Using the Cash Flow

Cash flow is the movement of money in and out of your business.  You can use the Cash Flow feature to project your cash flow and compare that to your actual cash flow.  This will enable you to analyze your numbers so that you can maintain an adequate cash flow for your operation and determine any problems with or ways to improve it.

To access the Cash Flow, click Planning on the left navigation panel and select Cash Flow.

There are four tabs across the top, three of which you can work with to project and budget your cash flow for the year.  You will be working with Cash in, Cash out, and Inventory.

On each tab you will find a list of your accounts pulled in from what you have setup in your chart of accounts.  Each tab has different sections that you can filter down and look at.  For example, if you wanted to work with Asset sales in your Cash in tab, you can set your filter to Asset sale and only asset and capital asset accounts will appear.

Begin your cash flow setup by setting your opening cash on hand.  Cash on hand is defined as the balance in your most liquid accounts – this usually applies to only your bank accounts.  Set the balance of each of your bank accounts by clicking Set and entering the balance of the account at the beginning of the fiscal year.

You can only enter your opening cash on hand, as subsequent months will be calculated based on information entered.

Once your opening cash on hand is entered, you can then focus on projecting items such as your income, asset sales, and loan additions for your cash in.  You can do the same for expenses, asset purchases, and loan payments in your cash out.

Just like with opening cash on hand, you will click Set for any account you want to set a projection for.

From the projection screen you can project what your cash in/out for that item will be monthly.  Click Save to set your numbers when you are done, and they will populate on the cash flow screen.

As you work with your projections, your ending cash flow will be calculated at the top of the screen.  This number refers to your final cash number at the end of the fiscal year.

Each section has a projected to actual comparison that is updated live.

You will also see a line-by-line comparison of projected to actual.

The Inventory tab will not affect your cash flow calculations but can be used to project your inventory flow for the year.  You can set your inventory projections by clicking Set on each inventory account you want to enter information for.

The Monthly cash flow tab is a visual representation of your actual cash in vs. actual cash out.  This allows you a quick view of your current fiscal year’s performance.

To print your cash flow report, click Print on the top right of the cash flow screen.

Last updated on July 6, 2020 by FCC AgExpert