Working capital
Definition · Level 9 · Valuation
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Current assets minus current liabilities (operationally: receivables + inventory − payables). An increase absorbs cash; a decrease releases it.
Example
Inventory builds by $50M → operating cash flow is $50M lower, all else equal.
Where Tradecraft teaches it
Level 9 · Valuation, in the lesson “Balance sheet, cash flow and how they link”: Assets = liabilities + equity, the three cash-flow sections, free cash flow, and why profit isn’t cash.
Related terms
- Accrual accountingRecording revenue when earned and costs when incurred, regardless of when cash changes hands — the reason profit and operating cash flow differ.
- AssetsResources a company owns or controls that should bring future benefit — cash, receivables, inventory, PP&E, intangibles.
- Balance sheetA snapshot on one date of what a company owns, what it owes and the owners’ residual claim — always satisfying assets = liabilities + equity.
- CapexCapital expenditures: cash spent on long-lived assets such as plants, equipment and servers.
- Cash-flow statementReport of the cash that actually moved in and out over a period, in three sections — operating, investing, financing — whose sum (plus any currency…
- CFI vs CFFInvesting cash flow (capex, acquisitions, securities bought and sold) versus financing cash flow (debt issued or repaid, shares issued, buybacks…