Financials. such as P&L and cash flow statements, are a cyclic tradition (from weekly to yearly), where data are piled up, crunched, sorted, analyzed, and then distorted for comments. They are finance’s mean to evaluate a subject efficiency over a period, in monetary terms. As I was reviewing Effy By Design‘s latest cash flow while observing Effy H’s dedication behind her sewing machine, an idea jumped at me… but first,

What is cash flow statement?

Definition (from Investopedia):

A cash flow statement is a financial statement that provides aggregate data regarding all cash inflows a company receives from its ongoing operations and […] all cash outflows that pay for business activities […] during a given period. [G.M. note: I have excluded the investment portion to keep simple.]

So in essence, a cash flow statement list all cash inflows and outflows over a period, and gives a net position. It tells you: have I increase or decrease my cash balance?

Cash isn’t necessarily the most relevant data to assess a company’s financial efficiency (profit being number one), it is however a vital indications. Cash is to company what blood is to the body. You might not be very efficient having it, but you would certainly die without…

And so I trailed that thought, shaping parallels between cyclic cash flows & other flows.

Extending the logic to periodical flow statements!

And I started to methodically build up innovative statements, such as:

• Weekly happy time statement: Easy to do, and quite objective based on estimated time records. I was in deficit last week, but the balance remains positive. But considering a lifetime, I really wonder where my balance would be!
• Daily love flow statement: Purely subjective, but to rationally analyze the irrational is always fun. I found it however quite dangerous, when I started analyzing data to optimize, so I dropped it.
• Daily water flow statement: Very instructive, and I now do a rough assessment everyday, to ensure my water intake is healthy.
• … and so on… you name it…

So it just gives another tool to assess a subject efficiency over a period.

Weekly sweat flow statement?

And for this episode of Effy, I tried to apply this logic to a young Chinese factory seamstress we once met with Effy H (that girl also was the inspiration behind “cost efficient yawns“). Seven panels for seven days. Six days of tiring hours to craft fast fashion, that almost entirely vanished in one happy Sunday hour. Realistically not sustainable for her life balance, but she sees it in a different way, and who are we to judge…

 

Wait wait wait, Christmas treat!

Last but not least, an early Christmas treat. You can download and print the mini-comics for this episode and Flowers’ Republic on my page at “8 pages comics” website. Hope you enjoy!