Applied AI for Finance and Accounting · Module 5

Working Capital & Cash: 6 Key Terms

By Devon Coombs, CPA, MBA · Teaching Professor of Finance, Santa Clara University · Reviewed August 2026

Working capital is the balance of receivables, payables, and cash that funds a business's day-to-day operations, and a 13-week cash forecast is widely used to track that position in the near term. Terms such as AR aging, AP aging, minimum cash, and trough week describe how practitioners measure what is owed, what is due, and where liquidity typically runs tightest. Learning this vocabulary helps in identifying which liquidity levers can move cash before the most difficult week arrives, a skill practiced in the free Applied AI for Finance and Accounting course.

These terms are taught in Module 5: Working Capital and 13-Week Cash of the free Applied AI for Finance and Accounting course; the full course glossary collects every chapter in one place.

13-week cash forecast

A rolling short-term forecast of weekly cash inflows and outflows, used to see the near-term low point and manage liquidity.

AP aging

A breakdown of accounts payable by how soon each balance is due, used to estimate the timing of disbursements.

AR aging

A breakdown of accounts receivable by how overdue each balance is, used to estimate the timing of collections.

Liquidity lever

A specific action that changes near-term cash, such as accelerating collections or delaying a discretionary payment.

Minimum cash

The lowest cash balance a forecast reaches, and the level a treasurer works to protect with levers and actions.

Trough week

The week in a cash forecast with the lowest ending balance, the point liquidity is tightest.

Put the vocabulary to work: the free calculators and decision guides apply these terms, and the free Applied AI for Finance and Accounting course teaches them in context.