Unrestricted Cash
Cash that the company can freely deploy for any operational purpose — total bank balances minus any contractually restricted balances. This is the input most boards actually want when judging runway, because it strips out escrows, security deposits, and processor reserves that cannot be spent on payroll or vendors. The distinction matters more as the company adds enterprise contracts (deposit obligations), debt facilities (covenant balances), and payment processing volume (rolling reserves). Common pitfall: at early stage, restricted cash is often near zero so teams equate this with `finance.total_cash_in_bank` — track them separately from day one to avoid surprise reclassifications later. — Finance KPI, I'mBoard-authored (editorial tier).
I'mBoard-authored (editorial tier)
No public third-party standard anchors this KPI yet, so I'mBoard authors and maintains the definition — transparently labeled as editorial tier. See the ontology methodology for the published vs editorial tier system and the back-attribution workstream.
Rogue ID: finance.total_unrestricted_cash
Type: Currency
Domain: Finance
Definition
Cash that the company can freely deploy for any operational purpose — total bank balances minus any contractually restricted balances. This is the input most boards actually want when judging runway, because it strips out escrows, security deposits, and processor reserves that cannot be spent on payroll or vendors. The distinction matters more as the company adds enterprise contracts (deposit obligations), debt facilities (covenant balances), and payment processing volume (rolling reserves). Common pitfall: at early stage, restricted cash is often near zero so teams equate this with finance.total_cash_in_bank — track them separately from day one to avoid surprise reclassifications later.
Formula
finance.total_cash_in_bank − finance.total_restricted_cash. Equivalent to the sum of bank-account balances flagged `restricted: false` in `finance.bank_accounts_list`.Why it matters
The right cash number to divide by net burn when computing the spendable runway a board can act on — restricted cash cannot bridge a payroll gap.
How to interpret
A meaningful divergence between unrestricted and total cash (industry folk-wisdom: >5–10%) is the trigger to surface a restricted-cash schedule in the board pack. Compare period-over-period — a sudden drop in unrestricted cash that does not match burn usually means a reclassification (e.g. a new lease deposit) rather than spending.
Related KPIs
finance.total_cash_in_bankfinance.total_restricted_cashfinance.operationally_available_cashfinance.runway_monthsfinance.bank_accounts_list
Source
I'mBoard editorial — authored and maintained by I'mBoard, first published 2026-04-01. No third-party standard is cited for this KPI; when one emerges, the definition is back-attributed and promoted to the published tier (a minor version bump). Read the ontology methodology for the published vs editorial tier system, attribution rules, and dispute process.
Stage relevance
| Company stage | Priority |
|---|---|
| Pre-Seed | Core |
| Seed | Core |
| Series A | Core |
| Series B | Recommended |
| Series C+ | Recommended |
| Public | Recommended |
Suggested for stages: Pre-Seed, Seed, Series A, Series B, Series C+, Public.
Default owning functions
- Finance
Machine-readable
- This KPI as JSON:
/api/ontology/finance/total_unrestricted_cash.json - All Finance KPIs:
/api/ontology/finance.json - Full catalog:
/api/ontology/index.json
Total Sales & Marketing
Total sales & marketing operating expense for the period — the sum of the S&M lines (payroll, commissions, marketing, paid media, events, tools, other). One of the four OpEx section totals. — Finance KPI, I'mBoard-authored (editorial tier).
Travel & Entertainment
Cost of travel, meals, customer travel, and board travel for the period. Rolls up minor items; kept as one readable line. — Finance KPI, I'mBoard-authored (editorial tier).