That being said, it is okay to have a net gain in cash flow of financing activities at times
Your net cash flow appears at the bottom of your statement of cash flows and is a total of your cash flow of operating activities, your cash flow of investment activities, and your cash flow of financial activities. Ideally, you want a net increase in cash flow, which shows that your company brought in more money than it spent.
While you want a positive cash flow, you may not want your cash flow to be too positive. Seem counterintuitive? Here’s why.
If you have an incredibly high cash flow, that is extra money that you can be (and should be) investing back into your business. It’s important to strike the balance of maintaining a positive cash flow and using that positive cash flow to ensure that your business grows and makes even more money in the future.
Your cash flow of investing activities shows how much money you’ve spent on purchasing and maintaining fixed assets or on selling assets
Your operating cash flow shows how much money your company is making or losing on everyday business operations. Business operations are the bread and butter of your business, so it makes sense that you want your operating cash flow to be a high, positive number. You always want to see this number increasing over time.
If your operations appear as a net loss instead of a net increase, you may want to reevaluate your business practices. Increase prices, don’t reorder unpopular inventory, streamline processes to save time and money on payroll, incentivize customers to pay their invoices in a timely manner – do whatever it takes to spend less and bring in more so that your business can flourish.