Cash flow sign convention
Encyclopedia
The cash flow sign convention is that money you pay out has a minus sign, while money you take in has a plus sign (or no sign).
- Most financial calculators (and spreadsheets) follow the Cash Flow Sign Convention. This is simply a way of keeping the direction of the cash flow straight. Cash inflows are entered as positive numbers and cash outflows are entered as negative numbers. http://www.tvmcalcs.com/calculators/hp12c/hp12c_page1