Cash Flow Statement Discussion Board

Cash Flow Statement Discussion Board

Cash Flow Statement Discussion Board - Your Initial Thread Must Contain All 8 Items listed below for Full Credit

The first two videos are from Warren Buffets free investing website http://www.buffettsbooks.com. These two videos cover the Statement of Cash Flows. 

Videos 3 and 4 are much shorter but just as important. They contain very useful information for calculating and interpreting the Free Cash Flow required for your paper.



After viewing the videos, find Mattel's Statement of Cash Flows either online (I like http://money.msn.com/, where you just enter your stock symbol, click "Get Quote" and then choose "Cash Flow" which is the last item on the left) or in the uploaded annual report. For your initial discussion board post (a) answer the following six questions, (b) provide the table requested and (c) provide at least one paragraph as requested. Insert your company name as the thread title. Your initial post must contain all 8 items.

1 As noted in the Buffett videos, what year was the Cash Flow Statement first required?

2 As noted in the Buffett videos, which row of the Cash Flow Statement is the only section of the Cash Flow statement that has longevity?

3 As noted in the Buffett videos, which row of the Cash Flow Statement should be positive in a strong corporation?

4 As noted in the Buffett videos, which two rows of the Cash Flow Statement should be negative in a strong corporation?

5 Which four companies were discussed in the second Buffett video? Which two companies were strong? Which two companies were weak?

6 As noted in the Free Cash Flow videos, what are the ways that companies can influence their free cash flow?

7 Create a table with at least the three most recent years of Cash Flow data for Mattel (top part similar to the one presented for "Company A" in the Buffet video, bottom part similar to the one presented at the end of the Motley Fool video) as follows:

Year 3 Year 2 Year 1

Operating Activities your data your data your data

Investing Activities your data your data your data

Financing Activities your data your data your data

Net Change in Cash your data your data your data



Operating Activities your data your data your data

Capital Expeditures your data your data your data

Free Cash Flow your data your data your data

8 Using the insights presented in the videos and any other properly referenced sources, write at least one paragraph that discusses the overall trend assessment of Mattel's Statement of Cash Flows for the last three years. According to the Statement of Cash Flows, is Mattel performing well? Why or why not? 
Video Links

Video 1 “What is a Cash Flow Statement” is 18 minutes long and can be found at either of the following links. Copy and paste the link into a your web browser for viewing.

http://www.buffettsbooks.com/intelligent-investor/cash-flow-statement/what-is-cash-flow-statement.html



Video 2 “Cash Flow Statement Examples” is 12 minutes long and can be found at either of the following links. Copy and paste the link into a your web browser for viewing.

http://www.buffettsbooks.com/intelligent-investor/cash-flow-statement/how-to-read-cash-flow-statement.html



Video 3 is 3 minutes long and defines Free Cash Flow and can be found at either of the following links. Copy and paste the link into a your web browser for viewing. Pay particular attention to how Free Cash Flow can be manipulated by the corporation. 

http://www.investinganswers.com/financial-dictionary/financial-statement-analysis/free-cash-flow-1000



Video 4 is less than 2 minutes long and shows how to easily estimate Free Cash Flow. It can be found at either of the following links. Copy and paste the link into a your web browser for viewing.

http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2012/09/22/what-is-free-cash-flow.aspx