The company has seen an increase in its cash on hand from 2003 to 2005, with a slight increase (seven percent) from 2003 to 2004 and a more significant increase (28 percent) from 2004 to 2005. Most of this increase came from financing, which enjoyed increases of 155 percent from 2003 to 2004, and 29 percent from 2004 to 2005. However, these gains were offset by investing activities, which declined precipitously (by 75 percent in 2003 to 2004 and by 20 percent from 2004 to 2005). Continued losses in this area could prove problematic to the organization in the long-run ("Bank of America," 2006).
             Specifically, cash from financing activities increased to more than $171 billion in 2005. Most of this increase came from increases in federal funds purchased and securities sold under agreements to repurchase. This category increased from $12.9 billion in 2003 to more than $120 billion in 2005. Retirement of long-term debt, generally a positive move by institutions, has required a substantial amount of cash: $9.2 billion in 2003 increasing to $16.9 billion in 2004 and then falling back slightly to $15.1 billion in 2005. Net increases in deposits is an interesting part of the company's financing activities since, while deposits have increased in both 2004 and 2005, they increased substantially (by more than $37 billion) from 2003 to 2004, then fell back to a total net increase of only $16 billion in 2005. This represents a dramatic spike in this category ("Bank of America," 2006).
             Bank of America's investing activities are by far the single largest area of cash drain on the organization. The company's single largest area of spending within its investing activities is its purchase of available-for-sale securities; spending in this area has fallen slightly (to $204 billion in 2005) from 2004, but 2004 was a substantial increase over 2003. At the same time, Bank of America has also realized strong cash inflows from proce
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