Cash Flow Confidential: Profit vs. Liquidity and the Three Pillars of Financial Health
Episode 1246
In this episode, we dive deep into the lifeblood of any business: Cash Flow. We move beyond simple profitability to understand the real or virtual movement of money into and out of a business, project, or financial product.
Key topics covered in this episode include:
- Profit vs. Liquidity: Why being profitable does not necessarily mean a business is liquid. We explain how a company can actually fail due to a shortage of cash even while showing a profit on paper.
- The Three Pillars of Cash Flow: We break down the standard cash flow statement into its three critical components:
- Operating Activities: The cash generated by regular business operations and a key indicator of whether a company can cover debts and expenses.
- Investing Activities: How cash is used for acquiring or disposing of long-term assets and securities.
- Financing Activities: The flows resulting from transactions with owners and creditors, such as issuing shares or repaying debt.
- The Time Value of Money: We discuss how cash flows are interconnected with interest rates and how future cash flows are "discounted" to determine their present value.
- Analyzing Financial Health: We explore how to calculate Net Cash Flow (Total Inflows minus Total Outflows) and why a higher net number isn't always better. We use a comparative example of "Company A" vs. "Company B" to show why generating cash from core operations is often healthier than generating cash merely through financing or lack of investment.
Join us to learn why cash flow planning is central to risk mitigation and fiscal control.
Published on 1 day, 15 hours ago