Cash flow with Excel

Cash flow is a financial report that shows the income and expenses of a company or business over a period of time. These flows allow us to know the details of the business's activity, that is, whether the income is from sales of products, services, debt collection, interest or credit, etc.

The main objective of cash flow is to control the business and know if the company has enough cash flow for its operation.

In short, cash flow is a report that allows us to view information about the resources generated by the business or company during a specific period of time, in order to measure liquidity.

But a very important fact is what type of report is usually made in Excel, and that is precisely what we are going to talk about in this article, how to make a cash flow with Excel.

Why use cash flow with Excel?

Once the information on the cash inflows and outflows of a business or company is known, this allows managers, owners or investors to analyze the business situation and know whether its flows are negative or positive.

Cash flow improves financial performance and provides more tools for decision-making. It also allows for improving internal processes that are related to business productivity.

Cash flow with Excel will allow you to identify information relevant to the business, such as determining whether it can expand or invest, whether it is possible to request a loan or pay outstanding debts.

What do you need to create a cash flow with Excel?

Discover in 5 steps to create this very easy-to-use financial tool, cash flow with Excel :

✔ Accounting information: You must have the balance sheets and income statements, as well as the initial balance, which is the starting point of the cash flow.

✔ Define the time to be analyzed: this information will depend on your objectives and what you need to investigate.

✔ Record income: you must have all the income information for that time.

✔ Record expenses or expenditures: you must have the expense information for that time.

✔ Fill out the form: you must enter the previous information, income, expenses and the initial amount in the cash flow template with Excel .

There is also the option of creating a projected cash flow , which is a variant that estimates future numbers. This works to evaluate profits or losses to help you grow your business or company.

What are the types of cash flow with Excel?

There are different types of cash flow with Excel that will give us different information about the status of the business:

Cash flow with operational Excel

This is the income money spent on operations that are directly related to the activity of the business or company.

Cash Flow with Investment Excel

Money earned or spent on products or machinery from which the company will benefit in the future.

Cash flow with financial Excel

This refers to money received from financial investment expenses that are directly related to your activity. It can be a credit payment or income received from shares.

How to make cash flow with Excel?

If you want to keep a cash flow with Excel, you can fill out our <<downloadable template>> with a cash flow example.

It may be confusing at first if you haven't seen one before but here's how to fill it out:

✅ Cash in bank: you must indicate the cash flow available in the bank, but from your company and not from a personal account.

✅ Operating cash flow: in this you must place the cash inflows and outflows related mainly to the company's operations.

✅ Investment cash flow: this is where the flows related to the financing of your company will be placed. That is, bank loans.

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Advantages of cash flow with Excel for financial management

Using this cash flow spreadsheet with Excel to track your company's expenses and income provides several advantages.

✔ It allows you to identify the variables of how, when, how much and where money enters and leaves your business.

✔ Reduces the risk of making calculation errors that often occur when this process is done manually.

✔ Making projections is very easy with an Excel cash flow. This will allow you to know exactly what your financial situation is at a given time and will make data processing easier.

✔ Cash flow with Excel will allow you to modify the document to meet the requirements of your company.

✔ In the Excel cash flow template, you can import all external data into an Excel workbook. This way, you can sort and filter the data related to cash flow, adding summaries and subtotals.

✔ Additionally, if you wish and like, you can customize and add formulas that complement the data analysis.

Without a doubt, implementing cash flow with Excel for your business or company is one of the best indicators of operations, because it allows for rigorous accounting control. You can implement it in the time period you want, daily, monthly, half-yearly or whatever you need or suits your business.

Here you will have all the information you need to act in case of emergencies, unexpected plans or changes in the direction of the business. You also have the option of being able to project your financial status into the future.

If your investors, managers or creditors have access, they can analyse the situation of your business or company to make decisions. And in turn, it allows you to review the investment or financing, both those that involve cash and those that do not.

Courses that may interest you

Do you want to acquire more skills in financial analysis and cash flow? We also invite you to learn about our courses on Business Financial Analysis and Effective Negotiation Harvard Model so that you can get the most out of this powerful tool.