Know what you can buy, and when you can afford it.
Finance answers three different questions: what still has to arrive, who is allowed to spend, and whether the weeks ahead can pay for it. Tightly keeps those three figures apart, on one model, so nobody buys against a number that was never theirs to spend.
| Category | Plan | ML forecast | Var | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Outerwear | $3.20m | $3.39m | +6% | $612k |
| Knitwear | $2.40m | $2.61m | +9% | $498k |
| Denim | $1.80m | $1.74m | −3% | $204k |
| Dresses | $1.40m | $1.37m | −2% | $0k |
| Accessories | $0.90m | $0.88m | −2% | $72k |
Dresses settled to −2%. $180k of OTB released to Knitwear.What breaks between the buy and the week it is paid for.
Industry·The buy is planned on delivery weeks. It is paid for on terms.SS27 · weeks 34 to 46Three steps from a declared floor to the week that decides the buy.
Tightly · Finance· three stages from data to decisionLiveThree numbers no order can supply
Everything else Finance reports is measured off your orders. These three are typed once, by an admin, and an undeclared one reads as unknown rather than as zero.
The buy moves onto the week it bills
A drop is not paid for when it lands. Each one shifts to the week its supplier invoices, and the lag is the median of that supplier's own billed orders, never a typed default.
One sentence, and the week it turns on
The clearance is the tightest readable week over the floor, never the average of the year. Where a week is short, the levers that would relieve it are listed with what each one costs the buy.
The cash gatecash · USD · retail weeks · 4-5-4Cash in: Shipped onlyDeclared 3 of 3Cash falls $214K under the floor in week 41.
Every other week clears it. The clearance is the tightest readable week, never the average of the year.
Meet your Finance agent
Reads the buy against supplier terms week by week, and says which week breaks the floor before the order is placed. Within the limits you set.
Meet the agentsRe-forecast ready: 3 categories have drifted from plan this week. Want me to stage the moves for your review?
The cash forecast you keep today, and the one Tightly reads.
A monthly view, with terms typed in once and a balance nobody measures against anything. The month it breaks in looks like every other month.
A year of retail weeks with the buy sitting on the week each supplier actually bills, read against a floor you declared.
Finance is one part of the connected plan.
Open-to-buy
The receipt need Finance reads is the plan's own residual, not a second number.
Financial planning
The buy plan sets what has to arrive. Finance says when it can be paid for.
The connected plan
Commitments hold the intent, Finance holds the capacity, and both read the same model.
Does Tightly pay suppliers?
No. Nothing in Finance places an order, edits a commitment or moves money. It reads the buy against your declared balance and floor, and taking a lever re-reads the sentence without writing anything.
Is this a cash flow forecast for the business?
No, and we are careful about the difference. This is merchandise cash: the buy, the terms it bills on, and your declared balance and floor. It is not a bank-reconciled corporate cash forecast, and it does not try to be one.
Where do the supplier terms come from?
The lag is measured as the median of that supplier's own billed orders. Where a supplier has no billed history to measure from, the page says Not measured rather than assuming a default.
What happens before we declare the three numbers?
Each reader treats an undeclared number as unknown. Without a carrying-cost rate the review measures no carry; without an opening balance the ladder has no running balance; without a floor no week can breach anything. The page counts what is missing instead of showing a zero.
Which plan does this need?
Finance is part of Tightly Pro.
Know what you can afford. See the week the buy breaks the floor, before you place it.
There's nothing to rip out. Tightly runs on your existing ERP, EDI, e-commerce and POS. Give us 30 minutes and we'll walk you through it.