Since 2015, the UN has faced a severe liquidity crisis, which worsened until December 2023, when the organization reached a critical point with its reserve funds completely exhausted. Despite implementing cost-cutting measures and utilizing the reserves, these efforts have proven insufficient to address the financial crisis. Additional measures are required to ensure the UN can continue fulfilling its mandates. While numerous strategies have been discussed and proposed within the UN, many remain unimplemented. This situation highlights a research gap that asks for further investigation.

This thesis adopts a case study approach, using the UN as a case example to explore liquidity planning through the cash flow statement, which serves as a financial planning instrument. For this study, the operations of the UN and the liquidity crisis, including its causes and consequences, are analyzed in detail. To address the research gap, three potential measures were implemented over a two-year planning horizon. To evaluate overall effectiveness, the income statement and balance sheet accounts were projected for two years and integrated into the financial planning tool.

The thesis demonstrates that the three proposed measures—(1) increasing the working capital fund, (2) suspending credit refunds of unspent appropriations, and (3) introducing late payment fees—can significantly enhance the UN's liquidity and financial stability. Collectively, these measures provide the UN with a proportional liquidity buffer relative to its regular budget, enabling effective management of liquidity shortages throughout the year. The suspension of credit refunds released liquidity, while the introduction of a late payment fee system not only generated extra financial income for the UN but also incentivized member states to pay their contributions in full and on time. The outcome of this thesis is the development of a financial planning instrument with a two year planning horizon. The analysis reveals that implementing these three measures would restore the UN’ profitability, improve its liquidity reserves, and strengthen its cash and cash equivalents fund. This strategic approach ensures the UN’s ability to fulfill its global mandates without allowing the budget to dictate the organization’s operations.