Understanding the 4 CFO Metric Cards
A complete overview of all four CFO dashboard metric cards in AskBiz — what each one shows, how colour coding works, and what the cards do when clicked.
Key Takeaways
- The four cards are Cash Balance, Daily Net Gain/Burn, Monthly Fixed Costs, and Cash Runway — together they give a complete financial snapshot.
- Each card uses green, amber, or red colour coding to signal the health of that specific metric.
- Cards are clickable and open drill-down panels with more detail about that metric.
Card 1: Cash Balance
The Cash Balance card displays the current liquid cash balance you entered in the Cost Configuration Drawer. The number itself is straightforward, but the colour coding gives context. A healthy cash balance relative to your burn rate shows in green. As your cash falls toward levels that compress your runway, the card shifts to amber and eventually red. The Cash Balance card is clickable — tapping it opens a drill-down panel where you can see more context about your cash position and how it compares to your monthly obligations. This card updates immediately whenever you change the cash balance figure in the configuration drawer.
Card 2: Daily Net Gain/Burn
The Daily Net Gain/Burn card shows whether your business is net positive or net negative each day, based on your cost configuration and any connected revenue data. A positive number (shown in green) means you are earning more than you are spending daily. A negative number (shown in red) is your daily burn — the amount you are drawing down from your cash reserves each day. The formula behind this card is: daily revenue minus daily burn rate. When your costs exceed revenue, the card turns red and displays the daily burn as a negative figure. This is one of the most actionable numbers on the dashboard because it tells you the daily rate at which your financial position is changing.
Free — no card needed
See this in action for your business
AskBiz tracks these metrics automatically — just connect your data and start asking questions.
Start for free →Card 3: Monthly Fixed Costs
The Monthly Fixed Costs card shows the total of all fixed cost rows you entered in the Fixed Costs tab of the configuration drawer. This card is useful as a quick sanity check — glancing at it tells you your minimum monthly overhead before any variable costs. It is also clickable: tapping the card opens the Cost Configuration Drawer directly to the Fixed Costs tab, giving you a shortcut to update your fixed costs without manually navigating to the config button. The card is typically displayed in a neutral colour (not colour-coded with thresholds) because the number itself is neither inherently healthy nor unhealthy — it is your baseline cost structure.
Card 4: Cash Runway
The Cash Runway card shows how many months your business can continue operating at the current burn rate before running out of cash. It is calculated by dividing your cash balance by your daily burn rate, then converting the result to months. When your daily net position is positive — meaning you are earning more than you are spending — the card displays "Cash +" in green instead of a runway number, because a cash-positive business has an indefinitely positive runway under current conditions. A runway under three months typically triggers a red indicator; three to six months is amber; above six months is green. This card is the single most important number for business owners concerned about sustainability.
How the Cards Work Together
The four cards are designed to be read as a set. Cash Balance tells you where you are. Daily Net Gain/Burn tells you the direction and speed you are moving. Monthly Fixed Costs tells you your unavoidable baseline obligation. Cash Runway synthesises all three into the single most important forward-looking metric. A business with a high cash balance but a high burn rate and short runway is in a different position than a business with a modest cash balance but a long runway. Reading all four cards together takes about 10 seconds and gives you a more complete picture than any single metric could. Colour coding allows you to spot problems at a glance even before reading the actual numbers.