MBA Finance Question:
Can you walk me through a cash flow statement?
Answer:
Start with net income, go line by line through major adjustments (depreciation, changes in working capital and deferred taxes) to arrive at cash flows from operating activities.
Mention capital expenditures, asset sales, purchase of intangible assets, and purchase/sale of investment securities to arrive at cash flow from investing activities.
Mention repurchase/issuance of debt and equity and paying out dividends to arrive at cash flow from financing activities.
Adding cash flows from operations, cash flows from investments, and cash flows from financing gets you to total change of cash.
Beginning-of-period cash balance plus change in cash allows you to arrive at end-of-period cash balance.
Mention capital expenditures, asset sales, purchase of intangible assets, and purchase/sale of investment securities to arrive at cash flow from investing activities.
Mention repurchase/issuance of debt and equity and paying out dividends to arrive at cash flow from financing activities.
Adding cash flows from operations, cash flows from investments, and cash flows from financing gets you to total change of cash.
Beginning-of-period cash balance plus change in cash allows you to arrive at end-of-period cash balance.
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