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The Cash flow reporting template is an input working paper that builds up the period's cash flow movements (operating, investing and financing), pulling as much as it can automatically from the trial balance and other working papers, with the remainder entered manually. It feeds the Cashflow Report, and it checks its own arithmetic against the trial balance's actual cash balance so you can see straight away if something is missing.

Table of contents 

When should I use this template?

Use it wherever the file needs cash flow information for the period. It is available across the Working Papers workflows. Work through it after the trial balance is substantially complete and the related asset, investment and dividend working papers for the year are done, since several rows default from those.

Before you start

  • Complete the General settings template for the period first, if your firm uses it. This template picks up the same rounding level and currency display from it. If General settings is not completed, figures show in whole units of the company's own currency instead.
  • Complete the Summary of Fixed Assets, Summary of Intangible Assets, Investments summary, Investment property summary, Investment property register and Dividend summary templates for the year where relevant. Several rows here default from their reconciled figures.

Background

This is a generalised working paper rather than one shaped by a specific accounting standard. It does not apply any FRS 102 cash flow exemption logic itself; it simply assembles the movements needed to present a cash flow statement or report. The various period lengths (monthly, quarterly, yearly) it can be viewed over are controlled separately, through the Period Sets functionality in Reports.

Steps

Each row below either pulls in automatically from the trial balance or a linked template, or is entered manually. Automatic rows are hidden entirely when they come to zero; manual rows only show once they hold a non-zero amount.

Cash flows from operating activities

  1. Profit/(loss) for the financial period: automatic, taken straight from the profit and loss trial balance for the year.
  2. Non-cash charges(section heading), then:
    • Depreciation of property, plant, and equipment: automatic, from the year's depreciation charge.
    • Amortisation of intangible assets: automatic, from the year's amortisation charge.
    • (Gain)/loss on disposal and revaluation of property, plant, and equipment and investments: automatic, labelled "(Gain)" or "Loss" depending on the direction.
    • Amounts written off stocks, trade debtors, PPE: automatic, from the year's impairment and write-off charges.
    • Decrease/(increase) in trade and other receivables: automatic, calculated as the year-on-year movement in debtor balances (a fall in debtors shows as a cash inflow).
    • Increase/(decrease) in trade payables: automatic, the equivalent movement in creditor balances.
    • Decrease/(increase) in inventories: automatic, the equivalent movement in stock.
    • Corporate taxes: automatic, the year's tax charge.
    • An additional activity row (free-text description plus amount) lets you add any other non-cash adjustment not already listed.
  3. Cash from operations: automatic subtotal of the above.
  4. Income taxes paid: automatic, the tax charge adjusted for the year-on-year movement in the tax liability, so it reflects cash actually paid rather than the accounting charge.
  5. Interest received and Interest paid: automatic, calculated the same way from interest income and expense adjusted for the movement in accrued interest receivable and payable.
  6. Net cash from/(used in) operating activities: automatic subtotal, labelled "from" or "(used in)" depending on the sign.

Cash from investment activities

  • Purchases of property, plant, and equipment and Proceeds from sale of property, plant, and equipment: both default from the Summary of Fixed Assets template's cost additions and disposal proceeds for the year, but only once that template is marked as reconciled. Otherwise they default to zero and you enter the figure manually. Either way the figure is editable and links back to that template.
  • Purchases of intangible assets and Proceeds from sale of intangible assets: the same mechanism against the Summary of Intangible Assets template.
  • Purchases of investments: defaults from the Investments summary template's additions for the year, once reconciled.
  • Proceeds from sale of investments: manual entry only.
  • Purchases of financial fixed assets and Proceeds from sale of financial fixed assets: both manual entry only.
  • Purchases of investment property: defaults from the Investment property summary template's acquisitions for the year, once reconciled.
  • Proceeds from sale of investment property: defaults from the Investment property register, based on any assets recorded there with a disposal date falling in the current period.
  • Dividends received from associates, Dividends received from listed investments and Dividends received: all manual entry.
  • An additional activity row, as above.
  • Net cash from/(used in) investment activities: automatic subtotal.

Cash from financial activities

  • Purchase of share capital, Proceeds from issue of share capital, Repayment of bank borrowings, Proceeds from bank borrowings, Purchase of non-controlling interest, Proceeds from sale of non-controlling interest and Proceeds on issue of convertible loan notes: all manual entry.
  • Dividends paid: defaults from the Dividend summary template's total dividends paid for the year, once reconciled, and is shown as a cash outflow.
  • An additional activity row, as above.
  • Net cash from/(used in) financial activities: automatic subtotal.

Conclusion and reconciliation to cash at bank

  • Net increase/(decrease) in cash and cash equivalents: automatic total of the three activity subtotals above.
  • Cash and cash equivalents at the beginning of the financial period: automatic, taken from the prior year's closing trial balance cash figure.
  • Effect of foreign exchange rate changes: manual entry.
  • Cash and cash equivalents at the end of the financial period: automatic subtotal (opening balance plus all the movements above).
  • Reconciliation to cash at bank and in hand(section heading), then:
    • Cash at bank and in hand at end of financial period and Cash equivalents: both automatic, taken directly from the relevant trial balance codes.
    • Cash and cash equivalents at end of financial period: the final subtotal of those two.

Built-in check: the template compares the cash balance it has calculated through the statement against the actual cash and cash equivalents balance per the trial balance. If the two do not match, it raises a reconciliation warning on the final line showing the calculated balance, the trial balance balance, and the difference. Use this to trace whatever investing or financing movement has not been entered yet.

What flows through to the rest of the accounts/workflow?

The completed statement feeds the Cashflow Report, found under Reports, which can be viewed over custom monthly, quarterly or yearly periods using the Period Sets functionality in Reports.

What rolls forward next year?

The automatic rows do not roll forward as such. They are recalculated fresh from the trial balance and linked templates every year. The manual entries (including any additional activity rows you have added) do not roll forward either, so each year starts blank, though the automatic defaults will refresh themselves wherever a linked template such as the Summary of Fixed Assets has been reconciled for that year.

Where the data comes from

  • Trial balance nominal code ranges, for all the automatic rows, shown in the rounding and currency configured on the General settings template where one exists for the period.
  • The Summary of Fixed Assets, Summary of Intangible Assets, Investments summary, Investment property summary, Investment property register and Dividend summary templates, for the default figures on the investing and financing rows above (only once each is marked reconciled).
  • Manual entry, for everything else.
  • The prior year's trial balance, for the opening cash balance.

Frequently asked questions

Why has a row disappeared?

Automatic rows are hidden completely once they come to zero for the period. Nothing is wrong, there is just nothing to show.

Why did a figure I entered change when I reopened the template?

If you had not entered anything yet, the field would have shown a default from a linked template (for example, the Summary of Fixed Assets). Once that linked template is reconciled, its total becomes the new default. Your own entry, once made, is never overwritten.

What does the reconciliation warning on the closing cash line mean?

It means the cash movements calculated through the statement do not add up to the trial balance's actual cash and cash equivalents balance. Check the breakdown shown in the warning and look for an investing or financing cash movement (for example, a disposal or a loan movement) that has not been entered yet.

Why do I have to re-enter manual figures every year?

They are deliberately not carried forward, since disposals, financing movements and one-off items are rarely the same from one year to the next. The rows that do repeat automatically, the trial-balance-driven ones, are recalculated for you each year.