Accomplishing equally Balance Sheet and Income Statement, the Cash Flow statement, a mandatory part of a company’s financial reports since 1987, records the amounts of cash and cash equivalents entering and leaving a company or say provides an overview of the cash inflows and outflows of the business during a certain period of time. The CFS allows investors to understand how a company’s operations are running, where its money is coming from, and how it is being going out or spent. Here you will learn how the CFS is structured and how to use it as part of your analysis of a company.
Cash flow is determined by looking at three components by which cash enters and leaves a company viz. Core Operations, Investing and Financing. A cash-flow statement differs from an income statement in reflecting actual cash on hand rather than money owed (accounts receivable). Its purpose is to throw light on management’s use of its available financial resources and to help in evaluating a company’s liquidity.
The statement of cash flows can be prepared using two different methods explored as;
The Indirect Method starts with a company’s net income and then makes adjustments for all non-cash transactions followed by adjustments from all cash transactions, on the other hand, The Direct Method more simply lists cash receipts and payments by their respective categories – cash inflows are listed as positive entries and cash outflows are listed as negative entries.
A company can use a cash flow statement to predict future cash flow, which matters in budgeting. For investors, the cash flow reflects a company’s financial health. Sometimes a negative cash flow results from a company’s growth strategy in the form of expanding its operations. By adjusting earnings, revenues, assets and liabilities, the investor can get a very clear picture of what some people consider the most important aspect of a company, how much cash it generates and, particularly, how much of that cash stems from core operations. Thus by keeping sales records managed, your cash flow cycle will be done in same or other way in boosting Profit.
