Operating cash flow is the net cash a company's operations brought in, or used, during a period. It starts from net income, adds back costs that used no cash (such as depreciation and stock-based compensation), and adjusts for changes in working capital: money tied up in inventory and receivables, or held back from suppliers.
How Listed shows it
As reported, under the XBRL concept NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities, or CashFlowsFromUsedInOperatingActivities for IFRS filers.
The cash flow statement in a 10-Q covers the year to date, not the quarter: the second-quarter 10-Q shows six months, the third shows nine. A three-month figure that a filing does not report directly is derived by subtraction, the same way as the fourth quarter:
Q2 = six months to date − Q1
Q3 = nine months to date − six months to date
Q4 = fiscal year − nine months to date
What to check
Operating cash flow and net income differ for good reasons, but a gap that keeps widening deserves a look. Growing receivables can mean sales are being booked faster than customers pay. Under US accounting rules, interest paid and income tax paid are inside operating cash flow; IFRS filers can choose where to put interest.
When it says "not reported"
- The company does not tag the figure, or uses a concept of its own.
- A quarterly figure needs a year-to-date figure that is missing from one of the filings.