by Uses of Funds Flow Statement:
By highlighting the changes in the distribution of the resources of an undertaking, the funds flow statement enables the financial manager to have a clear perspective of the organization’s financial strengths and weaknesses. It provides answers to a number of difficult questions.
(a) It explains the financial consequences of business operations. For example, a business may be earning huge profits, but its liquidity position would be highly unsatisfactory.
The funds statement will explain the causes for such situation by showing what has become of the profits earned. Further, the statement would explain the direction of flow of funds into productive or non-productive activities.
When a balance sheet presents a distorted picture of an undertaking because of a number of non-fund transactions, the funds statement would be an illuminating document.
(b) Debt capital is very essential for increased profitability of any enterprise. But the creditors may like to ascertain the credit worthiness and the funds generating capacity of the organization.
They may like to know in what way the management has utilized the funds in the past and how the funds would be utilized in future. The funds flow statement would enable the finance manager to answer such questions in a befitting manner.
(c) It acts as an instrument for allocation of the company’s scarce resources. A proposed funds statement will help to find out how the management is going to allocate the resources for meeting future productive programmes of the business.
When the projected funds statement is tied to the capital budget, it will help management to maintain the financial health of the organization.
(d) It is a test for evaluating the effective use of working capital by the management. Information on the adequacy or inadequacy of working capital will enable the management to decide what possible steps it should take for effective use of surplus working capital, or in the case of inadequate working capital to make suitable arrangements to make up the deficiency.
Limitations of Funds Flow Statement:
Despite its multiple managerial uses, the funds flow statements suffer from certain limitations.
- As this statement ignores non-fund items, it becomes a crude device compared to the income statement and balance sheet.
- The statement does not reveal shifts among the items making up the current assets and current liabilities. It does not tell whether any loss of working capital has unduly weakened the financial position.
Only an examination of the balance sheet at the end of the period will show the end of these changes. Therefore, funds flow statement cannot supplant but only supplement the conventional financial statements, either in whole or in part.
- The information used for the preparation of funds flow statement is essentially historical in nature, though attempts are made to project the funds statement for the future period.
Despite these limitations, the information supplied by the funds flow statement is really an invaluable aid to management in planning capital expenditure, devising dividend and other financial policies.
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