Run Your Cash Flow Statement

See where your cash came from and where it went over any date range, for any location.

Oct 21, 20263 min read

Ever had a great month on your P&L and still wondered where all the cash went? That’s what the Cash Flow statement answers. It starts with the cash you had, shows every way cash came in or went out, and ends with the cash you have now.

Profit and cash aren’t the same thing. Paying down a credit card, buying a new walk-in or catching up on vendor bills all use cash without touching your profit. The Cash Flow shows you exactly where the difference is.

Before you start

Your bank accounts are reconciled through the end of the date range. See Reconcile your bank accounts.
Your sales and bills for the date range are in and approved.

Step 1 Run the Cash Flow

Click Reports in the sidebar. Under Financial Statements, click Run next to Cash Flow.

The Reports page with Cash Flow under Financial Statements

Your Cash Flow opens right away for the last 12 months, for all your locations.

Step 2 Choose your report options

Click Options at the top right, or click the Date range or Location chip under the title. The Report options window opens. Nothing changes until you click Run report.

The Report options window with date range, entity and location

Date range: pick a preset like Last 12 months, Year to date or Last month, or choose Custom and set your own From and To dates.
Entity and location: leave All entities and All locations checked to see the whole group, or check just the ones you want.
Show unapproved: includes transactions that haven’t been approved yet.

Click Run report.

Step 3 Read your Cash Flow

The cards across the top give you the whole story at a glance: Beginning cash, plus or minus each type of activity, equals Ending cash.

The Cash Flow summary cards for beginning cash, operating, investing and financing activities, and ending cash

Below the cards, each activity is broken out line by line:

Operating activities: the cash from running the restaurant. It starts with your net income from the P&L, then adjusts for things that changed your cash but not your profit, like money customers still owe you, prepaid expenses, unpaid vendor bills and credit card balances.
Investing activities: cash spent on (or received from) things the business keeps for years, like kitchen equipment, buildout and leasehold improvements.
Financing activities: cash from loans and owners, like loan payments, new loans, owner contributions and distributions.

The Ending cash matches the total of your bank and cash accounts on the Balance Sheet for the same end date, locations and Show unapproved setting.

Click Export at the top right to download it as a CSV or PDF.

Need to make a change?

Want a different date range or location? Click Options or a chip at the top, change what you need and click Run report.

Want to dig into a line? Lines on the Cash Flow can’t be clicked. Run your P&L or Balance Sheet for the same dates and click the account there to see its transactions.

Tips and common questions

I made a profit, so why is my cash down?: Look at the lines under Operating activities. Paying down vendor bills or credit cards, or prepaying insurance, uses cash without changing your profit. Then check Investing and Financing for equipment purchases, loan payments or owner distributions.
My ending cash doesn’t match the bank.: Make sure your bank accounts are reconciled through the end of the date range, and check for unapproved bank activity.
How often should I run it?: Monthly, alongside your P&L and Balance Sheet. Together, the three tell the full story of your month.

What’s next

Make your P&L, Balance Sheet and Cash Flow part of every month-end close. Together, they tell you how you did, where you stand and where your cash went.