1. Repository for all documents: www.uwcentre.ac.cn/haut
Welcome to
ACF 201 and ACF 202
Lecturer:
Cynthia Fortin, CPA, CMA
Wechat: cynthia
Repository for all documents:

2. Accounting and Reporting on a
Chapter 1
Accounting and Reporting on a
Cash Flow Basis

3. By the end of this chapter, you should be able to:
explain how cash flow accounting satisfies the information needs of shareholders and managers;
prepare a cash budget;
explain the characteristics that makes cash flow data a reliable and fair representation;
critically discuss the use of cash flow accounting for predicting future dividends.

4. Managers tell the story of how well a company performed.
e.g. What happened in the company over the past period?
Help predict future cash flows
Report on how well Managers took care of the company assets (stewardship)

5. Accounting communicates
What?
Reliable and relevant financial information
How?
Via Financial statements
When?
Annual
Quarterly
Monthly
To whom?
Users
What kind of users?
Internal – Managers
External – Shareholders
Why?
Internal to control business and make decisions
External to evaluate how managers perform.

6. OWNS the COMPANY Has only some information Why?
Public information could help competitors
Directors make judgement calls
Regulated by:
IFRS
Company Act
Market regulations
e.g. LSE
How can Managers be trusted?
Rely on a clean audit report
Maintain confidence BOD

7. External users – Restricted information Quality of information
Tensions between investors’ needs and management’s
willingness to provide projections based on “best” estimates
General-purpose reports
Cannot provide detailed information for all user needs
Shareholders’ primary concern.
They are the owners and providers of economic resources

8. External users expect accountants
Technical expertise – IFRS compliance
Commercial awareness – substance over form e.g. that transactions should be accounted for and presented in accordance with their substance and economic reality and not merely their legal form.

9. Internal users – Accountants and Managers have:
Access to detailed financial budget/actual results
Have moral obligation to keep external investors fully informed on the nature of the business and events affecting business, profitability and financial stability
Companies operate on ‘need to know’ basis
managers only get the information they need
to carry out their responsibilities to the best of their abilities

10. Internal reports accountants’ skills
Able to provide reports specific to the needs; so,
they are a good basis for decisions
Skilled communicator (to tell the story)
Reports are clear and precise

11. Internal reports accountants’ skills
User confidence that reports are:
Relevant (to user’s needs)
Timely (only what happened in the period)
Objective (no judgement involved)
Verifiable (transactions have taken place)
Reliable (free from bias)
Complete (nothing missing, all transactions recorded)
Fair representations of what happened.

12. Steps when reporting to users.
Figure 1.1 General financial decision model to illustrate the user/accountant interface

13. Cash flow information is relevant
Why?
Forecast cash flows:
Capital investments
Business proposals
Confirms Actual cash flows:
Compares decision to invest to actual results
Why?
To managing working capital.
How much cash does a company need to operate on a daily basis?

14. Let’s illustrate
Mr Norman is considering whether to start up a retail business by acquiring the lease of a shop for five years at a cost of £80,000.
Mr Norman is a profit satisficer who is looking to achieve at least a 10% return, which represents the time value of money.
Cash to be invested in the lease is £80,000 and that the realised operating cash flows over the life of the investment in the shop are as shown in Figure 1.4.
This shows that there is a forecast of £30,000 annually for five years and a final receipt of £29,000 in 20X6 when he proposes to cease trading.

15. Forecast of realised operating cash flows
Cash in
Cash out
Figure 1.4 Forecast of realised operating cash flows

16. llustration of cash-based statements
Initial investment appraisal
NPV of cash flows – criterion is positive NPV at 10%
Investment data
Capital outlay 80,000 (cost of lease)
Forecast income 30,000 annually for 5 years
Final receipt 29,000 in year 6.

17. Illustration – NPV calculation
Figure 1.5 NPV calculation using discount tables
NPV tables.docx

18. we will prepare half-yearly accounts for Mr Norman – Cash budget
Figure 1.6 Forecast of realised operating cash flows

19. We assume that, having applied the net present value appraisal technique to the cash flows and ascertained that the NPV was positive, Mr Norman proceeded to set up the business on 1 January 20X1.
He introduced capital of £50,000, acquired a five-year lease for £80,000 and paid £6,250 in advance as rent to occupy the property to 31 December 20X1.
He has decided to prepare financial statements at half-yearly intervals. The information given in Figure 1.7 concerns his trading for the half-year to 30 June 20X1.

20. Illustration – first 6 months actual cash flows for monthly sales
Figure 1.7 Monthly sales, purchases and expenses for 6 months ended 30 June 20X1

21. Illustration – realised operating cash flows
Figure 1.8 Monthly realised operating cash flows

22. Illustration – realised operating cash flows for first 6 months
Figure 1.9 Realised operating cash flows for the 6 months ended 30 June 20X1

23. The figure of £15,650 needs to be compared with the forecast cash flows used in the investment appraisal. This is a form of auditing.
It allows the assumptions made on the initial investment decision to be confirmed.
The forecast/actual comparison (based on the information in Figures 1.6 and 1.9) is set out in Figure 1.10

24. Illustration – budget/actual comparison
Figure Forecast/actual comparison

25. What characteristics make this data relevant?
Objective (no judgement)
Consistent (between forecast and actual)
Confirmatory (helping users confirm or correct their past assessments)
Predictive (provide a basis for revising the initial forecasts)
Accounting standards only required when judgements have to be made – Eg. estimating bad and doubtful debts
Cash based; so, no need for IFRSs.

26. Statement of financial position under cash flow concept needed as:
Basis to assess stewardship
The accounting system records all transactions
Includes capital cash flows
Preparation of a statement of financial position
Basis to evaluate working capital policies.

27. Characteristics that make data
Prudence
Reasonable, but NOT excessive
Neutrality
Present best picture for business, but not a misleading one
Completeness adequate internal control procedures in operation.
Faithful representation Cash flows can be depended upon by users to represent faithfully what they purport to represent provided, of course, that the completeness characteristic has been satisfied.
Substance over form Cash flow accounting does not necessarily possess this characteristic which requires that transactions should be accounted for and presented in accordance with their substance and economic reality and not merely their legal form.

28. Summary – cash flow accounting
How useful is it for internal decision-making?
Forecast CFs are relevant for investment appraisal
Actual CFs are relevant for confirmation of the investment decision
Both forecast and actual CFs are relevant for working capital management

29. Summary – cash flow accounting
How useful is it for making management accountable?
Realised cash flows are useful for capital investment decision and monitoring
Note that unrealised cash flows are also necessary for stewardship purposes.

30. Summary – cash flow accounting
How useful is it for external reporting?
Relevant for stewardship and accountability
Reliable
Objective
Consistent
Prudent
Neutral.

31. Reference Elliott, Barry, Elliott Jamie,
Financial Accounting and Reporting
18th Edition chapter 1