Unlike other financial statements, cash flow does not necessarily require filers to have a defined reporting format or fixed Period covered in reporting. Normally, companies filed Cash Flows with cumulative or year-end values for each account, and getting quarterly values means manual computation from cumulative values. This is a tricky and time-consuming process, particularly if you are comparing companies with different fiscal period end and inconsistent cash flow reporting format.

Here, we will give you an example of a company which filed Cumulative Cash Flows and how XBRLAnalyst automatically computes for the unreported periods. We will take the periodical cash flows of IBM.

First, we will go to Financial Explorer Tab and search company name or ticker – IBM.

Then scroll to the last tab “Financials”, and choose which metrics and periods should be included in our report. Here, we will only include [End of Period] and [Cash from Operations (CFO]. “Fiscal Period” shows you all available periods to choose from. But due to article’s analysis intent, we will take the values of all available periods.

By just checking each value’s “Annotation”, you can easily determine if its reported or calculated value. As exampled below, Q1 is reported value while Q2 is calculated value having symbol on calculation.

We will also do the same for 2014 reported values, because some LTM periods will include previous year’s data. Then, after identifying the reported values Q1, FY, Q3CUM and H1 as highlighted below, we will now analyze if calculations for other periods are correct.

Remaining periods – Q2, Q3, Q4 and some last twelve months calculations (LTM) were automatically calculated  by the system.  By analyzing the computations on this column, we can verify if all calculations are correct.  As exampled below, Q2 value = H1 (first half) – Q1 (first quarter). 

And lastly, the last two columns calculated the values by using XBRLFact and Finvalue functions to return XBRL data to spreadsheet.  You can verify reported values by right click and “Trace to XBRL Report”. Below template can be used to track periodic cash flows of any company by just changing the ticker.

This simple analysis proves that XBRLAnalyst not only offers timely data, but also convert these data into useful facts for easier and better financial analysis. Its robust system can calculate data relationships to provide information more than its users’ needs.  Try XBRLAnalyst now, and be amazed on how it can streamline your financial reports and analysis experience!

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