{"id":196940,"date":"2020-03-05T07:34:54","date_gmt":"2020-03-05T15:34:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nationalfunding.com\/blog\/?p=196940"},"modified":"2023-11-01T08:13:19","modified_gmt":"2023-11-01T15:13:19","slug":"revenue-and-cash-flow","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nationalfunding.com\/blog\/revenue-and-cash-flow\/","title":{"rendered":"What&#8217;s the Difference between Revenue and Cash Flow?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>From contracting firms to coffee shops, the financial well-being of many small businesses relies on keeping both revenue and cash flow at healthy levels.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"\">Sales Revenue vs. Cash Flow<\/h2>\n<p>Revenue, as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.investopedia.com\/terms\/r\/revenue.asp\">Investopedia<\/a> defines it, is the money a business generates from the sale of goods or services, calculated as the average sales price times the number of units sold, before the deduction of expenses. The same <a href=\"https:\/\/www.investopedia.com\/terms\/c\/cashflow.asp\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">source<\/a> defines cash flow as the amount of cash going in and out of an organization during its operation. A seasonal business like landscaping or holiday retail would likely see its cash flow change appreciably at different times of the year. Revenue and cash flow are reported on separate financial statements.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone\" title=\"Male small business owner works on paperwork in his home office\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nationalfunding.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/focusedviewofunidentifia_758714.jpg\" alt=\"Small business owner calculates revenue and cash flow\" width=\"500\" height=\"334\" \/><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"\">The Basics of Revenue<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li class=\"\">Reported on your income statement<\/li>\n<li class=\"\">Helps investors and industry analysts gauge your company&#8217;s financial health<\/li>\n<li class=\"\">Shows the effectiveness of sales and marketing efforts<\/li>\n<li class=\"\">Operating revenue = income earned from your core business operations<\/li>\n<li class=\"\">Non-operating revenue = income earned from other sources, like investments or sales of assets<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2 class=\"\">The Basics of Cash Flow<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li class=\"\">Reported on your cash flow statement<\/li>\n<li class=\"\">Helps investors and industry analysts gauge your company&#8217;s financial health<\/li>\n<li class=\"\">Positive cash flow = more cash at the end of an accounting period than at the beginning<\/li>\n<li class=\"\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nationalfunding.com\/blog\/negative-cash-flow\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Negative cash flow<\/a> = less cash at the end of an accounting period than at the beginning<\/li>\n<li class=\"\">Can be improved through increased sales, higher prices, lower operating costs, more efficient accounts payable collection and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nationalfunding.com\/small-business-loans\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">small business loans<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Revenue and cash flow are key components of your company&#8217;s financial health. Use this quick guide as a starting point for learning more about how to enhance your business.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Revenue and cash flow help you track your company&#8217;s financial health in distinct ways. We review a few key differences between these critical figures.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":196939,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[88,89],"class_list":["post-196940","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-financial-health","tag-accounting-for-small-business","tag-budgeting-for-small-business"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>What&#039;s the Difference between Revenue and Cash Flow?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Revenue and cash flow help you track your company&#039;s financial health in distinct ways. We review a few key differences between these critical figures.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nationalfunding.com\/blog\/revenue-and-cash-flow\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"What&#039;s the Difference between Revenue and Cash Flow?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Revenue and cash flow help you track your company&#039;s financial health in distinct ways. We review a few key differences between these critical figures.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.nationalfunding.com\/blog\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/196940\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Bottom Line by National Funding\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/national.funding\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-03-05T15:34:54+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-11-01T15:13:19+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/live-nationalfunding.pantheonsite.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/moneyandfinancialplannin_758716-e1583422443263.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1429\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"626\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Sonya Stinson\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@NationalFunding\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@NationalFunding\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Sonya Stinson\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.nationalfunding.com\/blog\/revenue-and-cash-flow\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.nationalfunding.com\/blog\/revenue-and-cash-flow\/\",\"name\":\"What's the Difference between Revenue and Cash Flow?\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.nationalfunding.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.nationalfunding.com\/blog\/revenue-and-cash-flow\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.nationalfunding.com\/blog\/revenue-and-cash-flow\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/blog.nationalfunding.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/moneyandfinancialplannin_758716-e1583422443263.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-03-05T15:34:54+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-11-01T15:13:19+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.nationalfunding.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/16e930431e6654b8b843ef17b41e4424\"},\"description\":\"Revenue and cash flow help you track your company's financial health in distinct ways. 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