Cash Flow
You can read the start and end balance rows, and you know why they are sometimes not there.
**Start/End Balance** is the bank position opening and closing each period — the row a treasurer reads.
The tooltip states the condition: *Balance at start and end if a start and end date are set.*
Missing balance rows are almost always this. A plan with no window still shows income, expenses and the cumulated row, but has no defined point to open a balance from. Set both dates — see [set the plan window](/kb/article/set-the-plan-window).
They look similar and answer different questions.
| Row | What it measures | | ----------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------- | | **Cumulated cash flow** | how far the production is up or down **since the start** | | **Start/End Balance** | what is actually **in the account** at that moment |
Cumulated is the production's net movement. Balance is the position. A production can be well down cumulatively and still solvent because it started with money or has drawn a credit.
The distinction matters when you talk to a bank: they care about the balance, because that is what goes negative in reality.
Watch **the lowest end balance** and when it falls. That is the moment the production is closest to the edge, and it is the figure a facility has to cover.
Then read the periods either side of it. A single low month is a timing problem; three in a row is a financing problem.
Three levers, in the order they are usually available:
1. **Move income earlier** — reschedule a financing source's instalments if the contract allows. 2. **Add a credit** dated before the trough — see [add a credit line](/kb/article/add-a-credit-line). 3. **Move expenses later**, which is the least available in practice — crew get paid when they work.
Each is a change to a rule somewhere else, and the balance row is how you check it worked.
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