Accruals: (profit − operating cash flow) over assets

Accruals: (profit − operating cash flow) over assets

One of the 61 measures in Stock Scorer, under Quality — How much of the revenue is really kept — and what did it take to earn it?

How it is worked out

(Net income − operating cash flow) ÷ total assets × 100

The part of reported profit that is not cash. Net income is profit after everything; the gap with operating cash flow sits in unpaid invoices, inventory and provisions. Total assets is everything the company owns. A high reading is the classic marker of profit held up by the balance sheet.

How to read it

low is good; the classic marker of earnings propped up by the balance sheet

Which figures it needs

Computed from 3 figures taken from the filing:

• net_income
• ocf
• assets

The XBRL tags behind it

These are the element names looked for in a filing, in order. The first one a company reports is the one used, and the company page names which it was — so any figure here can be checked against the filing it came from.

• NetIncomeLoss
• ProfitLoss
• NetIncomeLossAvailableToCommonStockholdersBasic
• NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities
• NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivitiesContinuingOperations
• CashFlowsFromUsedInOperatingActivities
• CashFlowsFromUsedInOperatingActivitiesContinuingOperations
• Assets

Whether it counts

This measure is not counted by default. It can be added to Quality on the dashboard, and it then takes its share of that dimension.