Cash flow answers one question: how much money came into and left the company's accounts, and when. It's different from the income statement. The income statement shows whether the company made a profit in the month, on an accrual basis. Cash flow shows the actual money, by the date it moved in the account. A company can be profitable and still run out of cash on the 10th, and this is where you see it.
Go to Reports › Cash Flow. The page has two tabs: Cash Flow, with what has already happened, and Forecast, with what is still to come.
For the example we'll use Estúdio Aurora, Marina's design studio, in October.
What goes into cash flow
Everything that moved the balance of a company account:
- income received and expenses paid;
- receipts collected and the fee deducted on collection;
- payroll payments, tax bills, loan installments and credit card statements;
- a loan amount credited to the account, which is cash coming in, but not revenue;
- standalone entries made directly in the account statement.
Two rules keep the numbers from being inflated:
- Transfers between company accounts don't count. The money just changed places. Only the transfer fee and any exchange difference go in.
- A reversal reduces the side it came from. A reversed expense lowers outflows instead of showing up as an inflow.
Credit card purchases don't leave cash on the purchase date. They leave when you pay the statement.
Filters
- Period: Month, Quarter, Year or Custom. A month is shown day by day, a quarter by week and a year by month. For Custom, pick the start and end dates (up to 24 months) and click Apply filters.
- Account: one specific account or All accounts.
- Category: to look only at one category's cash, such as Rent or Sales.
- Compare with previous period: adds the whole previous period's balance to the chart (October against all of September, for example).
The Cash Flow tab
At the top are the period totals: Total Inflows, Total Outflows and Net Cash Flow. Below them you pick one of three views.
Consolidated
All accounts together, in a chart of inflows, outflows and balance, followed by the Cash Flow Details table, with Date, Inflows, Outflows, Balance and Cumulative Balance. The Cumulative Balance is the column that shows the day the month turned.
In October, Marina saw:
- Inflows: R$ 30,000.00 from the working capital loan credited on October 5 and R$ 3,000.00 from Café Serra Azul's first installment, received on October 20. Total R$ 33,000.00.
- Outflows: R$ 3,200.00 rent to Imobiliária Centro, R$ 3.50 collection fee and R$ 3,607.50 for Rafael's salary. Total R$ 6,811.00.
- Net Cash Flow: R$ 26,189.00.
The loan shows up here because the money came into the account, but it doesn't appear as revenue on the income statement. When cash flow and the income statement for the same month don't match, the reason is almost always an item like that: loan money, a card purchase that only leaves with the statement, or income from a previous period received now.
On small screens the chart is hidden, but the totals and the table are still available.
By Account
One block per account, with each account's inflows, outflows and balance for the period. Transfers between accounts do appear here, because from each account's point of view the money came in or went out. This is the view to find out which account is carrying the month.
Detailed
Entry by entry, with Date, Description, Type (Inflow or Outflow) and Amount. Reversal entries carry the Reversal tag. This is the view to check where a number that looked odd in the consolidated view came from.
A period in the future
If you open a month that hasn't started yet, cash flow comes back empty, because nothing has happened yet. The page tells you so and offers a View forecast button.
The Forecast tab
The forecast uses the same period as the filters and shows what's still expected to come in and go out, by due date:
- income to receive and receipts issued but not yet collected;
- expenses to pay, including those generated by recurrences;
- pending tax bills;
- unpaid payroll, on the last day of the reference month;
- open credit card statements, on the statement due date;
- loan installments, following the contract schedule.
The cards show Predicted Inflows, Predicted Outflows and Predicted Net Cash Flow. Under Group by you choose Day, Week or Month. The forecast opens by day, because the day is when cash gets tight.
In Marina's November forecast you see the R$ 2,750.40 loan installment on the 5th, the R$ 360.00 ISS and the R$ 3,200.00 rent on the 10th, the Cartão Inter Empresas statement on the 15th, Café Serra Azul's second installment (R$ 3,000.00) on the 20th and payroll on the 30th.
The forecast's Cumulative Balance starts at zero, not at your current account balance, because it only adds up what's open. To know whether the money will be enough, compare the most negative cumulative value in the period with what you have in your accounts today. If the gap is bigger than the balance, it's time to bring a receipt forward or push a payment back.
The forecast is only as good as what's recorded. An agreed payment that wasn't registered won't show up here.
Export
Use Export PDF or Export CSV. The file comes out with the same slice as the screen: period, account and category.
How cash flow connects to the rest
- Accounts: settled cash flow is built from each account's statement entries.
- Expenses and income: paid and received ones go into the settled flow; pending ones, into the forecast.
- Receipts, Payroll, Taxes, Loans and Credit card: they come in by payment date or, in the forecast, by due date.
- Income statement: the other half of the picture. The income statement says whether the company made money; cash flow says whether the money is there.
Who can see it
Every company role, including Viewers, can access cash flow.
Where to go next
- Management income statement: the month's result on an accrual basis.
- Company accounts and transfers: the statement that feeds cash flow.
- Company expenses and income: what goes into the forecast.
- Loans: why loan money goes into cash and not into the income statement.
In short: Cash Flow shows the money that has already come into and left your accounts, consolidated, by account or entry by entry, and Forecast shows what is still coming in and going out, day by day, so you see the squeeze before it arrives.