Free Cash Position
Free Cash Position is a legacy RunwayCal glossary label retained for historical and search context; the current product metric is True Cash Position.
The legacy label is not Free Cash Flow and should not be interpreted as bank balance, unused credit, expected revenue, runway, or a guarantee of money that is safe to spend.
Use True Cash Position for the current RunwayCal product-derived planning metric. Keep held cash, supported recorded obligations, expected inflows, credit availability, and runway as distinct concepts.
Move from the legacy label to the current metric
The route remains for historical discovery while current product language points to True Cash Position.
- 01Legacy glossary labelFree Cash Position
Retained for historical and search context.
- 02Current product metricTrue Cash Position
A derived planning view with supported obligation context.
- 03Separate inputs
Held cash and recorded obligations retain their own definitions.
- 04Separate context
Expected inflows, unused credit, and runway are not renamed as cash.
Review the inputs instead of treating the label as a spending guarantee.
What is Free Cash Position?
Free Cash Position is preserved as a legacy glossary term because older RunwayCal language and search behavior may still bring readers to this route. Current product language uses True Cash Position for a product-derived planning metric that keeps held cash and supported recorded obligation context visible together.
The metric does not turn every future item into cash. Expected revenue remains expected until receipt is recorded. Unused credit is financing availability, not held cash. Runway is a duration signal under supported operating assumptions. Bank balance is an account balance. Each answers a different question.
Free Cash Position should also not be confused with Free Cash Flow, an accounting and finance measure commonly derived from cash flow and capital expenditure under a stated policy. The similar wording does not make the concepts equivalent.
Free Cash Position versus True Cash Position
Free Cash Position is the historical label on this glossary route. True Cash Position is the current product term. The current metric is a planning view, not a standardized accounting measure, and its supported inputs should be reviewed in the product context.
True Cash Position versus bank balance
A bank or Treasury balance reports held cash for the relevant account and time. True Cash Position adds supported recorded-obligation context. It should not be described as merely another name for the account balance.
True Cash Position versus available credit and expected revenue
A credit facility can provide borrowing capacity, subject to its terms, but unused capacity is not held cash. Expected revenue describes commercial context that may not be due, collected, or realized. Neither should be silently included as cash received.
True Cash Position versus runway and Free Cash Flow
Runway estimates duration under stated cash and operating assumptions. Free Cash Flow is a separate measure whose definition must be stated. True Cash Position is a point-in-time planning metric and is not either of those measures.
Why it matters
Cash language can create dangerous false equivalence. Calling credit, expected receipts, obligations, bank balance, and runway one available-cash number hides timing, conditions, and source differences.
The legacy route is useful only if it leads readers to current terminology and preserves those distinctions. A decision should be reviewed against the supporting cash and obligation records, not against the comfort of a label.
Concepts to keep separate
- Held cash recorded in supported Treasury context
- Supported recorded obligations included by current product logic
- Expected inflows that remain expected until received
- Credit availability that remains separate from held cash
- Runway calculated as a separate duration signal
Illustrative terminology review
A business has held cash, a recorded payroll obligation, an expected customer payment, and an unused credit facility. The held cash is recorded cash. The obligation creates pressure. The expected payment has not landed. The credit facility is not an account balance.
True Cash Position can provide supported planning context from current product inputs, while runway answers a separate duration question. None of those labels alone determines what the business may safely spend.
How RunwayCal helps
Mission Control presents True Cash Position as a product-derived planning metric beside held-cash, runway, burn, and source context supported by the current product. The underlying product areas retain ownership of their inputs.
RunwayCal does not present True Cash Position as a bank balance, unused credit, expected revenue, Free Cash Flow, or a guarantee of safe spending.
Common mistakes
- 1Using the legacy label as if it were the current product metric.
- 2Confusing Free Cash Position with Free Cash Flow.
- 3Treating expected revenue or unused credit as cash already held.
- 4Presenting True Cash Position as guaranteed spending capacity or runway.
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Use the current cash-position language
Review True Cash Position with held cash, obligations, and runway kept in their proper roles.
Read True Cash Position