Adhikari and Duru (2006) study the role of voluntary FCF statements designed by filing firms during
1994–2004 (and subject to Regulation G during 2002–2004), to be published side-by-side with mandatory
GAAP-based financial statements. Firms that engaged in FCF disclosure are found to pay higher dividends,
but are more leveraged and less profitable, and have a lower credit rating than matched non-disclosing
firms. The same pattern is observed in the behavior of individual firms over time: years of FCF disclosure
are associated with higher dividends, higher leverage, and lower profitability. In other words, poorly
performing firms have both the incentive and confidence to design and publish their own FCF reports sideby-
side with their official financial reports, thereby mitigating the undesirable impact of the latter (see
Adhikari and Duru (2006)).
Siegel (2006) questions the reliability of cash flows reported in the SCF compared to earnings presented in
themore traditional IncomeStatement. He argues that, despite early expectations, constraints set by GAAP do
not prevent firms from manipulating their cash flow. Of the various examples analyzed by Siegel (2006), the
most basic one concerns the overstatement of operating cash flow. This objective could be accomplished, at
least temporarily, by slowing down the rate of payment to vendors (which is in itself a sign of weakness) to
increase Accounts Payable. A shrinking difference between the flows of Accounts Receivable and Accounts
Payable (ΔAR–ΔAP) is translated to an increasing cash flow from Operations. A more subtle variation of