How To Calculate Cash Flow from Operations in Blackbaud | Arithmix

Calculating cash flow from operations is an essential aspect of financial management for any business. It helps to determine the amount of cash generated or used by a company's core operations. In this article, we will discuss how to calculate cash flow from operations in Blackbaud, a popular financial management software.

What Is Cash Flow from Operations?

Cash flow from operations is the amount of cash generated or used by a company's core operations. It is calculated by subtracting operating expenses from operating revenues. Operating expenses include costs such as salaries, rent, and utilities, while operating revenues include sales revenue and other income generated from core operations.

Cash flow from operations is a critical metric for businesses as it helps to determine the company's ability to generate cash from its core operations. A positive cash flow from operations indicates that a company is generating enough cash to fund its operations, while a negative cash flow from operations indicates that a company is using more cash than it is generating from its operations.

When Is It Valuable To Calculate Cash Flow from Operations?

Calculating cash flow from operations is valuable for businesses in several situations. Firstly, it helps to determine the company's ability to generate cash from its core operations, which is essential for long-term sustainability. Secondly, it helps to identify areas where the company can improve its cash flow, such as reducing operating expenses or increasing operating revenues. Thirdly, it helps to provide insight into the company's financial health and can be used to make informed decisions about investments or financing.

Overall, calculating cash flow from operations is a crucial aspect of financial management for any business. By understanding how to calculate cash flow from operations in Blackbaud, businesses can gain valuable insights into their financial health and make informed decisions about their future.

How Do You Calculate Cash Flow from Operations in Blackbaud

Blackbaud itself isn’t naturally geared towards letting you calculate complex metrics like Cash Flow from Operations. As an alternative, teams typically use products like Arithmix to import data from Blackbaud and build out dashboards.

What is Arithmix?

Arithmix is the next generation spreadsheet - a collaborative, web-based platform for working with numbers that’s powerful yet easy to use. With Arithmix you can import data from systems like Blackbaud, combine it with data from other systems, and create calculations like Cash Flow from Operations.

In Arithmix, data is organized into Tables and referenced by name, not by cell location like a spreadsheet, simplifying calculation creation. Data and calculations can be shared with others and re-used like building blocks, vastly streamlining analysis, model building, and reporting in a highly scalable and easy to maintain platform. Data can be edited, categorized (by dimensions) and freely pivoted. Calculations are automatically copied across a dimension - eliminating copy and paste of formulas.

Arithmix is fully collaborative, giving your entire team access to your numbers and the ability to work together seamlessly.

Calculating Cash Flow from Operations in Arithmix

Calculating metrics like Cash Flow from Operations is simple in Arithmix. Once you've created your free account, you’ll be able to import your Blackbaud data, and use it to create natural language formulas for metrics like Cash Flow from Operations.

Arithmix is designed to give you the power to build any calculations you want on top of your Blackbaud data, while also being easy to use and collaborate on. You can share your dashboards with users inside and outside of your organisation, making it easy to empower your whole team.