What is a cash flow statement?

A report that explains how the cash balance changed over a period, split into operating activities (running the business), investing activities (buying and selling long-term assets) and financing activities (loans and owner's money). It's also called a statement of cash flows.

Is the cash flow statement template free?

Yes. Download the .xlsx with no sign-up or email address. It has a blank indirect-method cash flow statement, a filled-in example and instructions, and it works in Excel, Google Sheets (File, Import), LibreOffice and Numbers.

Does the template have formulas?

Yes. The cash effect of each working capital change, net cash from operating, investing and financing activities, the net change in cash, the calculated ending cash, the tie-out difference, free cash flow and operating cash to net income all calculate. You type net income, depreciation, the start and end balances and the investing and financing amounts.

Why is my cash flow different from my profit?

Profit counts income when it's earned and expenses when they're incurred; cash counts money when it moves. Customers who haven't paid, costs paid in advance, equipment purchases, loan principal and owner's draws all move cash without changing profit the same way. The cash flow statement lists each one.

What's the difference between the direct and indirect method?

Only the operating section differs. The indirect method starts from net income and adjusts it; the direct method lists cash received from customers and cash paid out. Net cash from operating activities is the same either way, and both are allowed under US GAAP and IFRS.

Why doesn't my cash flow statement tie out?

Usually a working capital balance typed the wrong way round, depreciation left out, a balance sheet account that changed but isn't on any line, or a draw or loan repayment entered as positive. The template's status line shows the difference so you can match it to one of these.

Cash Flow Statement Template for Excel (Free)

A cash flow statement explains why the cash in the bank changed over a period, split into operating, investing and financing activities. It's the report that answers "we made a profit, so where's the money?" This free Excel template uses the indirect method small businesses and their accountants use most: start from net income, add back depreciation, type each working capital account's balance at the start and end of the period, and the template works out the signs, the totals and a check that beginning cash plus the net change equals the cash you actually have. Below: what's in the file, the format line by line, a worked example that ties to our trial balance, profit and loss and balance sheet templates, how to read it, and what to look for when it doesn't tie out.

Short answer: download the cash flow statement template (.xlsx). Enter the period's net income and depreciation, the start and end balances of receivables, prepaid expenses, payables, the card and tax accounts, then fixed asset purchases, loan repayments and owner's draws as negative numbers. Net cash from operating, investing and financing activities, the net change in cash and a Ties out check calculate, with formulas. The Example is a fictional design studio from January 1 to September 30, 2026: net income of 63,767.12 turns into 57,492.13 of operating cash, and after -2,800.00 of investing and -39,000.00 of financing, cash rises by 15,692.13, from 23,048.39 to 38,740.52, exactly the change on our balance sheet template's example.

Download the free cash flow statement template (.xlsx)

Three sheets: a blank Cash flow statement (indirect method), a filled-in Example and How to use. Working capital lines take the balance at the start and end of the period and calculate the cash effect, so you don't have to remember which way the sign goes. It uses only SUM, COUNT, ROUND, IF, AND, N, ABS and TEXT, so it works in Excel, Google Sheets (File, Import), LibreOffice and Numbers. No sign-up, no email, no macros. It prints on one page width.

Download template (.xlsx)See the worked example

Next: fill it from your bank statement

Opening and closing cash come from your bank statements, and so does every receipt and payment between them. Drop the PDF into Utilly and get every transaction as Excel rows (date, description, amount) to paste in, checked against the statement's opening and closing balance. Free preview, no sign-up.

Convert my statement

On this page

What's in the template
The cash flow statement format, line by line
Worked example: a design studio, January to September
Reading it: why cash rose less than profit
How to prepare a cash flow statement, step by step
Indirect vs direct method
When the cash flow statement doesn't tie out
Cash flow statement vs cash flow forecast
FAQ

1. What's in the template

Header: the business name and the period start and end dates (a month, a quarter or the year to date).
Operating activities: net income, three lines for non-cash items (depreciation and amortization, from a depreciation schedule; loss or gain on sale of assets, other), then the working capital accounts: accounts receivable, inventory, prepaid expenses, accounts payable, the business credit card, sales tax payable, payroll liabilities, and a spare line for another current asset and current liability. Account names match our chart of accounts template.
Investing activities: fixed assets bought, cash from fixed assets sold, other.
Financing activities: loan proceeds, loan principal repaid, line of credit, owner's investment, owner's draws, other.
Totals: net cash from each activity, the net change in cash, and the calculated ending cash.
Checks and key figures (top right): the difference between the calculated and actual ending cash, net cash from operating activities, free cash flow and operating cash ÷ net income, and a status line: Ties out: beginning cash + net change = ending cash (38,740.52) or Off by ....

Yellow cells are inputs. Rename any line. Everything else is a formula.

2. The cash flow statement format, line by line

Section	What goes in it	Where the number comes from
Net income (loss)	The period's profit, the starting point of the indirect method	The profit and loss statement for the same period
Non-cash items	Expenses that didn't use cash, added back: depreciation, amortization, a loss on selling an asset (a gain is subtracted)	The P&L, or the change in accumulated depreciation
Changes in working capital	An asset that went up used cash (customers owe more, insurance paid ahead); a liability that went up kept cash in (bills not yet paid)	The start and end balance sheets
Investing activities	Buying or selling equipment, vehicles, property and other long-term assets	Fixed asset accounts in the general ledger or the balance sheet change
Financing activities	Loans received and principal repaid, a line of credit, money the owners put in or took out	Loan statements, equity accounts
Net change in cash	Operating + investing + financing; it must equal ending cash minus beginning cash	Bank, savings and petty cash balances at both dates

The template keeps the business credit card in operating activities, because it's used to pay operating expenses and paying the card off just settles them. A line of credit used for funding goes under financing. Loan interest is already in net income, so only the principal is a financing line. That's the US GAAP treatment (interest paid is an operating cash flow); IFRS lets a business choose.

3. Worked example: a design studio, January to September

The Example sheet is the fictional design studio from our trial balance, profit and loss and balance sheet templates. Net income is the P&L example's January 1 to September 30, 2026 result; each working capital line is the balance sheet example's December 31, 2025 and September 30, 2026 balances.

Line	Start	End	Cash in (out)
Operating activities
Net income			63,767.12
Depreciation			1,250.00
Accounts receivable	14,200.00	22,050.00	-7,850.00
Prepaid expenses		2,000.00	-2,000.00
Accounts payable	3,120.40	4,412.20	1,291.80
Business credit card	2,486.17	3,214.56	728.39
Sales tax payable	940.55	1,167.29	226.74
Payroll liabilities	1,210.33	1,288.41	78.08
Net cash from operating activities			57,492.13
Investing activities
Purchase of equipment			-2,800.00
Net cash from investing activities			-2,800.00
Financing activities
Loan principal repaid			-3,000.00
Owner's draws			-36,000.00
Net cash from financing activities			-39,000.00
NET CHANGE IN CASH			15,692.13
Cash at beginning of period			23,048.39
Cash at end of period			38,740.52

Cash is the three cash accounts on the balance sheet: business checking (7,748.39 to 13,440.52), business savings (15,000.00 to 25,000.00) and petty cash (300.00 both dates). The calculated ending cash matches them, so the status line reads Ties out: beginning cash + net change = ending cash (38,740.52). Lines with nothing on them (inventory, asset sales, new loans) are blank in the sheet and left out of this table.

4. Reading it: why cash rose less than profit

The studio made 63,767.12 but has only 15,692.13 more cash. The statement shows where the difference went:

Operating cash is 57,492.13, about 90% of net income (the template's operating cash ÷ net income is 0.90). Customers owing 7,850.00 more and 2,000.00 of insurance paid ahead used cash; unpaid bills and the card balance (2,325.01 between them) and depreciation (1,250.00) kept some in. A ratio well below 1 for several periods usually means customers are paying slowly.
Free cash flow is 54,692.13: operating cash less the 2,800.00 spent on equipment. That's what the business generated that it could use to repay debt or pay the owner.
The owner took 36,000.00 and 3,000.00 of loan was repaid, which don't touch profit at all. Draws are the biggest single reason cash grew less than profit.

The same bridge appears in one line on the balance sheet guide; the cash flow statement is that bridge laid out in the standard format.

5. How to prepare a cash flow statement, step by step

Pick the period and get three reports for it: the profit and loss for the period and the balance sheets at its start and end. In QuickBooks Online and Xero you can also run a Statement of Cash Flows report and use the template to check it or present it your way.
Reconcile the bank, savings and card accounts at both dates (our bank reconciliation template is the workpaper). The cash figure is only as good as the reconciliation.
Enter net income and the non-cash items, mainly depreciation for the period.
Enter each working capital account's start and end balance as positive numbers. The template works out the cash effect and its sign.
Enter investing and financing cash amounts: equipment bought and loan principal repaid as negative, loans received and owner's money in as positive, owner's draws negative.
Enter beginning and actual ending cash and check the status line says Ties out.

6. Indirect vs direct method

	Indirect method (this template)	Direct method
Operating section shows	Net income adjusted for non-cash items and working capital changes	Cash received from customers, cash paid to suppliers and employees, and so on
Built from	The P&L and two balance sheets	Categorized bank transactions, or the same reports reworked line by line
Investing and financing	The same in both methods
Net cash from operating activities	The same total either way (57,492.13 in the example)
Rules	US GAAP (ASC 230) and IFRS (IAS 7) allow both and encourage the direct method; US GAAP still asks for a reconciliation of net income to operating cash when the direct method is used, which is the indirect method's operating section

Most small businesses, and the cash flow reports in QuickBooks Online and Xero, use the indirect method because it comes straight from reports you already have.

7. When the cash flow statement doesn't tie out

What you see	Likely cause
Off by twice a working capital change	Start and end balances typed the wrong way round on that line.
Off by the depreciation for the period	Depreciation left out, or entered as a negative number.
Off by one balance sheet account's change	An account that changed isn't on any line: a second loan, a new vehicle, a deposit, the line of credit.
Off by the owner's draws or a loan payment	Entered as positive instead of negative, or the full loan payment entered when part of it was interest (already in net income).
Off by a transfer amount	Cash defined differently at the two dates, for example savings included at the end but not at the start. Use every cash account at both dates.
Off by an odd amount and the balance sheet doesn't balance either	Fix the balance sheet first; see when the balance sheet doesn't balance.

8. Cash flow statement vs cash flow forecast

A cash flow statement looks back: it explains a period that has ended, from the books. A cash flow forecast (or cash budget) looks forward: expected receipts and payments week by week or month by month, to see whether cash will run short. They're different files. For the forecast, use our cash flow forecast template (12-month and 13-week sheets, picking up this example's 38,740.52 of cash at September 30). Start it from what actually came in and went out: our cash book template lays out the bank activity by category, and the last few months of statements give you the starting pattern.

Building it from bank statement PDFs?

Utilly's converter reads a bank statement PDF, downloaded or scanned, into Excel, CSV, QuickBooks or Xero files and checks the rows against the statement's beginning and ending balance, so the cash figures your cash flow statement ties to start from complete data. The preview is free with no sign-up. Try it on the sample bank statement first: every download of the sample is free because the data is fictional.

Convert my own statement

Method: the layout is the indirect-method statement of cash flows (operating, investing, financing), with working capital changes calculated from start and end balances. The example business and amounts are fictional; net income is our profit and loss template example's, and the balances are our balance sheet template example's at December 31, 2025 and September 30, 2026. Template built and checked November 2, 2026: the Example sheet recalculates in LibreOffice to net cash from operating activities of 57,492.13, a net change in cash of 15,692.13 and ending cash of 38,740.52, and its status line reads Ties out.

FAQ

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Free cash flow statement template for Excel (indirect method, with formulas)