Free cash flow
Free cash flow is a cash and runway metric, calculated as Operating cash flow − Capital expenditures.
- Layer
- Metric
- Defined in
- Metric definitions
- Nearby
- 15
Authority
This definition follows Non-GAAP financial measure — SEC Regulation G — it is not a GAAP measure, so a registrant publishing it has to reconcile it to the nearest GAAP figure.
Every citation in this system, with the text we read and the date we checked it, is in US GAAP and where these rules come from.
Formula
Operating cash flow − Capital expenditures
Non-GAAP; state whether capitalized software and finance-lease principal are deducted.
A metric without its definition is a number people argue about in meetings. Every metric component in this system requires one — see the rules.
The lesson that teaches this
Accounting, 0 to 1 — a free course taught end to end on one month of one company, with the spreadsheet exercises to work it yourself.
Free cash flow, in use
Quoted from the 2 documents that use the word — what it does to an interface, in the spec's own sentence.
EBITDA, adjusted EBITDA, free cash flow, adjusted net income.
The same rules apply to free cash flow, adjusted net income, and every other non-GAAP measure.
Nearby in the catalog
No component names this concept outright. These are the ones in its part of the system, which is a weaker claim — but a component nothing links to is a component nobody finds.
7Dashboard & charts
Family spec- MetricDefinitionEvery metric requires one. Formula with values substituted.
- NonGaapReconciliationEBITDA below net income, every adjustment named.Spec
- MrrBridgeThe movement, not a single number with a percentage.Spec
- BudgetVsActualPolarity-aware, materiality-filtered, versions tracked.
- ForecastTableProjections dashed and labeled everywhere.
- CovenantMonitorThe contractual definition, not the generic one.Spec
- KpiHealthStripProvisional marking for pre-close numbers.Spec
- RevenueTrackerRevenue by stream, with mix, growth and concentration.
- ExpenseTrackerSpend by category on three bases. Polarity derived per row from the sign convention.
- DriverModelThe inputs a forecast is built from, and what they produce.
- ScenarioCompareScenarios side by side, all measured against the base.
- PlByDimensionThe P&L cut by department, entity or product.
Terms this one depends on
Also in Cash & runway
Work with this concept
The calculators that compute it and the ledger payloads that carry it. A definition is where a reader starts; these are where they go next.
Defined in Metric definitions. This page is generated from that document, so the two cannot disagree.