By ALICIA TUOVILA

Reviewed by DAVID KINDNESS

Fact checked by SUZANNE KVILHAUG

编写人：ALICIA TUOVILA

审核人：DAVID KINDNESS

事实核查人：SUZANNE KVILHAUG

What Is Cash Flow From Operating Activities (CFO)?

什么是经营活动产生的现金流？

Cash flow from operating activities (CFO) indicates the amount of money a company brings in from its ongoing, regular business activities, such as manufacturing and selling goods or providing a service to customers. It is the first section depicted on a company's cash flow statement.

经营活动产生的现金流是指公司通过其正在进行的常规经营活动（比如，制造、销售货物，或向客户提供服务）获得的现金数额，在现金流量表第一部分列示。

Cash flow from operating activities does not include long-term capital expenditures or investment revenue and expense. CFO focuses only on the core business, and is also known as operating cash flow (OCF) or net cash from operating activities.

经营活动产生的现金流不包括长期资本支出或投资收益和支出。经营活动产生的现金流仅关注核心业务，也可以称为“经营现金流”或“经营活动产生的现金流净额”。

KEY TAKEAWAYS

关键要点

·Cash flow from operating activities is an important benchmark to determine the financial success of a company's core business activities.

经营活动产生的现金流是确定公司核心经营活动是否取得财务成功的重要参考指标。

·Cash flow from operating activities is the first section depicted on a cash flow statement, which also includes cash from investing and financing activities.

经营活动产生的现金流在现金流量表第一部分列示，此外，现金流量表还包括投资活动产生的现金流和融资活动产生的现金流。

·There are two methods for depicting cash from operating activities on a cash flow statement: the indirect method and the direct method.

公司在编制现金流量表时，列报经营活动产生的现金流的方法有两种：一种是间接法，一种是直接法。

·The indirect method begins with net income from the income statement then adds back noncash items to arrive at a cash basis figure.

间接法以损益表中的净利润为起点，然后反向添加非现金项目，转换为按照收付实现制计算出的经营活动产生的现金流净值。

·The direct method tracks all transactions in a period on a cash basis and uses actual cash inflows and outflows on the cash flow statement.

直接法按照收付实现制追踪某一期间的所有交易，在现金流量表列出当期实际发生的现金流入和现金流出各项目。

Understanding Cash Flow From Operating Activities (CFO)

了解经营活动产生的现金流

Cash flow forms one of the most important parts of business operations and accounts for the total amount of money being transferred into and out of a business. Since it affects the company's liquidity, it has significance for multiple reasons. It allows business owners and operators check where the money is coming from and going to, it helps them take steps to generate and maintain sufficient cash necessary for operational efficiency and other necessary needs, and it helps in making key and efficient financing decisions.

现金流是经营活动最重要的部分之一，表示企业转入和转出的现金总额。现金流会对公司资产流动性产生影响，因此，基于多重原因，具有重要意义。通过现金流，企业所有人和经营者可以核查现金的来源和去向，采取措施产生并维持运营效率和其他必要需求所需的充足现金，就融资作出关键且有效的决策。

The details about the cash flow of a company are available in its cash flow statement, which is part of a company's quarterly and annual reports. The cash flow from operating activities depicts the cash-generating abilities of a company's core business activities. It typically includes net income from the income statement and adjustments to modify net income from an accrual accounting basis to a cash accounting basis.

想要了解公司现金流的详细信息，可查阅相关现金流量表，公司季度报告和年报均会披露。经营活动产生的现金流体现的是公司核心经营活动产生现金的能力，通常包括损益表中的净利润和将以权责发生制为基础计算的净利润调整为以收付实现制为基础的经营活动产生的现金流净值。

Cash availability allows a business the option to expand, build and launch new products, buy back shares to affirm their strong financial position, pay out dividends to reward and bolster shareholder confidence, or reduce debt to save on interest payments. Investors attempt to look for companies whose share prices are lower and cash flow from operations is showing an upward trend over recent quarters. The disparity indicates that the company has increasing levels of cash flow which, if better utilized, can lead to higher share prices in near future.

现金可用性使企业可以选择拓展、开发和推出新产品，回购股票以证实其财务状况良好，支付股息增强股东信心，或减少债务以减少利息支出。投资者试图寻找的目标公司应具备以下特点：最近几个季度的股价较低，且经营活动产生的现金流呈上升趋势。这种差异表明该公司的现金流水平不断增加，如果能够更好地利用现金流，近期股价可能会上涨。

Positive (and increasing) cash flow from operating activities indicates that the core business activities of the company are thriving. It provides as additional measure/indicator of profitability potential of a company, in addition to the traditional ones like net income or EBITDA.

经营活动产生的正向（且不断增加的）现金流表明，公司的核心经营活动正在蓬勃发展。除了净利润或EBITDA等传统指标之外，现金流也可以作为衡量公司是否具有盈利潜力的标准/指标。

Types of Cash Flow from Operating Activities

经营活动产生的现金流的类型

The cash flow from operating activities section can be displayed on the cash flow statement in one of two ways.

公司在编制现金流量表时，可以使用下列其中一种方法列报经营活动产生的现金流：

Indirect Method

间接法

The first option is the indirect method, where the company begins with net income on an accrual accounting basis and works backwards to achieve a cash basis figure for the period. Under the accrual method of accounting, revenue is recognized when earned, not necessarily when cash is received.

第一种是间接法，以权责发生制计算的净利润为起点，通过逆向操作获得当期按照收付实现制计算出的经营活动产生的现金流净值。在权责发生制下，获得收入时（而并非收到现金时）确认收入。

For example, if a customer buys a $500 widget on credit, the sale has been made but the cash has not yet been received. The revenue is still recognized by the company in the month of the sale, and it shows up in net income on its income statement.

比如，客户赊购500美元的小装置，销售已完成，但尚未收到现金，公司仍会在销售当月确认收入，并在损益表的净利润中体现收入。

Therefore, net income was overstated by this amount on a cash basis. The offset to the $500 of revenue would appear in the accounts receivable line item on the balance sheet. On the cash flow statement, there would need to be a reduction from net income in the amount of the $500 increase to accounts receivable due to this sale. It would be displayed on the cash flow statement as "Increase in Accounts Receivable -$500."

因此，按照收付实现制计算，净利润被夸大了。在资产负债表中，应收账款项目会显示抵销500美元收入。在现金流量表中，需从净利润中减少因此次销售而增加的500美元应收账款，显示为“应收账款增加额-500美元”。

Direct Method

直接法

The second option is the direct method, in which a company records all transactions on a cash basis and displays the information on the cash flow statement using actual cash inflows and outflows during the accounting period.

第二种是直接法，即按照收付实现制记录交易，在现金流量表列出当期实际发生的现金流入和现金流出各项目。

Examples of the direct method of cash flows from operating activities include:

·Salaries paid out to employees

·Cash paid to vendors and suppliers

·Cash collected from customers

·Interest income and dividends received

·Income tax paid and interest paid

示例包括：

·支付给员工的工资

·支付给卖方和供应商的现金

·向客户收取的现金

·收到的利息收入和股息

·支付的所得税和利息

Example of Cash Flow from Operating Activities

经营活动产生的现金流的示例

Let’s look at the cash flow details of the leading technology company Apple Inc. (AAPL) for the fiscal year ended September 2018. The iPhone maker had a net income of $59.53 billion, Depreciation, Depletion, & Amortization of $10.9 billion, Deferred Taxes & Investment Tax Credit of -$32.59 billion, and Other Funds of $4.9 billion.

下面看一下Apple Inc.截至2018年9月止财年的现金流情况，净利润为595.3亿美元，折旧、损耗和摊销为109亿美元，递延所得税和投资税收抵免为-325.9亿美元，其他资金为49亿美元。

Following the first formula, the summation of these numbers brings the value for Fund from Operations as $42.74 billion. The net Change in Working Capital for the same period was $34.69 billion. Adding it to Fund from Operations gives the Cash Flow from Operating Activities for Apple as $77.43 billion.

根据第一种方法计算，营运资金为427.4亿美元，同期净营运资本的变动额为346.9亿美元，二者相加即可得出经营活动产生的现金流为774.3亿美元。

For the second method, summing up the available values from Yahoo! Finance portal that reports Apple's FY 2018 Net Income $59.531 billion, Depreciation $10.903 billion, Adjustments To Net Income -$27.694 billion, Changes In Accounts Receivables -$5.322 billion, Changes In Liabilities 9.131 billion, Changes In Inventories $.828 billion, and Changes In Other Operating Activities $30.057 billion gives the net CFO value as $77.434 billion.

雅虎财经显示，Apple 2018财年的净利润为595.31亿美元，折旧为109.03亿美元，净利润调整额为-276.94亿美元，应收账款变动额为-53.22亿美元，负债变动额为91.31亿美元，库存变动额为8.28亿美元，其他经营活动变动额为300.57亿美元，根据第二种方法计算，经营活动产生的现金流净额为774.34亿美元。

Both the methods yield the same value.

上述两种方法计算得出了相同结果。

Special Considerations

特殊注意事项

One must note that working capital is an important component of cash flow from operations, and companies can manipulate working capital by delaying the bill payments to suppliers, accelerating the collection of bills from customers, and delaying the purchase of inventory. All these measures allow a company to retain cash. Companies also have the liberty to set their own capitalization thresholds, which allow them to set the dollar amount at which a purchase qualifies as a capital expenditure.

需要注意的是，营运资本是经营活动产生的现金流的重要组成部分，公司可以通过延期向供应商支付账单、加速向客户收款、推迟购买库存等方式控制营运资本，保留现金。公司也可以自行设置资本化阈值，设定购买符合资本支出的美元金额。

Investors should be aware of these considerations when comparing the cash flow of different companies. Due to such flexibility where managers are able to manipulate these figures to a certain extent, the cash flow from operations is more commonly used for reviewing a single company's performance over two reporting periods, rather than comparing one company to another, even if the two belong in the same industry.

投资者在比较不同公司现金流的过程中应注意以下事项。管理人员在一定程度上能够控制经营活动产生的现金流，所以经营活动产生的现金流更常用于评估某一公司两个报告期内的业绩，而不是对两家公司进行比较，即使两家公司属于同一行业。