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Cash Flow Statement Analysis

Financial Statements & Reporting

Beginner15-20 minutes9 inputs
ClaudeChatGPTGemini

Quick Answer

Enter your cash flow figures by activity type, paste into Claude or ChatGPT, receive a professional cash flow analysis explaining the story behind the numbers.

What You Get

A professional cash flow analysis covering operating cash generation quality, investing activity explanation, financing cash movements, net cash position change, and forward cash outlook based on current trends.

Who Is This For

Business owners monitoring cash health, CFOs preparing board reporting, and founders explaining cash position to investors.

About This Template

Cash flow is the lifeblood of any business, but the cash flow statement is often the least understood of the three financial statements. This template takes your cash flow figures across operating, investing, and financing activities and uses AI to produce a professional narrative analysis explaining what drove cash movements, the quality of operating cash generation, and what the cash position means for business sustainability and growth capacity.

Fill In Your Details

1
Company NameRequired

Your company name

2
Reporting PeriodRequired

e.g. Q2 2026, June 2026

3
Operating Cash FlowRequired

e.g. 95000 (positive) or -45000 (negative)

4
Investing Cash FlowRequired

e.g. -120000

5
Financing Cash FlowRequired

e.g. 500000

6
Opening Cash BalanceRequired

e.g. 280000

7
Closing Cash BalanceRequired

e.g. 755000

8
Net Income for the PeriodRequired

e.g. 130000

9
Business Context

Any specific cash events β€” fundraise, major capex, large customer payment received

Gather these details then use them to fill in the prompt below.

AI Prompts

1

Generate cash flow analysis

Paste this prompt into Claude or ChatGPT with your figures filled in.

You are a CFO preparing a professional cash flow analysis for management and board review. Using the data below, write a clear analysis of the cash flow statement.

Company: [company_name]
Period: [period]
Operating cash flow: [operating_cash]
Investing cash flow: [investing_cash]
Financing cash flow: [financing_cash]
Opening cash: [opening_cash]
Closing cash: [closing_cash]
Net income: [net_income]
Context: [context]

Write a professional cash flow analysis covering:
1. Operating Cash Flow Quality β€” compare to net income, explain working capital movements
2. Investing Activity Analysis β€” what drove investing cash flows and why
3. Financing Activity Analysis β€” debt or equity movements and their implications
4. Net Cash Position β€” change from opening to closing and what drove it
5. Cash Health Assessment β€” is the cash generation sustainable, any concerns
6. Forward Outlook β€” what the current cash position implies for the next period

Calculate the cash conversion ratio (operating cash divided by net income) and comment on what it indicates about earnings quality.

Sample Output

This is an example of what AI produces when you use this template.

Operating Cash Flow Quality

Operating cash flow of $95,000 represents a cash conversion ratio of 0.73x relative to net income of $130,000. The ratio below 1.0x indicates that a portion of reported net income has not yet converted to cash, primarily due to accounts receivable growth as the business scales. This is a normal pattern for growing businesses and not a cause for concern at this ratio. As the AR balance stabilizes, operating cash conversion should improve toward or above 1.0x.

Cash Health Assessment

The closing cash balance of $755,000 represents approximately 8.9 months of operating expenses at the current run rate, providing a healthy liquidity buffer. The $500,000 financing inflow from the seed round accounts for the majority of the net cash increase. Stripping out the fundraise, the business generated $255,000 in net operating and investing cash β€” demonstrating meaningful organic cash generation at this stage.

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