THE IMPORTANCE OF CASH FLOW FOR MICRO AND SMALL BUSINESSES

Abstract

Most of the companies that make up the Brazilian business market are micro and small and, among thousands of companies opened annually, mortality rates in the first years of activity are high, having among the main causes, the lack of planning and the correct or efficient use of management tools. This work aimed to analyze the perception of small companies and their managers about the use of cash flow as a management tool. The methodology used was content analysis, applied to a sample of 17 scientific articles that addressed the topic "cash flow" in studies applied to the finances of micro and small companies, in SPELL databases, obtained using the keyword "cash flow", published in the period from 1989 to 2021. The results indicate the existence of consensus among managers regarding the importance of cash flow for efficient financial management, but that its use as a tool is limited by micro-enterprises in which managers demonstrate that they do not have satisfactory levels of knowledge about the techniques of its use.