Analyzing the Components of Operating Cash Flow: The Charter Company.
以1984年申请破产的查特公司为例，发现传统盈余指标未预警破产，但调整非经常项目后盈余由盈利转为亏损，且经营现金流大幅下降；通过分析营运资本变动可提前察觉现金流恶化。
Abstract This article investigates the relationship among reported earnings, earnings quality, and operating cash flows for the Charter Co. which filed for relief under Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Act in 1984. Overall, there was no sudden or dramatic deterioration in Charter's traditional financial ratios, based on reported earnings, which would indicate bankruptcy. Nor did the stock price drop dramatically until approximately two weeks before formal bankruptcy petitions were filed. However, a careful examination of reported earnings for 1983 revealed that the $50.4 million of income from continuing operations was reduced to a loss of $73.1 million when adjusted for nonrecurring and/or noncash items. One implication of these results may be a need to examine and redefine the elements to be included in periodic earnings. Charter's cash from operations declined to a use of $90 million in 1983. To investigate ways in which this significant decline could have been anticipated, operating cash flows for the Charter Company and for a sample of competing oil firms for the period 1979-1983 were computed and compared. Instead of focusing on the total amount of operating cash flow, an examination was made of changes in operating current assets and operating current liabilities as a means of assessing the ability of the sample firms to change the timing of their operating cash flows.