Developing a financial projection in Excel from scratch can be time-consuming, and data entry or formula errors will lead to inaccurate results.

So what is a cash flow projection and how is it done? Most financial software packages provide some form of cash flow modeling and excel spreadsheets will also work.

Understanding STDEV Add together all the cash flows you have put in the spreadsheet to calculate a total. Divide the total by the number of historical entries to calculate the mean average cash flow.

Find out more about free cash flow, the formula for calculating free cash flow, and how to calculate a company's free cash flow using Microsoft Excel.