2012年ACCA考试《F9财务报告》讲义辅导19

2012年ACCA考试《F9财务报告》讲义辅导19
Conclusion
　　The purpose of the cash flow statement is to improve the informative value of published financial reports. The lack of prominence given to cash flow-based accounting ratios as a means of improving the interpretative value of this data is particularly surprising given the enormous amount of space usually devoted to traditional accounting ratios in text books on financial accounting, management accounting and corporate finance. This article has demonstrated the contribution of three types of percentages and ratios: ratios to link the cash flow statement with key related items appearing in the balance sheet; the expression of each item in the cash flow statement as a percentage of net cash flow from operating activities; and the calculation of ratios to explore the inter-relationship between items within the cash flow statement.
　　As usual, it should be noted that different ratios are expressed in different ways, as percentages, as multiples, or in pence, as well as in the classic form.
　　The interpretative value of individual ratios will depend upon the nature of the financial developments at a particular business. Given the content of Figure 1, for example, the cash flow per share (version I) ratio was not seen to possess any interpretative value and was not calculated. It is also the case that the messages conveyed by certain ratios may be similar for a particular company covering a particular year, but in a different time and place the same ratios may yield different insights.
　　Finally, one must remember the importance of not attaching too much weight to any single ratio but to use a representative range of ratios (including cash flow ratios!) to build up a meaningful business profile.