Understanding the cash flow statement

A cash flow statement splits a period’s cash in and out into operating, investing and financing activities.

Updated：2026-11-08

Three kinds of activities

• Operating activities: cash in and out from the core business, such as receiving payments from customers and paying suppliers and employees.
• Investing activities: buying and selling long-term assets and investments, such as buying plants and equipment (cash out) or selling investments (cash in).
• Financing activities: money moving between the company, shareholders and lenders, such as borrowing and repaying, issuing shares and paying cash dividends.

Add the three, plus the effect of exchange rates, and you get the change in cash and cash equivalents for the period.

What the signs mean

Cash in is positive and cash out is negative. A positive or negative sign alone does not tell you good or bad: negative investing cash flow often means the company is buying equipment, and negative financing cash flow may mean it is repaying debt or paying dividends. Look at the components and how they change over the years.

Difference from the income statement

The income statement recognizes revenue and expenses on an accrual basis, so earned revenue may not yet be received in cash; the cash flow statement tracks the cash that actually moved. A company can show a profit on paper while operating cash flow is negative, and then receivables and inventory are worth a look.

When reading

• This site shows cash flow by quarter. Quarterly reports originally give year-to-date totals, which we convert to single quarters.
• A financial company’s cash flow items differ from an ordinary company’s, so the chart may have no data.
• The numbers are the raw values the company announced as required. This site does not score or rate them.

Where to see it on this site

On a stock page, open the Financials tab and switch to Cash flow to see operating, investing and financing amounts by quarter.

This article only explains terms and how to read a statement. It is not investment advice.