Operating Working Capital
A focused subset of working capital that strips out cash, short-term debt, and other treasury items to isolate the cash the operating business itself ties up. Computed as operating current assets (receivables + inventory + prepaid expenses) minus operating current liabilities (payables + accrued expenses). The distinction from total working capital matters because moves in cash or short-term debt are financing decisions rather than operating signals — a company that has raised cash through a bond issuance will show rising total working capital while operating working capital is unchanged. Operating working capital is the right diagnostic when the question is how much cash the underlying business consumes per dollar of revenue.
Lessons that use this term
Related terms
Accounts Payable · Adjusted EBITDA · Adjusted EBITDA Ex-SBC · ADR · ARPU · Average Length Of Stay
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