Publications

September 1995 (Revised June 1996)
Background Note

Preparing and Using the Statement of Cash Flows

By: Robert L. Simons and Antonio Davila

Explains the concepts and procedures behind the statement of cash flows. Presents an overview of the reporting objectives of this report, and describes in detail the preparation of the cash flow statement using both the indirect method and the direct method. A complete... View Details

Keywords: Financial Statements; Cash Flow

October 1987 (Revised January 2013)
Background Note

Note on Free Cash Flow Valuation Models

By: William A. Sahlman

Explores some of the issues involved in valuing cash flow streams. A simple model is presented that reveals the effect on value of changing assumptions about the appropriate discount rate, the level of profitability, the growth rate of sales, the asset intensity ratio,... View Details

Keywords: Cash Flow; Valuation

October 1988 (Revised August 1989)
Background Note

Note on Within-Year Cash Flows

December 2002
Background Note

Simulation of Prices, Rates and Cash Flows (B)

Considers more advanced issues required for complete cash flow simulation, including residual diagnostics (to determine whether a process has been identified correctly), simulation of nonmarket risk variables, and real options. View Details

Keywords: Price; Cash Flow

December 1994 (Revised September 2012)
Background Note

Note on Valuing Equity Cash Flows

By: Timothy A. Luehrman

A technical note for advanced students on the topic of valuing highly-levered equity. Introduces the "equity cash flow" valuation methodology, shows how to use it, discusses the sources and signs of its built-in biases, and provides some guidance about when to use it. View Details

Keywords: Cash Flow; Equity; Valuation

April 2025 (Revised May 2025)
Background Note

Customer Acquisition and the Cash Flow Trap

By: E. Ofek, Barak Libai and Eitan Muller

Startups as well as existing firms recognize the need to invest in order to acquire customers for their new ventures. And as each customer is expected at some point to have generated sufficient gross margins to cover their CAC, management expects that, soon enough, the... View Details

March 2011
Case

Cash Flow Productivity at PepsiCo: Communicating Value to Retailers

PepsiCo developed a new metric that better measured the value added by Pepsi products than did gross margin, the traditional metric used by retailers to determine shelf space and promotional activity. The new metric, cash flow productivity, captured the value of... View Details

Keywords: Customer Relationship Management; Cash Flow; Measurement and Metrics; Distribution; Performance Productivity; Value Creation; Food and Beverage Industry; Retail Industry

July 2020 (Revised September 2020)
Case

Cash Flow Statements and Analysis

By: Paul Healy

October 23, 2003
Article

Avoiding Free Cash Flow Traps

By: David Hawkins

Keywords: Cash Flow

June 2002
Article

Assessing Operating Cash Flow Quality

By: David F. Hawkins

Keywords: Cash Flow; Quality

winter 1996
Article

The Market Pricing of Cash Flow Forecasts: Discounted Cash Flow vs. the Method of Comparables

By: S. N. Kaplan and R. S. Ruback

Keywords: Price; Cash Flow; Forecasting and Prediction

January 2020 (Revised December 2020)
Technical Note

The Cash Flow Curve in Startups

By: Stig Leschly

January 1989
Article

Decent Cash Flow Numbers at Last: Understanding and Using the New GAAP Cash Flow Statements

By: David F. Hawkins

September 1992 (Revised September 1992)
Case

Northrop Corporation: Statement of Cash Flow

June 2002
Background Note

Note on the Equivalency of Methods for Discounting Cash Flows

By: William E. Fruhan Jr.

Uses a numerical example to demonstrate that when you discount the cash flows to capital from a project at the weighted average cost of capital, you get same net present value result as you obtain when discounting the cash flows to equity at the cost of equity. Also... View Details

Keywords: Capital Structure; Cash Flow; Cost of Capital; Equity; Valuation

May 1995
Teaching Note

Note on Valuing Equity Cash Flows (TN)

By: Timothy A. Luehrman

Teaching Note for (9-295-085). View Details

Keywords: Cash Flow; Valuation; Equity; Prejudice and Bias

2000
Mimeo

Capital Cash Flows: A Simple Approach to Valuing Risky Cash Flows

By: R. S. Ruback

Keywords: Cash Flow; Capital; Valuation

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December 2002
Background Note

Simulation of Prices, Rates and Cash Flows (A)

Explicitly considers the most common propagation models for financial variables and explains how to determine the statistical properties of these variables and simulate their future values. Covers arithmetic Brownian motion, geometric Brownian motion, mean-reversion,... View Details

Keywords: Price; Cash Flow