn't.

You might have multiple bank accounts across different banks. Some transactions are pending. Some cleared. You have checks outstanding that haven't been cashed. You have deposits that haven't hit yet.

The number you see when you log into your bank isn't your true position. Your true position accounts for everything—cleared, pending, and expected. Daily cash positioning gives you that complete picture.

Why Daily Cash Positioning Matters

Avoid Cash Crises

Without daily positioning, you learn about cash problems when payroll bounces or a wire fails. With daily positioning, you see problems coming days or weeks ahead—time to act.

Make Better Decisions

Knowing your exact position lets you:

  • Time vendor payments optimally
  • Know when to draw on credit lines vs. wait for collections
  • Identify excess cash to invest or pay down debt
  • Make informed decisions about major expenditures

Build Credibility

When your board or lenders ask about cash, you answer immediately and accurately. That builds confidence in your financial management.

The Cost of Not Knowing

Companies that don't track daily cash position average 2-3 "near misses" per year—times when they almost couldn't make a payment. Each near miss is a crisis that consumes management time, damages vendor relationships, and increases stress. Daily positioning prevents nearly all of them.

Building the Daily Cash Position Report

A daily cash position report is simple in concept: a single view of all your cash, updated every day.

What to Include

Daily Cash Position Template

Opening Available Balance

  • Bank 1 - Operating Account
  • Bank 1 - Payroll Account
  • Bank 1 - Savings/Reserve
  • Bank 2 - Operating Account
  • [Other accounts]

= Total Opening Cash

Expected Inflows Today

  • Customer payments / collections
  • Expected wires
  • Other receipts

Expected Outflows Today

  • AP payments scheduled
  • Payroll (if pay day)
  • Wire transfers scheduled
  • Debt payments
  • Other scheduled payments

= Projected Closing Cash

Key Elements

  • All accounts: Don't miss any account—including those rarely used
  • Available balance: Use available balance, not ledger balance, to account for holds
  • Known flows: Include anything you know is coming today
  • Variance tracking: Compare projected vs. actual to improve accuracy

Process and Timing

When to Run the Report

First thing in the morning. Before bank cut-offs for same-day transactions. Early enough to take action if needed.

  • 8:00-9:00 AM: Pull opening balances from all banks
  • 9:00-9:30 AM: Add known inflows/outflows
  • 9:30 AM: Review position, identify any issues, take action if needed

Who Should Do It

  • Controller or treasury function typically owns daily positioning
  • CFO should review position at least weekly (daily if tight)
  • If outsourced, your finance partner provides daily position

Review Cadence

  • Daily: Quick review—any issues? Any action needed?
  • Weekly: Compare to forecast—are we tracking?
  • Monthly: Variance analysis—why did actual differ from projected?

Automation Options

Manual positioning works but takes time. Automation improves accuracy and reduces effort.

Bank File Feeds

Most banks offer automatic balance feeds:

  • Bank portal export: Download balances daily (manual but fast)
  • BAI files: Standard bank file format for automated import
  • API connections: Real-time balance pulls via banking APIs
  • Accounting software feeds: QuickBooks, Xero pull bank data automatically

Treasury Tools

  • Simple: Excel/Google Sheets with manual balance entry
  • Intermediate: Spreadsheet with bank feed integration
  • Advanced: Treasury management system (TMS) with full automation

For most growing businesses, a well-designed spreadsheet with bank feed integration is sufficient. TMS becomes valuable at $50M+ revenue or with significant complexity.

Exception Alerts

Build in alerts for situations requiring attention:

Threshold Alerts

  • Minimum cash alert: Position drops below defined minimum (e.g., 4 weeks' expenses)
  • Maximum cash alert: Position exceeds level where cash should be deployed
  • Account-level minimums: Individual account below required balance

Variance Alerts

  • Forecast variance: Actual differs from forecast by more than X%
  • Unusual activity: Large unexpected transactions
  • Failed transactions: Payments rejected, deposits returned

Integrating with Cash Forecasts

Daily positioning and cash forecasting work together:

  • Actual starting point: Today's position becomes the starting point for the 13-week forecast
  • Forecast accuracy: Compare actual position to what was forecasted to improve forecast accuracy
  • Early warning: Daily position reveals if you're tracking to forecast or diverging
  • Action triggers: When position diverges from forecast, investigate and adjust

The Feedback Loop

Daily positioning feeds your forecast with actual data. Your forecast tells you what daily position should be. When they diverge, you learn something: either your forecast was wrong (fix the model) or something unexpected happened (investigate the cause). This feedback loop continuously improves cash management.

Common Mistakes

Missing Accounts

Forgetting about accounts—especially those rarely used. Audit your account list quarterly to ensure completeness.

Using Ledger Instead of Available Balance

Ledger balance includes pending deposits. Available balance is what you can actually use. Always use available.

Forgetting Outstanding Checks

Checks written but not yet cashed reduce your true position. Track them or eliminate checks entirely.

Not Updating for Known Flows

Opening balance alone isn't enough. Add known inflows/outflows to get projected closing position.

Need Help with Cash Management?

Eagle Rock CFO implements daily cash positioning as part of our treasury services. We'll build the process, set up the reporting, and provide daily visibility into your cash.

Schedule a Consultation