現(xiàn)金流量是一個(gè)事實(shí)凈收益只是一個(gè)觀點(diǎn)[外文翻譯]

1、本科畢業(yè)論文（設(shè)計(jì)）外 文 翻 譯原文：cash flow is a fact. net income is just an opinionnet income is just an opinion, but cash flow is a fact there is a financial and accounting maxim which, although it is not absolutely true, comes very close to it and which it is a good idea to remember: “net income is just an opi

2、nion, but cash flow is a fact”.still today, many analysts view net income as the key and only truly valid parameter for describing how a company is doing. according to this simple approach, if the net income increases, the company is doing better; if the net income falls, the company is doing worse.

3、 it is commonly said that a company that showed a higher net income last year “generated more wealth” for its shareholders than another company with a lower net income. also, following the same logic, a company that has a positive net income creates value and a company that has losses destroys value

4、. well, all these statements can be wrong.other analysts “refine” net income and calculate the so-called “accounting cash flow”, adding depreciation to the net income1. they then make the same remarks as in the previous paragraph but referring to “cash flow” instead of net income. of course, these s

5、tatements too may be wrong.the classic definition of net income (revenues for a period less the expenses that enabled these revenues to be obtained during that period), in spite of its conceptual simplicity, is based on a series of premises that seek to identify which expenses were necessary to obta

6、in these revenues. this is not always a simple task and often implies accepting a number of assumptions. issues such as the scheduling of expense accruals, the treatment of depreciation, calculating the products cost, allowances for bad debts, etc., seek to identify in the best possible manner the q

7、uantity of resources that it was necessary to sacrifice in order to obtain the revenues. although this “indicator”, once we have accepted the premises used, can give us adequate information about how a company is doing, the figure obtained for the net income is often used without full knowledge of t

8、hese hypotheses, which often leads to confusion.another possibility is to use an objective measure, which is not subject to any individual criterion. this is the difference between cash inflows and cash outflows, called cash flow in the strict sense: the money that has come into the company less the

9、 money that has gone out of it. two definitions of cash flow in the strict sense are used: equity cash flow and free cash flow. also, the so-called capital cash flow is used. generally speaking, it can be said that a company is doing better and “generates wealth” for its shareholders when the cash f

10、lows improve. in the following section, we will take a closer look at the definitions of these cash flows.accounting cash flow, equity cash flow, free cash flow and capital cash flowalthough the financial press often gives the following definition for accounting cash flow:accounting cash flow = prof

11、it after tax (pat) + depreciation we will use three different definitions of cash flow: equity cash flow (ecf), free cash flow (fcf) and capital cash flow (ccf).equity cash flow (ecf) is the money that remains available in the company after tax, after having covered capital investment requirements a

12、nd the increase in working capital requirements（wcr), after having paid financial expenses, after having repaid the debts principal, and after having received new debt.the ecf represents the cash available in the company for its shareholders, which shall be used for dividends or share repurchases. t

13、he equity cash flow in a period is simply the difference between cash inflow and cash outflow in that period.equity cash flow = cash inflows - cash outflows in a periodwhen making forecasts, the forecast equity cash flow in a period must be equal to forecast dividends plus share repurchases in that

14、period.free cash flow (fcf) is the cash flow generated by operations after tax, without taking into account the companys debt level, that is, without subtracting the companys interest expenses. it is, therefore, the cash that remains available in the company after having covered capital investment r

15、equirements and working capital requirements, assuming that there is no debt.the fcf is the companys ecf assuming that it has no debt. free cash flow = equity cash flow if the company has no debtit is often said that the fcf represents the cash generated by the company for the providers of funds, th

16、at is, shareholders and debt holders. this is not true, the parameter that represents the cash generated by the company for its shareholders and debt holders is the capital cash flow.capital cash flow (ccf) is the cash flow available for debt holders plus the equity cash flow. the cash flow for debt

17、 holders consists of the sum of the interest payments plus repayment of the principal (or less the increase in the principal).capital cash flow = equity cash flow + debt cash flowcalculating the cash flowsequity cash flow (ecf) corresponds to the concept of cash flow. the ecf in a period is the diff

18、erence between all cash inflows and all cash outflows in that period. consequently, the ecf is calculated as follows: profit after tax (pat) + depreciation and amortization - increase in wcr (working capital requirements) - principal payments of financial debt + increase in financial debt - increase

19、 in other assets - gross investment in fixed assets + book value of disposals and sold fixed assets ecf (equity cash flow)the ecf in a period is the increase in cash (above the minimum cash, whose increase is included in the increase in wcr) during that period, before dividend payments, share repurc

20、hases and capital increases.the free cash flow (fcf) is equal to the hypothetical equity cash flow that the company would have had if it had no debt on the liabilities side of its balance sheet. consequently, in order to calculate the fcf from the net income, the following operations must be perform

21、ed:profit after tax (pat) + depreciation and amortization - increase in wcr (working capital requirements) - increase in other assets - gross investment in fixed assets + interest (1-t) + book value of disposals and sold fixed assets fcf (free cash flow)taking into account the above two calculations

22、, it can be seen that, in the case of perpetuity, the relationship between ecf and fcf is the following:fcf = ecf + i (1-t) - dif the company has no debt in its liabilities, ecf and fcf are the same.the capital cash flow (ccf) is the cash flow available for all debt and equity holders. it is the equ

23、ity cash flow (ecf) plus the cash flow corresponding to the debt holders (cfd), which is equal to the interest received by the debt (i) less the increase in the debts principal (d).ccf = ecf + cfd = ecf + i - d when is profit after tax a cash flow?using the formula that relates profit after tax with

24、 the equity cash flow, we can deduce that the profit after tax (pat) is the same as the equity cash flow when the addends of the following equality, which have different signs, cancel out. equity cash flow =profit after tax (pat) + depreciation and amortization - increase in wcr (working capital req

25、uirements) - principal payments of financial debt + increase in financial debt - increase in other assets - gross investment in fixed assets + book value of disposals and sold fixed assetsa particularly interesting case in which this happens is when the company is not growing (and therefore its cust

26、omer, stock and supplier accounts remain constant), buys fixed assets for an amount identical to depreciation, keeps debt constant and only writes off or sells fully depreciated assets. another case is that of a company which collects from its customers in cash, pays in cash to its suppliers, holds

27、no stocks (these three conditions can be summarized as this companys working capital requirements being zero), and buys fixed assets for an amount identical to depreciation.when is the accounting cash flow a cash flow?following the reasoning of the previous section, the accounting cash flow is equal

28、 to the equity cash flow in the case of a company that is not growing (and keeps its customer, stock and supplier accounts constant), keeps debt constant, only writes off or sells fully depreciated assets, and does not buy fixed assets. also in the case of a company that collects from its customers

29、in cash, pays in cash to its suppliers, holds no stock (this companys working capital requirements are zero), and does not buy fixed assets.is cash flow more useful than net income? this question cannot be answered if we have not defined beforehand who the recipient of this information is and what i

30、t is sought to find out by analyzing the information. also, both parameters come from the same accounting statements. but, as a general rule, yes: the reported net income is one among several that can be given (one opinion among many), while the equity cash flow or free cash flow is a fact: a single

31、 figure.equity cash flow and dividendswe have already said that when making projections, the equity cash flow must be equal to the forecast dividends. when making projections, the forecast dividends must be exactly equal to the equity cash flow. otherwise, we will be making hypotheses about what use

32、 is given to the part of the equity cash flow that is not to be used for dividends (cash, investments, repaying debt) and it will be necessary to subtract it beforehand from the equity cash flow.distributing dividends in the form of shares is not stated as a cash flow because it isnt. the shareholde

33、r that receives new shares has more shares with a lower value, but the same total value.attention to the accounting and the managing of net incomewhen analyzing accounting statements, which are used by most listed companies, it is important to consider the accounting standards the techniques used by

34、 the firm. the most important are: recognition of revenues. some firms recognize revenues too early and others too late: companies have some degrees of freedom to recognize revenues. capitalizing expenses. companies may make payments that do not appear in the income statement but are entered directl

35、y as an increase in assets (capitalized). for example, oil companies capitalize exploration costs; electric utilities capitalize interest expense use of accrual and reserves. firms may build up accruals and reserves for court settlements, consumers demands, bad debts, and other potential losses and

36、expected payments. however, many firms build up excess accruals and reserves in good years to use this excess in bad years. by doing that, companies smooth-out net income. extraordinary profits from investments. many firms hold in their balance sheets marketable securities valued below their market

37、values and sell these investments in bad years to smooth-out net income. passive consolidation. the shares purchased are entered in the assets at purchase cost, the dividends received are entered as financial income, and the proceeds of the sale of the shares are entered as extraordinary income. in

38、addition, a provision must be made for future losses, including potential losses. in order to calculate the provisions, the reference taken must be the shares price on the stock market. equity method. recommended for holdings between 20%-50% in unlisted companies and 3%-5% in listed companies. the s

39、hares purchased are entered in the assets at purchase cost (distributed between the shares book value and goodwill); the corresponding percentage of the net income appears in the income statement (the balancing entry in the investment); the dividends received are entered as a decrease in the investm

40、ent; and the proceeds of the sale of the shares are entered as extraordinary income. the goodwill generated in the purchase (difference between the shares purchase value and book value) is depreciated over 20 years. overall consolidation. in this case, the income statements and the balance sheets ar

41、e added together, eliminating the accounting operations that start and end within the group. if the company is not fully-owned, the percentage of the net income corresponding to outside partners is deducted in the income statement. on the liabilities side, the quantity of shareholders equity corresp

42、onding to outside partners, also called minority holdings, is also indicated.it is important to adequately analyze consolidation in order to correctly calculate the cash flows generated by the company. to calculate the cash flows in the case of overall consolidation, each company must be analyzed se

43、parately.source: pablo fernndez, 2002. “cash flow is a fact. net income is just an opinion” .academic press, september.pp.1-13.譯文：現(xiàn)金流量是一個(gè)事實(shí)，凈收益只是一個(gè)觀點(diǎn)凈收益只是一個(gè)觀點(diǎn)，但現(xiàn)金流量是一個(gè)事實(shí)在財(cái)務(wù)會(huì)計(jì)上有一句格言，雖然不是絕對(duì)正確，但它非常貼近現(xiàn)實(shí)，并且是一個(gè)值得記住的好主意：“凈收益只是一個(gè)觀點(diǎn)，但現(xiàn)金流量是事實(shí)。”直到今天，許多分析人士認(rèn)為，凈收益是一個(gè)公司經(jīng)營(yíng)得如何的關(guān)鍵和有效參數(shù)。根據(jù)這個(gè)簡(jiǎn)單的方法，如果凈收益增加，則公司做得更好；如果凈收

44、益減少，則凈收益做得更糟。通常所說，一個(gè)去年表現(xiàn)出較高凈收益的公司比另一個(gè)表現(xiàn)出較低凈收益的公司，為它的股東“創(chuàng)造了更多的財(cái)富”。同樣地，按照相同的邏輯，一家有著正凈收益的公司創(chuàng)造價(jià)值，而一家虧損的公司損壞價(jià)值。使得，這些陳述可能是錯(cuò)誤的。另一些分析人士“改進(jìn)”凈收益，計(jì)算所謂的“會(huì)計(jì)現(xiàn)金流量”，在凈收益中加入了折舊。然后，他們做出和前面段落中提到的相同的評(píng)論，但是涉及了“現(xiàn)金流量”來代替凈收益。當(dāng)然，這些陳述也可能是錯(cuò)誤的。經(jīng)典的凈收益的定義（一個(gè)經(jīng)營(yíng)期的收入減去使這些收入在此經(jīng)營(yíng)期獲得的費(fèi)用），盡管概念簡(jiǎn)單，但是，是基于設(shè)法確定哪些費(fèi)用是取得這些收入所必須的這一系列前提下的。這并不是一個(gè)簡(jiǎn)

45、單的任務(wù)，往往意味著接受若干假設(shè)。爭(zhēng)點(diǎn)如預(yù)提費(fèi)用的調(diào)度，折舊的處理，產(chǎn)品成本的計(jì)算，壞賬準(zhǔn)備的計(jì)提等，以最好的方式，尋求確定獲得收入而必要的犧牲資源數(shù)量。盡管這個(gè)“指標(biāo)”，一旦我們接受了習(xí)慣的前提，可以給我們充足的信息了解公司經(jīng)營(yíng)得如何，但是凈收益數(shù)字的取得往往沒有這些前提假設(shè)，這往往導(dǎo)致混亂。另一種可能性是使用客觀的衡量，而不受任何個(gè)人準(zhǔn)則的限制。這就是現(xiàn)金流入與現(xiàn)金流出的差額，即所謂的嚴(yán)格意義上的現(xiàn)金流量：已經(jīng)到公司的錢減去已經(jīng)從公司流出的錢。兩種嚴(yán)格意義上的現(xiàn)金流量定義正在使用：股權(quán)現(xiàn)金流和自由現(xiàn)金流。一般來說，當(dāng)一個(gè)公司的現(xiàn)金流量改善，就可以說這個(gè)公司做得好，為它的股東“創(chuàng)造價(jià)值”了。

46、在下面的章節(jié)中，我們將進(jìn)一步研究現(xiàn)金流量的這些定義。會(huì)計(jì)現(xiàn)金流量，股權(quán)現(xiàn)金流量，自由現(xiàn)金流量和資本現(xiàn)金流量盡管金融媒體經(jīng)常給出會(huì)計(jì)現(xiàn)金流量的定義如下：會(huì)計(jì)現(xiàn)金流量=稅后利潤(rùn)（pat）+折舊我們將使用三種不同的現(xiàn)金流量定義：股權(quán)現(xiàn)金流量（ecf），自由現(xiàn)金流量（fcf）和資本現(xiàn)金流量（ccf）。股權(quán)現(xiàn)金流量是指扣除所得稅，滿足資本投資需要和營(yíng)運(yùn)資金增長(zhǎng)的需求，償還債務(wù)利息，償還負(fù)債資本，取得新負(fù)債后留在公司可使用的錢。股權(quán)現(xiàn)金流量表示這些現(xiàn)金可以被股東支配，用于發(fā)放股利或者股票回購(gòu)。一個(gè)經(jīng)營(yíng)期內(nèi)的股權(quán)現(xiàn)金流量，就是一個(gè)經(jīng)營(yíng)期內(nèi)現(xiàn)金流入與現(xiàn)金流出的差額。股權(quán)現(xiàn)金流量=一個(gè)時(shí)期的現(xiàn)金流入 現(xiàn)金流出在

47、作預(yù)測(cè)時(shí)，一個(gè)時(shí)期內(nèi)的預(yù)期股權(quán)現(xiàn)金流量必須等于一個(gè)時(shí)期內(nèi)預(yù)期的股利加上股票回購(gòu)額。自由現(xiàn)金流量（fcf）是由經(jīng)營(yíng)活動(dòng)產(chǎn)生的稅后現(xiàn)金流量，沒有把公司的負(fù)債水平考慮進(jìn)去，也就是沒有扣掉公司的利息費(fèi)用。也就是說，已經(jīng)滿足資本投資的需要和營(yíng)業(yè)資本的需求后留在公司的可利用的現(xiàn)金，假設(shè)沒有負(fù)債。自由現(xiàn)金流量是假設(shè)沒有負(fù)債時(shí)該公司的股權(quán)現(xiàn)金流量。自由現(xiàn)金流量=股權(quán)現(xiàn)金流量，如果該公司沒有負(fù)債我們通常說，自由現(xiàn)金流量代表由公司生成的屬于資金提供者的現(xiàn)金，即股東和債權(quán)人。這是不正確的，代表由公司生成的屬于股東和債權(quán)人的現(xiàn)金流量的參數(shù)是資本現(xiàn)金流量。資本現(xiàn)金流量是債權(quán)人可利用的現(xiàn)金流量加上股權(quán)現(xiàn)金流量。債權(quán)人的現(xiàn)

48、金流量包括支付的利息加上本金償還款項(xiàng)（或減去增加的本金）。資本現(xiàn)金流量=股權(quán)現(xiàn)金流量+債務(wù)現(xiàn)金流量計(jì)算現(xiàn)金流量股權(quán)現(xiàn)金流量（ecf）對(duì)應(yīng)現(xiàn)金流的概念。一個(gè)經(jīng)營(yíng)期內(nèi)的自由現(xiàn)金流量就是這個(gè)經(jīng)營(yíng)期內(nèi)所有流入現(xiàn)金流量與所有流出現(xiàn)金流量的差額。因此，自由現(xiàn)金流量的計(jì)算方法如下： 稅后利潤(rùn) + 折舊及攤銷- 增加的wcr（營(yíng)運(yùn)資金需求）- 金融債務(wù)本金的支付 + 增加的金融債務(wù)- 增加的其他資產(chǎn)- 固定資產(chǎn)投資總額+ 出售的固定資產(chǎn)賬面價(jià)值ecf（股權(quán)現(xiàn)金流量）一個(gè)時(shí)期內(nèi)的股權(quán)現(xiàn)金流量是這個(gè)時(shí)期內(nèi)在現(xiàn)金股利支付、股票回購(gòu)和資本增加之前所增加的現(xiàn)金（高于最低現(xiàn)金，現(xiàn)金的增加已包含于營(yíng)運(yùn)資金的增加）。自由現(xiàn)金

49、流量等于假設(shè)狀態(tài)下的股權(quán)現(xiàn)金流量，假設(shè)公司的資產(chǎn)負(fù)債表的負(fù)債列沒有負(fù)債。因此，為了計(jì)算從凈收益角度計(jì)算自由現(xiàn)金流量，必須執(zhí)行以下操作： 稅后利潤(rùn)（pat） + 折舊及攤銷- 增加的wcr（營(yíng)運(yùn)資金需求）- 增加的其他資產(chǎn)- 固定資產(chǎn)投資總額+ 利息（抵稅后的）+ 出售的固定資產(chǎn)賬面價(jià)值fcf（自由現(xiàn)金流量）根據(jù)上述兩個(gè)計(jì)算公式，可以看出，股權(quán)現(xiàn)金流量（ecf）和自由現(xiàn)金流量（fcf）有以下永久的關(guān)系：fcf = ecf + i (1-t) - d如果公司在負(fù)債列沒有負(fù)債，那么股權(quán)現(xiàn)金流量（ecf）和自由現(xiàn)金流量（fcf）是相同的。資本現(xiàn)金流量（ccf）是所有債權(quán)和股權(quán)持有人共同可用的現(xiàn)金流量。它等于股權(quán)現(xiàn)金流量（ecf）加上與債權(quán)人所對(duì)應(yīng)的現(xiàn)金流量（cfd）。與債權(quán)人所對(duì)應(yīng)的現(xiàn)金流量（cfd）等于因債務(wù)所收到的利息減去債務(wù)的本金（d）。ccf = ecf + cfd = ecf + i - d什么時(shí)候的稅后利潤(rùn)是實(shí)際現(xiàn)金流？ 使用涉及稅后利潤(rùn)的股權(quán)現(xiàn)金流量公式，我們可以推斷出，當(dāng)下面等式中的前面有加減號(hào)