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Great question! The answer is a resounding no! Also, just because you're profitable doesn't mean you have a positive cash flow! Profit is what's called Net Income (for argument's sake, let's do EBIT--Earnings Before Income Taxes). Cash flow is simply your delta in cash from one period to the next. Lots of things go into net income, but essentially it's revenue minus costs. Because of GAAP (Generally Accepted Accounting Practices--only in the US), you recognize revenue when it is earned not when it is collected. So, let's say you buy a car and you pay $5,000 down on a $30,000 car. The car company records revenue of $30,000. In their balance sheet, they also add $5,000 to cash, and $25,000 to what's called Accounts Receivable. Their cash flow is now $5,000. Let's further say that they owe payroll, to the tune of $10,000 for that month. And you were the only poor bastard that bought a car from them that month. They have to pay $10,000 in cash for payroll, and that also gets logged as an expense. So, their profit shows a $20,000 net profit, but they have -$5,000 in cash flow. You can extend the example to make it positive for a company that's not profitable, if you'd like. |