Learn how to calculate cash flow and its types to improve your business’s financial stability and growth. This step-by-step guide will help you understand and manage your cash flow effectively.
Knowing cash flow calculation is essential for making informed financial decisions, whether you’re managing a business or your personal budget. Your net cash flow shows the balance between the money coming in and going out, giving you a real-time snapshot of your financial health.
By learning how to calculate cash flow and tracking it regularly, you can identify opportunities to improve money management, avoid shortfalls, and confidently plan for the future.
Key Takeaways:
Cash flow refers to the movement of money in and out of your accounts over a period of time. It’s a critical indicator of whether you have enough cash to cover your expenses and pay your bills on time.
Understanding your cash flow is a fundamental part of small business accounting and a key step in the accounting cycle. It helps you manage your finances with confidence and avoid surprises. When more money is coming in than going out, your cash flow is positive, a sign of healthy finances.
If you're spending more than you earn, it can lead to cash shortages and unnecessary financial stress. That’s why keeping an eye on cash flow is so important.
Cash flow is also different from profit. Profit is what’s left after expenses are deducted. Cash flow, on the other hand, shows how much actual cash you have on hand. This distinction is crucial when making informed financial decisions.
By regularly monitoring your cash flow, you can spot problems early, adjust your spending or income strategies, and keep your business on solid financial ground.
Cash flow breaks down into three main categories, each providing valuable insights into different areas of your business’s finances. Understanding these types is essential for interpreting your cash flow statement and making well-informed decisions.
This type reflects the cash generated or used by your core business activities. It includes money received from customers, payments made to suppliers and employees, and other day-to-day transactions. CFO reveals how well your business is performing in its primary operations.
CFI tracks cash related to buying or selling long-term assets and investments. This might include purchasing equipment, selling property, investing in other companies, or acquiring stocks. It shows how your business allocates cash toward growth and the returns it earns from these investments.
This category covers cash flows involving external financing sources like investors and lenders. It includes borrowing money, repaying loans, issuing shares, or paying dividends. CFF helps you understand how your business funds its operations and manages financial obligations.
By familiarizing yourself with these three types of cash flow—operating, investing, and financing—you gain a comprehensive view of your business’s financial health and can make smarter, more strategic decisions for its future.
Understanding your business’s operating cash flow is a fundamental step in keeping your finances organized and making informed management decisions. It helps you understand how much cash your company generates from its core operations, separate from investing or financing activities.
You can calculate operating cash flow using either the direct or indirect method; both are valid approaches that provide valuable insights.
Knowing your operating cash flow is crucial because it reflects the actual cash available after covering operating costs, helping you assess your company’s financial health. This figure is often found within your financial statements and connects closely to your balance sheet and bookkeeping or accounting records.
The direct method sums up all cash inflows and outflows related to your core business activities during a specific period. It provides a clear picture of cash moving in and out, including:
For example, if your business collects $100,000 from customers but spends $60,000 on operating costs, your operating cash flow would be $40,000.
The indirect method starts with your net income (from your financial statement) and adjusts for non-cash items and changes in working capital. This approach is more common since it uses information already available through your bookkeeping process.
Steps include:
For example, if your net income is $80,000, depreciation is $10,000, and accounts receivable increased by $5,000, your operating cash flow would be $85,000 ($80,000 + $10,000 - $5,000).
By mastering these methods, you can keep your bookkeeping accurate, maintain a healthy cash flow, and make smarter financial decisions to support your business growth.
Mastering the cash flow formula is key to making informed financial decisions and understanding your business’s liquidity. At its core, cash flow measures the difference between the money coming in and going out of your business.
The basic formula is straightforward: Cash Flow = Cash Inflows − Cash Outflows
This simple calculation helps you gauge your company’s financial health and ability to cover expenses.
Beyond the basic formula, there are several important variations used to analyze cash flow more deeply, such as the free cash flow formula (FCF). This formula shows how much cash remains after covering operating expenses and investments in fixed assets, essential for assessing your business’s ability to grow or pay down debt.
Here’s a quick overview of common cash flow formulas:
Understanding these formulas can significantly improve your financial management by providing a clearer picture of cash availability and future spending capacity.
For example, if your business generates $100,000 in operating cash flow, spends $30,000 on new equipment or fixed assets, and pays $10,000 toward debt, your levered free cash flow would be $60,000:
$100,000 − $30,000 − $10,000 = $60,000.
Gaining a clear understanding of your cash flow is essential for maintaining financial stability and making smart business decisions. A 2025 PYMNTS report found that 45% of small business owners reported difficulty managing cash flow, while only 27% cited low profitability as a concern. It’s a clear reminder that a business can be profitable yet still face financial challenges if cash flow isn’t carefully managed.
The Harvard Business Review further explains this by noting that "positive net income does not guarantee positive cash flow," due to timing differences in receivables and payables. This is why regularly reviewing your statement of cash flows and understanding cash movements can help you avoid liquidity issues before they become critical.
Begin by examining the three key sections of your cash flow statement: operating activities, investing activities, and financing activities. Recognizing the role each plays can help you identify trends, uncover opportunities, and address potential issues.
By regularly analyzing your statement of cash flows alongside your balance sheet and other financial statements, you gain valuable insight into your company’s financial health. This helps improve your bookkeeping or accounting practices and supports more informed decision-making.
Knowing how cash flow and profit differ is key to keeping your finances on track and making better money decisions. This is especially important because 82% of small businesses that fail do so because of cash flow problems, not because they are unprofitable. This highlights why focusing solely on profit figures can be misleading when managing your finances.
While profit shows what remains after all expenses are deducted, cash flow focuses on the actual movement of cash in and out of your business. Both metrics are important, but serve different purposes.
Profit, often referred to as net income, is reported on the income statement and represents the money left after subtracting expenses from revenue. Cash flow, however, reflects the real cash available at any given time, showing how much money is coming into and going out of your business.
Another factor to consider is non-cash expenses such as depreciation, which can account for up to 10-15% of total expenses in asset-heavy industries. These costs reduce reported profit but don’t involve actual cash leaving your business, which is why profit and cash flow often tell different stories.
Here’s a quick breakdown of the differences:
Grasping the distinction between cash flow and profit is critical for a complete financial review. Knowing how non-cash items influence these numbers empowers you to make better decisions about budgeting, investing, and managing your business’s finances.
Getting a handle on your cash flow is the foundation for smarter money management and steady business growth. By learning to calculate and analyze your cash flow, you can spot areas to improve, avoid financial pitfalls, and make decisions that keep your business moving forward.
Since steady cash flow depends heavily on timely payments and efficient financial processes, having the right tools to manage these tasks can make all the difference. That’s where Tofu’s Invoicing App comes in—built to streamline your invoicing process.
Here’s how Tofu can help you:
If you’re ready to simplify your invoicing and take control of your cash flow, explore the Tofu Invoicing App today and see the difference it can make.
Cash flow from investing activities refers to the cash used for or generated by buying and selling assets like equipment or investments. It’s important because it shows how a company is allocating funds for growth and long-term value.
Cash flow from financing activities involves cash movements related to borrowing, repaying debt, issuing stock, or paying dividends. This cash flow directly impacts a company’s cash and cash equivalents, influencing its ability to fund operations and investments.
The FCF (free cash flow) formula calculates cash generated after operating costs and capital expenditures: Free Cash Flow = Operating Cash Flow - Capital Expenditures.
This formula helps businesses understand how much cash they have available for expansion, debt repayment, or dividends.
Typical cash flow provides insight into the regular pattern of cash moving in and out of a business during normal operations. Understanding this helps companies maintain liquidity, plan expenses, and avoid cash shortages.
Cash flow indicates the actual liquidity of a business—how much cash is available to meet short-term obligations, invest in growth, and manage daily operations. Positive cash flow suggests financial stability, while negative cash flow may signal trouble.
Cash flow is important because it reflects the real money a business has on hand to cover expenses, invest in opportunities, and stay solvent. Without proper cash flow management, even profitable businesses can face financial difficulties.