Cash flow is a measurement of a business’s financial health. For investors, it’s a key indicator of whether a company is losing money or making money. If you are approaching investors or finance providers, it is crucial to present accurate cash flow statements for review.
What Do Investors See On Your Cash Flow Statements?
Investors want to see that a business is financially sound and poised for growth before making an investment. Financial reports can help answer their questions and persuade them to move forward.
Your cash flow statement will be a key report for investors to analyze. Your statement will show investors your business’s:
- Operating cash flow: Your operating cash flow shows investors your business’s cash inflows and outflows for operations. It shows them how much money you’re generating as income and how much you’re spending on overhead and expenses.
- Investment cash flow: This section of the statement shows your cash flow from investments, including securities and those that are generating revenue.
- Financing cash flow: This section of your statement will show investors the cash flow between your business and its creditors and owners. It shows funds that your business has borrowed, debt payments and capital brought into the business during the period.
- Net cash flow: Your net cash flow is displayed at the bottom of your statement, and is the difference between your cash inflows and outflows. At a glance, this figure tells investors whether your cash flow is positive or negative.
All of the information presented in your cash flow statement can be analyzed by investors to determine whether your cash flow is positive or negative.
Examining Your Account And Cash Flow In Detail
The most important cash flow statement for investors is your operating cash flow and net cash flow. These indicate whether the business is generating more money than it is spending, and if its cash flow is positive or negative.
Additionally, investors will likely want to consider:
- Your working capital, which is the difference between your liabilities (accounts payable, debt, etc.) and your assets (cash, inventory, accounts receivable, etc.)
- Any loans you’ve taken out or intangible assets that require regular payments.
- Tangible assets that have depreciated.
All of these indicators will give investors a clear picture of your business’s financial health.
Data In Real-time And Smart Cash Flow Forecasting
Cash flow forecasting software is one of the best ways to bring confidence to investors. Real-time cash flow and forecasting can show investors your business’:
- Financial health.
- Future financial health.
- Projections based on their investments.
- So much more.
After all, cash flow loans for investors are all about money. If you can show investors that there’s low risk investing in you and that your cash flow projections look good, they’ll be more inclined to invest.
Provide A Detailed Snapshot Of Your Cash Flow To Investors
What does cash flow mean for investors? It means confidence in the investment that they’re making. For example:
- Businesses with strong cash flow have the option to expand operations, pay their debts and not take on too much debt.
- Businesses with low or negative cash flow will struggle to grow without taking on more debt, and the debt can make the investment less enticing. For example, if the business sells for $1 million and has $950,000 debt, the purchase agreement may demand the debt be paid for through the sale or the buyer can also take on the debt. In this case, little money is left over for the investor.
Investors want to know that when they make an investment, their money will eventually grow. A snapshot of your cash flow will make it much easier for the investor to learn about the business and see:
- How much money is coming into the business and from what sources.
- Where money is going out of the business.
Your snapshot can also show inefficiencies in the business that need to be adjusted. Detailed cash flow projections can also be used to help provide confidence to investors because they can see how operations may perform in the future, especially with the cash infusion they provide.
Concluding Remarks
Cash flow is crucial for businesses and investors. If you can show investors that your business has healthy cash flow that may even improve with their investment, you’ll often find that securing investments is much easier.
Providing cash flow statements and projections offers reassurance to often reluctant investors that need to know that they’re going to earn a profit off of their investments.
