Cash Crunch Friday: a cash flow simulation for managers
It is 4 p.m. on a Friday and a $640k payment has just slipped. Run the numbers before your next budget meeting, not during it.
- A real 13-week cash forecast, with the downside case drawn beside the promise
- Five levers, each with a hidden price: interest, fees, lost discounts, lost trust
- A new seeded scenario every time you play, so the answer cannot be memorised
- Score 80 or more for a verifiable Open Badges 3.0 credential
Not sure yet? Try the free 3-round Price War first: no sign-up, about five minutes.
What is a good cash flow simulation for managers who do not work in finance?
Cash Crunch Friday from Bodhih Arena is a 20-minute online cash flow simulation in which you steer a profitable manufacturer through 13 weeks after its largest customer pays late. You choose between a bank line, supplier terms, factoring, spending cuts and chasing the debt, and the debrief puts a price on every choice.
What is Cash Crunch Friday?
Cash Crunch Friday is a single-player business simulation about short-term cash. You are the finance lead of Halvard Fixtures, a profitable shop-fittings maker whose biggest customer, Norvik Retail, has just said its $640k payment "may slide". Over five decisions covering 13 weeks you keep cash above the lender's $100k minimum using a bank line, supplier stretch, invoice factoring, spending cuts and debt chasing. The server scores solvency, the cost of the cure and supplier and customer trust, then explains the result.
Cash Crunch Friday at a glance
| Format | Micro-sim, single player |
|---|---|
| Length | About 20 minutes per play |
| Players | One person; every play is a new seeded scenario |
| Devices | Any modern browser on a laptop, tablet or phone |
| Scoring | Scored on the server out of 100, with sub-scores and a debrief |
| Credential | Open Badges 3.0 micro-sim credential at a score of 80 or more, with a public verification page |
| Competencies | Decision Making (SPN.4.3), Commercial Acumen (SPN.4.5), Stakeholder Management (SPN.2.2) |
| LMS | LTI 1.3 launch from Canvas, Moodle, Blackboard or D2L, with grade passback; usable as a Bodhih pathway stage |
| Price for one person | $12 |
| Price per seat | $12 per seat, volume pricing by seat count |
Profitable on paper, short of cash on Friday
Profit and cash feel like the same thing until they are not
Most managers read a profit figure every month and a cash figure almost never. Then one large customer pays late and the business that "made money" cannot meet payroll without a phone call to the bank.
Every fix sounds free in the meeting
Pay suppliers a bit later. Cut travel. Sell some invoices. Each idea sounds sensible on its own, and nobody in the room has worked out what each one costs per week or what it does to the people you depend on.
Finance training is slides about statements
A finance for non-finance course explains working capital with a diagram. It rarely makes you choose, under a deadline, between a 16% bank line and a 2% supplier discount, and then live with the consequences for 13 weeks.
Here is the situation you walk into
You are the finance lead at Halvard Fixtures, a profitable maker of shop fittings with 140 staff. Smaller customers pay you about $212k a week. Payroll, suppliers and overheads take about $248k. The gap is normally closed by a few big retail chains that pay in large lumps.
At 4 p.m. on Friday, Norvik Retail calls. Their $640k, due in week 3 and worth 30% of the quarter's cash in, "may slide a little". Your lender wants at least $100k in the bank at every week end. Rent, a quarterly tax bill and payroll are not moving.
You open the forecast. One dashed line shows where cash goes if Norvik keeps its new promise. The other shows what happens if it does not. You have five decisions to get from here to week 13 without breaking the covenant, your suppliers or your margins.
5 decisions, one debrief
- STEP 1
Weeks 1-2: read the forecast and set your first moves
You see opening cash, the bank minimum, known payments week by week and two forecast lines. You set five levers: how much of the $300k bank line to draw, whether to stretch suppliers by two or four weeks, whether to factor 25% or 50% of invoices, how deeply to cut spending, and how hard to chase Norvik.
- STEP 2
Weeks 3-5: the first surprises arrive
Norvik sends new signals, some reassuring and some not. A new customer, Brightwell Stores, may offer an order for 12 stores: margin you want, but materials are paid weeks before the customer pays you. Equipment can fail. Feedback after each block shows your low point and the running cost of the cure.
- STEP 3
Weeks 6-8: the bank may move
If Norvik's invoice is still unpaid, your lender may review the line and cut the limit. The quarterly tax bill lands in week 8. Choices you made earlier now help or hurt, and stretched supplier bills come due.
- STEP 4
Weeks 9-11: repair or hold
Goodwill matters now. If supplier goodwill falls below 50, key suppliers move you to pay-before-we-ship terms and the longest stretch is no longer offered. You decide whether to repay the line, keep chasing or protect the buffer.
- STEP 5
Weeks 12-13: close the quarter
The last decision covers the final two weeks. Then the server scores the quarter and opens the debrief, including the facts you could not see while you played.
Who Cash Crunch Friday is for
- Managers and budget holders outside finance. You approve spend and negotiate with suppliers and customers. Twenty minutes here shows why your finance team asks about payment dates, not only about profit.
- New finance, credit control and FP&A staff. You can build a cash forecast. This asks you to defend a decision with it, under a covenant, while every lever has a cost you must weigh against the others.
- MBA, commerce and business students. Working capital is easy to define and hard to feel. Students see profit and cash diverge week by week and must reason about timing, not totals.
- Founders and small business owners. You will meet a late payer for real sooner or later. Practise choosing between the bank, your suppliers and your customer before the stakes are yours.
Who should skip it
If you already run a rolling 13-week forecast and negotiate bank facilities yourself, this will feel like a quick practice round rather than new learning.
What you can do after one honest quarter
The debrief turns your own numbers into lessons you can carry into the next real conversation about cash, with a supplier, a customer or the bank.
Read a cash forecast the way a lender does
Next time someone shows you a forecast, you will look for the low point, the week it lands and what happens on the downside, before you look at the total.
Price a cash lever in plain numbers
You will know why losing a 2% supplier discount to pay two weeks late costs far more than a bank line, and be able to explain it in one sentence.
Decide under uncertainty, not on the promise
You will size the fix for the case where the money does not come, and treat a good outcome as a bonus. That habit carries into any decision with an unreliable date in it.
Protect relationships while you fix the gap
You will see goodwill as an asset with a balance, and know when stretching a supplier or escalating with a customer costs more than it saves.
Bring commercial judgement to the room
Whether you sell, buy or manage a team, you will ask the timing question in the meeting where the order, the discount or the payment term is being agreed.
Learning goals
- Read and use a 13-week cash forecast, with a downside case
- Compare the true cost of each cash lever: bank line, factoring, stretching suppliers, cutting spend
- Protect supplier and customer trust while you fix a short-term gap
Skills practised: Decision making under uncertainty, Commercial judgement, Working capital management, Cash flow forecasting, Strategic thinking about timing and trade-offs, Managing suppliers, customers and lenders.
Competencies scored
Sub-scores map to the open Bodhih Competency Spine, so results sit beside your other learning records.
What the debrief shows
- Your lowest week, how many weeks you sat below the $100k minimum and how many you ran out of cash
- The cost of the cure, itemised: interest and fees, factoring, lost supplier discounts, discounts given, margin lost to cuts, emergency overdraft
- What was hidden: when Norvik really planned to pay, whether the bank review was coming, and whether equipment would fail
- What strong players do, and the key concept: the 13-week cash forecast
13-week cash forecast
A week-by-week list of the cash you expect in and out over the next quarter, rolled forward every week. It shows when the low point comes and how deep it is, so you can arrange the cure before you need it.
Use Cash Crunch Friday with a team
Seats are $12 each. Buy up to 25 seats online and assign them from your company admin; above that, or for a facilitated programme or an institution licence, request a quote and we activate your seats after payment.
Open a finance for non-finance workshop
Ask everyone to play before the session, then start with the spread of scores and the cost-of-the-cure line. The discussion is about real choices people made, not a definition on a slide.
Pre-work for budget holders and new managers
Add it as a stage in a Bodhih pathway before budgeting or supplier-management training. Results land on the company leaderboard as Arena points, so you can see who has done it.
An exercise in an assessment or development centre
The three sub-scores map to the Bodhih Competency Spine: Decision Making, Commercial Acumen and Stakeholder Management. Each play is a fresh scenario, so candidates cannot share answers.
Inside your own LMS
Launch it from Canvas, Moodle, Blackboard or D2L Brightspace through LTI 1.3. The score goes back to the gradebook, so it can count towards a course or a programme.
Volume pricing
| Seats | Per seat | How to buy |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | $12 | Online |
| 2 to 10 | $10.80 | Online |
| 11 to 50 | $9.60 | Online up to 25, then quote |
| 51+ | $8.40 | Quote |
Cash Crunch Friday or a case study?
| Compared on | A case study or slide-based course | Cash Crunch Friday |
|---|---|---|
| What you do | Read about a company's cash problem and discuss what it should have done. | Make the calls yourself, five times, and see your cash line move after each one. |
| Feedback | A tutor's view or a model answer, usually days later. | Immediate feedback each block, then a debrief built from your own numbers. |
| Uncertainty | The ending is already known to the reader. | The customer's real payment date, the bank review and breakdowns stay hidden until the end. |
| Replay | The same case reads the same the second time. | Each play is a new seeded scenario, so a second attempt tests the habit, not your memory. |
| Evidence of skill | Attendance, or a written answer someone must mark. | A server-scored result with sub-scores on three Spine competencies, and a credential at 80 or more. |
| Where a case study is better | Rich context, many stakeholders and a long group discussion. | Narrower by design: one cash problem in 20 minutes. Pair it with discussion for the wider picture. |
What to pair with Cash Crunch Friday
The Cash Flow Forecast and Collections System
Build the real thing next: a 16-sheet 13-week forecast and collections workbook, plus the scripts to chase a late payer politely.
See the kit →Pro KitThe Bank Loan and Funding Proposal Kit
The simulation shows why committed money arranged early is the cheapest; this kit helps you prepare the facility request a lender will read.
See the kit →Online courseAI for Finance course
For finance staff who want to build driver-based forecasts and working-capital scenarios faster with AI, with every number checked.
See the course →Trainer ToolkitFinance for Non-Finance trainer toolkit
Trainers can run this simulation inside a full two-day finance for non-finance programme with slides, workbook and facilitator guide.
See the toolkit →AssessAll assessmentStakeholder Management & Influence assessment
A third of your score is supplier and customer trust; this assessment measures how you get things done through people you do not control.
Take the assessment →Bodhih TrainingFacilitated finance workshops by Bodhih Training
For a cohort, a trainer can run the simulation live, compare decisions across the room and connect them to your own figures.
Talk to Bodhih Training →Related simulations
How much does Cash Crunch Friday cost for one person?
$12 for one person, paid online. That buys your own access to this simulation; it is sold on its own, not as part of a bundle.
What does it cost for a team or a company?
$12 per seat at list price, with volume tiers as the number of seats rises. A company can buy up to 25 seats online. For larger groups, facilitated sessions, institution licences or a custom scenario, request a quote: you pay offline and we activate the seats.
How long does it take?
About 20 minutes for one play: five decisions plus the debrief. You can stop between decisions and come back.
What exactly do I get?
The simulation, a score out of 100 with three sub-scores, a written debrief built from your own decisions, the hidden facts revealed at the end, and a place on your company's Arena leaderboard if you play through an employer.
Can I play it again?
Yes. Every play generates a new seeded scenario: the customer's real payment week, the bank review, the equipment failure and the order offer change. Replaying is how you test whether the lesson stuck.
Do I get a certificate or credential?
Score 80 or more and you receive a micro-sim credential issued as an Open Badges 3.0 credential, with a public verification page and an Add to LinkedIn button.
Do I need a finance background, and what device do I need?
No finance background is needed: every term is explained on screen in plain English. It runs in a web browser with nothing to install. A laptop or tablet gives the most comfortable view of the forecast chart.
Can we run it from our LMS?
Yes. It launches from Canvas, Moodle, Blackboard or D2L Brightspace through LTI 1.3, with the score passed back to the LMS gradebook. It can also be a stage in a Bodhih pathway.
Who is it for?
Managers and budget holders outside finance, new finance and credit-control staff, business students and small business owners. It suits anyone who signs off spend or agrees payment terms.
How is it different from a cash flow case study?
A case study asks you what a company should have done. Here you decide, the forecast moves, hidden events land, and the debrief prices your choices. It is shorter and narrower than a good case discussion, so many trainers use both.
What happens to my data?
Your decisions and scores are stored in your Bodhih account and, if you play through an employer, can be seen by that organisation's admins; one organisation never sees another's data. The full policy is at bodhih.org/privacy.
Can I get a refund?
Refund terms for simulations are set out at bodhih.org/refunds. If you are unsure, you can play the free 3-round Price War first: no sign-up needed.
Find your low point before the bank does
Thirteen weeks, five decisions, one late payer. Try the free 3-round Price War first if you want to see how Arena works, then play Cash Crunch Friday and read what the debrief says about your instincts with cash.
Want a feel for Arena first? Play the free 3-round Price War.
- Play it as often as you like for 12 months: every play is a new scenario
- A debrief after each play: what happened, why, and what strong players do
- A verifiable credential when you score 80 or more
- Scored on the server, mapped to the Bodhih Competency Spine
Not sure yet? Try the free 3-round Price War first, no sign-up.
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