Statement of Cash Flows and Related Matters
Project Type:
Research
Status:
Completed
Milestone:
Project Closure
Completed Date: 15 July 2026
Research Output
The UKEB has published six research papers on Statement of Cash Flows and Related Matters between October 2024 and July 2026.
- UKEB Research Paper 1. Statement of Cash Flows: Background and Key Issues
- UKEB Research Paper 2. Statement of Cash Flows: Non-mandatory and Voluntary Cash Flow Disclosures Provided by UK Listed Companies
- UKEB Research Paper 3. Statement of Cash Flows: UK User and Preparer Perspectives
[On 4 July 2025, the UKEB published a summary of initial research findings, summarising the research three papers below, as well as providing an overview of the results of a poll of users of financial statements.]
- UKEB Research Paper 4. Statement of Cash Flows: UK Users’ views on potential ways forward – addressing priority concerns of UK stakeholders, whilst improving the cohesiveness of the financial statements.
- UKEB Research Paper 5. Statement of Cash Flows: Further research – Net Debt - covering the prevalence of net debt disclosures globally, their importance to users, and how the IASB might improve the accessibility and comparability of this key financial performance metric.
- UKEB Research Paper 6. Statement of Cash Flows: Further research – Financial Institutions, targeted at banks and insurance companies. There is strong support for simplifying the statement of cash flows for bank and insurance companies, given its limited relevance for those financial entities. More broadly, stakeholders favour greater use of regulatory and alternative disclosures, bridging financial and regulatory information. This could be linked to other IFRS Accounting Standards that may already provide relevant disclosure, rather than IAS 7 alone.
Research Findings
UK stakeholder outreach identified opportunities for targeted improvements to enhance reporting of cash flow (and non-cash) information.
Opportunities and benefits identified include:
- Improving the cohesiveness between the primary financial statements by introducing overarching principles
- Potential supplementary disclosures specific to the statement of cash flows could help link amounts disclosed in the primary financial statements
- Elevating the importance of the statement of cash flows by enhancing interconnectivity between IFRS Accounting Standards i.e. ensure cash flow requirements are considered in new IFRS standards and IAS 7 referred to.
- Improving reporting provided by banks and insurers
Background
The IASB added a project on the Statement of Cash Flows and Related Matters to its research pipeline following feedback on its Request for Information: Third Agenda Consultation.
In the Feedback Statement to the Request for Information (published July 2022) most respondents recommended the addition of a potential project on cash flows to the IASB’s workplan and many of them rated it as high priority.
The IASB staff performed initial research to gather evidence of the nature and extent of the perceived deficiencies and the likely benefits of developing new financial reporting requirements for IAS 7 Statement of Cash Flows. This research provided evidence to support the IASB’s decision on the scope of the project. The initial research also addressed possible ways of improving the perceived deficiencies and the IASB discussed the initial research outcomes in March 2025.
In May 2025, the IASB determined which topics to include in the project plan and a draft timeline. In January 2026, the IASB moved the project to standard setting and an exposure draft is expected in 2027.
UKEB Project Objectives
A UKEB project on the statement of cash flows and related matters supports meeting its responsibilities regarding thought leadership in accordance with the UKEB Terms of Reference. It also helps deliver on aim set out in the UKEB’s 2024-25 Regulatory Strategy and 2026-27 Regulatory Strategy, to influence the IASB early in its development cycle.
The UKEB research is grounded in previous work undertaken by the IASB, the FRC and the UKEB. It gathers primary evidence on the improvements investors and creditors want made to the statement of cash flows, and preparer views on these possible improvements. This provides a foundation for the UKEB’s proposal of potential solutions for the problems already identified by the IASB, and other concerns raised by UK stakeholders during UKEB outreach for this project.
Outreach
For the initial phase of research, the UKEB conducted interviews with a diverse range of preparers and users of financial statements, between December 2024 and March 2025 and invited users to complete a short User poll between 25 March and 22 April 2025. In addition, the UKEB has consulted with UKEB Advisory Groups.
On 12 March 2025, the UKEB presented to the International Forum of Accounting Standard Setters (IFASS) on the research conducted to date, including the findings from the interviews undertaken and a review of a sample of annual reports of UK listed companies. The presentation is below.
International Forum of Accounting Standard Setters Slides
In June 2025, the UKEB consulted with UKEB Advisory Groups on some potential solutions to priority issues identified by UK stakeholders during the initial phase of research. Possible solutions developed by the UKEB were refined and further consulted on via interviews with a range of users.
On 30 April 2026, the UKEB presented an update of its research to the IFASS. The presentation is below.
UKEB Research Update - Statement of Cash Flows and Related Matters
Between January and April 2026, the UKEB consulted with UKEB Advisory Groups and UKEB Financial Instruments Working Group members, and other interested stakeholders, on the statement of cash flows and related matters for financial institutions.
On 6 July 2026, the UKEB presented the findings on its sixth research paper on financial institutions, to the IASB’s Accounting Standards Advisory Forum. The presentation is below.
UKEB Research update – Statement of Cash Flows and Related Matters – Financial Institutions
The UKEB would like to thank all stakeholders who have contributed to the UKEB research work on this project to date.
UKEB Meetings
UKEB Meetings
- June 2026: Agenda Paper 5: Appendix A – Updated [DRAFT] Research paper 6: Statement of Cash Flows and Related Matters: Further research – Banks and Insurers and Appendix B – IASB project approach to Financial Institutions including ASAF questions (for discussion)
- June 2026: Agenda Paper 8: IASB General Update Appendix G - Update on the IASB project status: Disaggregation of cash flow information (for noting)
- May 2026: Agenda Paper 7: [DRAFT] Research paper 6: Statement of Cash Flows and Related Matters: Further research – Banks and Insurers.
- May 2026: Agenda Paper 8: IASB General Update Appendix B – Update on the IASB project status: Cash and cash equivalents (for discussion)
- February 2026: Agenda Paper 9: IASB General Update – Appendix C – IASB General update and ASAF questions on non-cash information.
- January 2026: Agenda Paper 8: IASB General Update – Appendix B – update on the IASB project status: approach to cash flow measures, classification and discontinued operations (for noting)
- November 2025: Agenda Paper 6 – [DRAFT] research paper 5: Statement of Cash Flows and Related Matters: Further research – Net debt
- November 2025: Agenda Paper 7 Appendix E – for discussion – IASB General update and ASAF questions on non-cash transactions and other non-cash changes in balances
- October 2025: Agenda Paper 6: Statement of Cash Flows – Classification issues – [draft] UKEB written response to the IASB staff questions – for discussion
- October 2025: Agenda Paper 8: IASB General Update – Appendix F – update on the IASB project status: approach to disaggregation (for noting)
- September 2025: Agenda Paper 7 Appendix B – for discussion – IASB General update and ASAF questions on classification issues
- July 2025: [DRAFT] research paper 4 – Statement of Cash Flows and Related Matters: UK users’ views on ways forward
- July 2025: IASB update
- May 2025: [DRAFT] Summary of UKEB Initial Research Findings and Updated Project Initiation Plan
- March 2025: Agenda Paper 8 – [DRAFT] research paper 3: UK user and preparer perspectives
- February 2025: Agenda Paper 8 – [DRAFT] research paper 2: Non-mandatory and Voluntary Cash Flow Disclosures Provided by UK Listed Companies
- December 2024: Agenda Paper 8A – [DRAFT] research paper 1: Background and key issues
- December 2024: Agenda Paper 8B – Updated Project Initiation Plan (for noting)
- November 2024: [DRAFT] Project Initiation Plan
- October 2024: IASB General Update– Appendix E Project Commencement
Timeline
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3
Project Closure
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The UKEB research undertaken between November 2024 and June 2026 resulted in six research papers being published, as linked at the top of this page.
The UKEB research into the Statement of Cash Flows and Related Matters concluded on 6 July 2026.
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2
Monitoring
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The UKEB is undertaking research examining:
- Alternative presentation formats and disclosures for the statement of cash flows
- Interconnectivity of IFRS Standards / Cohesiveness of Financial Statements
to understand the priority areas for UK stakeholders, and to provide evidence to inform the IASB’s scope of the project and possible ways of improving the perceived deficiencies.
We will continue to monitor the IASB’s project and continue to look for opportunities to engage on this topic.
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1
Initiation
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The UKEB published its updated Project Initiation Plan on 20 June 2025. The UKEB Board agreed to an updated Project Initiation Plan on 22 May 2025.
In the March 2025 UKEB Board meeting, the UKEB agreed to undertake additional research examining:
- Alternative presentation formats and disclosures for the statement of cash flows.
- Interconnectivity of IFRS Standards / Cohesiveness of Financial Statements.
Updated Project Initiation Plan - Statement of Cash Flows
The UKEB published its original Project Initiation Plan on 13 December 2024.