In financial accounting a cash flow statement, also known as statement of cash flows or funds flow statement, is a financial statement that shows how changes in balance sheet accounts and income affect cash and cash equivalents and breaks the analysis down to operating, investing, and financing activities. Essentially, the cash flow statement is concerned with the flow of cash in and cash out of the business. The statement captures both the current operating results and the accompanying changes in the balance sheet As an analytical tool, the statement of cash flows is useful in determining the short-term viability of a company, particularly its ability to pay bills. International Accounting Standard 7 (IAS 7), is the International Accounting Standard that deals with cash flow statements.
People and groups interested in cash flow statements include:
- Accounting personnel, who need to know whether the organization will be able to cover payroll and other immediate expenses
- Potential lenders or creditors, who want a clear picture of a company's ability to repay
- Potential investors, who need to judge whether the company is financially sound
- Potential employees or contractors, who need to know whether the company will be able to afford compensation
- Shareholders of the business.
PURPOSE
The cash flow statement was previously known as the flow of Cash statement. The cash flow statement reflects a firm's liquidity.The balance sheet is a snapshot of a firm's financial resources and obligations at a single point in time, and the income statement summarizes a firm's financial transactions over an interval of time. These two financial statements reflect the accrual basis accounting used by firms to match revenues with the expenses associated with generating those revenues. The cash flow statement includes only inflows and outflows of cash and cash equivalents; it excludes transactions that do not directly affect cash receipts and payments. These non-cash transactions include depreciation or write-offs on bad debts or credit losses to name a few. The cash flow statement is a cash basis report on three types of financial activities: operating activities, investing activities, and financing activities. Non-cash activities are usually reported in footnotes.
The cash flow statement is intended to
- provide information on a firm's liquidity and solvency and its ability to change cash flows in future circumstances
- provide additional information for evaluating changes in assets, liabilities and equity
- improve the comparability of different firms' operating performance by eliminating the effects of different accounting methods
- indicate the amount, timing and probability of future cash flows
HISTORY AND VARIATION
Cash basis financial statements were very common before accrual basis financial statements. The "flow of funds" statements of the past were cash flow statements.
In 1863, the Dowlais Iron Company had recovered from a business slump, but had no cash to invest for a new blast furnace, despite having made a profit. To explain why there were no funds to invest, the manager made a new financial statement that was called a comparison balance sheet, which showed that the company was holding too much inventory. This new financial statement was the genesis of Cash Flow Statement that is used today.
In the United States in 1971, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) defined rules that made it mandatory under Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (US GAAP) to report sources and uses of funds, but the definition of "funds" was not clear."Net working capital" might be cash or might be the difference between current assets and current liabilities. From the late 1970 to the mid-1980s, the FASB discussed the usefulness of predicting future cash flows. In 1987, FASB Statement No. 95 (FAS 95) mandated that firms provide cash flow statements. In 1992, the International Accounting Standards Board issued International Accounting Standard 7 (IAS 7), Cash Flow Statements, which became effective in 1994, mandating that firms provide cash flow statements.
CASH FLOW ACTIVITIES
The cash flow statement is partitioned into three segments, namely: 1) cash flow resulting from operating activities; 2) cash flow resulting from investing activities and 3) cash flow resulting from financing activities.
The money coming into the business is called cash inflow, and money going out from the business is called cash outflow.
Operating activities
Operating activities include the production, sales and delivery of the company's product as well as collecting payment from its customers. This could include purchasing raw materials, building inventory, advertising, and shipping the product.Under IAS 7, operating cash flows include:
- Receipts from the sale of goods or services
- Receipts for the sale of loans, debt or equity instruments in a trading portfolio
- Interest received on loans
- Dividends received on equity securities
- Payments to suppliers for goods and services
- Payments to employees or on behalf of employees
- Interest payments (alternatively, this can be reported under financing activities in IAS 7, and US GAAP)
- buying Merchandise
- Depreciation (loss of tangible asset value over time)
- Deferred tax
- Amortization (loss of intangible asset value over time)
- Any gains or losses associated with the sale of a non-current asset, because associated cash flows do not belong in the operating section.(unrealized gains/losses are also added back from the income statement)
Investing activities
Examples of Investing activities are- Purchase or Sale of an asset (assets can be land, building, equipment, marketable securities, etc.)
- Loans made to suppliers or received from customers
- Payments related to mergers and acquisitions
Financing activities
Financing activities include the inflow of cash from investors such as banks and shareholders, as well as the outflow of cash to shareholders as dividends as the company generates income. Other activities which impact the long-term liabilities and equity of the company are also listed in the financing activities section of the cash flow statement.Under IAS 7,
- Proceeds from issuing short-term or long-term debt
- Payments of dividends
- Payments for repurchase of company shares
- Repayment of debt principal, including capital leases
- For non-profit organizations, receipts of donor-restricted cash that is limited to long-term purposes
- Dividends paid
- Sale or repurchase of the company's stock
- Net borrowings
- Payment of dividend tax
Disclosure of non-cash activities
Under IAS 7, non-cash investing and financing activities are disclosed in footnotes to the financial statements. Under US General Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP), non-cash activities may be disclosed in a footnote or within the cash flow statement itself. Non-cash financing activities may include- Leasing to purchase an asset
- Converting debt to equity
- Exchanging non-cash assets or liabilities for other non-cash assets or liabilities
- Issuing shares in exchange for assets
Preparation methods
The direct method of preparing a cash flow statement results in a more easily understood report. The indirect method is almost universally used, because FAS 95 requires a supplementary report similar to the indirect method if a company chooses to use the direct method.Direct method
The direct method for creating a cash flow statement reports major classes of gross cash receipts and payments. Under IAS 7, dividends received may be reported under operating activities or under investing activities. If taxes paid are directly linked to operating activities, they are reported under operating activities; if the taxes are directly linked to investing activities or financing activities, they are reported under investing or financing activities.Sample cash flow statement using the direct method
| Cash flows from (used in) operating activities | ||
| Cash receipts from customers | 9,500 | |
| Cash paid to suppliers and employees | (2,000) | |
| Cash generated from operations (sum) | 7,500 | |
| Interest paid | (2,000) | |
| Income taxes paid | (3,000) | |
| Net cash flows from operating activities | | 2,500 |
| Cash flows from (used in) investing activities | ||
| Proceeds from the sale of equipment | 7,500 | |
| Dividends received | 3,000 | |
| Net cash flows from investing activities | | 10,500 |
| Cash flows from (used in) financing activities | ||
| Dividends paid | (2,500) | |
| Net cash flows used in financing activities | | (2,500) |
| . | ||
| Net increase in cash and cash equivalents | | 10,500 |
| Cash and cash equivalents, beginning of year | | 1,000 |
| Cash and cash equivalents, end of year | | $11,500 |
Indirect method
The indirect method uses net-income as a starting point, makes adjustments for all transactions for non-cash items, then adjusts from all cash-based transactions. An increase in an asset account is subtracted from net income, and an increase in a liability account is added back to net income. This method converts accrual-basis net income (or loss) into cash flow by using a series of additions and deductions.Rules (Operating Activities)
| To Find Cash Flows from Operating Activities using the Balance Sheet and Net Income | |
| For Increases in | Net Inc Adj |
| Current Assets (Non-Cash) | Decrease |
| Current Liabilities | Increase |
| For All Non-Cash... | |
| *Expenses (Decreases in Fixed Assets) | Increase |
| | |
- Decrease in non-cash current assets are added to net income
- Increase in non-cash current asset are subtracted from net income
- Increase in current liabilities are added to net income
- Decrease in current liabilities are subtracted from net income
- Expenses with no cash outflows are added back to net income (depreciation and/or amortization expense are the only operating items that have no effect on cash flows in the period)
- Revenues with no cash inflows are subtracted from net income
- Non operating losses are added back to net income
- Non operating gains are subtracted from net income
For example, consider a company that has a net income of $100 this year, and its A/R increased by $25 since the beginning of the year. If the balances of all other current assets, long term assets and current liabilities did not change over the year, the cash flows could be determined by the rules above as $100 – $25 = Cash Flows from Operating Activities = $75. The logic is that, if the company made $100 that year (net income), and they are using the accrual accounting system (not cash based) then any income they generated that year which has not yet been paid for in cash should be subtracted from the net income figure in order to find cash flows from operating activities. And the increase in A/R meant that $25 of sales occurred on credit and have not yet been paid for in cash.
In the case of finding Cash Flows when there is a change in a fixed asset account, say the Buildings and Equipment account decreases, the change is added back to Net Income. The reasoning behind this is that because Net Income is calculated by, Net Income = Rev - Cogs - Depreciation Exp - Other Exp then the Net Income figure will be decreased by the building's depreciation that year. This depreciation is not associated with an exchange of cash therefore the depreciation is added back into net income to remove the non-cash activity.
Rules (Financing Activities)
Finding the Cash Flows from Financing Activities is much more intuitive and needs little explanation. Generally, the things to account for are financing activities:
- Include as outflows, reductions of long term notes payable (as would represent the cash repayment of debt on the balance sheet)
- Or as inflows, the issuance of new notes payable
- Include as outflows, all dividends paid by the entity to outside parties
- Or as inflows, dividend payments received from outside parties
- Include as outflows, the purchase of notes stocks or bonds
- Or as inflows, the receipt of payments on such financing vehicles.
- Exclude intra-company dividend payments.
- Exclude intra-company bond interest.
| XYZ co. Ltd. Cash Flow Statement (all numbers in millions of RS.) | |||
| Period ending | 03/31/2010 | 03/31/2009 | 03/31/2008 |
| Net income | 21,538 | 24,589 | 17,046 |
| Operating activities, cash flows provided by or used in: | |||
| Depreciation and amortization | 2,790 | 2,592 | 2,747 |
| Adjustments to net income | 4,617 | 621 | 2,910 |
| Decrease (increase) in accounts receivable | 12,503 | 17,236 | -- |
| Increase (decrease) in liabilities (A/P, taxes payable) | 131,622 | 19,822 | 37,856 |
| Decrease (increase) in inventories | -- | -- | -- |
| Increase (decrease) in other operating activities | (173,057) | (33,061) | (62,963) |
| Net cash flow from operating activities | 13 | 31,799 | (2,404) |
| Investing activities, cash flows provided by or used in: | |||
| Capital expenditures | (4,035) | (3,724) | (3,011) |
| Investments | (201,777) | (71,710) | (75,649) |
| Other cash flows from investing activities | 1,606 | 17,009 | (571) |
| Net cash flows from investing activities | (204,206) | (58,425) | (79,231) |
| Financing activities, cash flows provided by or used in: | |||
| Dividends paid | (9,826) | (9,188) | (8,375) |
| Sale (repurchase) of stock | (5,327) | (12,090) | 133 |
| Increase (decrease) in debt | 101,122 | 26,651 | 21,204 |
| Other cash flows from financing activities | 120,461 | 27,910 | 70,349 |
| Net cash flows from financing activities | 206,430 | 33,283 | 83,311 |
| Effect of exchange rate changes | 645 | (1,840) | 731 |
| Net increase (decrease) in cash and cash euivalent | 2,882 | 4,817 | 2,407 |