28. Write a program to generate a statement of cash flows yourself. It isn’t as hard as you might think.

First set up the income statement and two balance sheets on the spreadsheet just as they appear in Problem 26. Let the amounts in individual accounts such as Cash, A/R, Revenue, COGS, Interest, and Tax be input items, and let the program calculate all the totals and subtotals such as Current Assets, Total Assets, Gross Margin, and Net Income.

Next take a different area of the spreadsheet and set up the changes in the current accounts and the statement of cash flows shown below.

Take all of the items shown in lowercase xxx’s from the statements in the first part of your spreadsheet. Some will be single items like net income and depreciation, but most will be differences between beginning and ending balances like the increase or decrease in long-term debt or the change in receivables. Finally, program the spreadsheet to add up the subtotals where the uppercase XXX’s appear and display the reconciliation.

The trickiest part is keeping the signs straight in your subtractions for sources and uses.

Once you have your program written, test it with the inputs to the CASHFLO program and see if you get the same results.