After studying cash flow data for 15 of the biggest publicly traded commercial banks, the Georgia Tech Financial Analysis Lab is looking to stir some debate on how to make the information more useful to investors.
“It’s generally agreed that the cash flow statement for banks is not a useful document,” said Chuck Mulford, director of the lab and an accounting professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology. “When you look at a bank, you look more at the book value and the quality of the loans, and you tend not to look at the cash flow statement. Yet banks are required to prepare a cash flow statement so there’s information there.”
