Improvements of the Cash Flow Statement Control Function in Financial Reporting

On the basis of deductive considerations applying professional judgement, the article focuses on the additional value of accounting information that can be given to the users of financial statements by a properly prepared statement of cash flows. It is based on the finding that the professional literature is inconsistent in distinguishing liquidity and profitability information, and consequently also in distinguishing between the ratios calculated on that basis. It therefore stimulates an improvement in the quality of accounting information with a direct statement of cash flows, based on tracing instead of calculating the actual cash flow. On the basis of financial statements, including a direct statement of cash flows, the ratio analysis of financial statements should be approached from both aspects of profitability and cash return. The cash flow ratios would serve as a control mechanism over the assumptions used when preparing the balance sheet and income statement within the chosen financial reporting framework