The steps to building a cash flow statement include firstly Categorise the balance sheet accounts into cash flows from operations, cash flows from investing and cash flows from financing Sometimes denoted as CFO, CFI and CFF We then calculate the changes in the balance sheet items not captured by reconciliations These are the simple items, we just look at the change in inventory, change in accounts payable, change in accounts receivable etc Now if we aren't able to do all of those easy ones, we need to do some slightly harder reconciliations These include BASE analysis calculations This might include net PP&E; you start with beginning net PP&E. Ask what makes it go up? Capex. What makes it go up? Depreciation And then you get to your ending PP&E. You've now got capex and depreciation as two separate lines in the cash flow statement Other items that you might do this on could include net intangibles and retained earnings Also if you want to, summarize your operating working capital lines down to one summary line You've now got everything you need to go into your three sections Cash flows from operations, investing and financing Bring them all together to get your net cash flow and hopefully get to the ending cash in the balance sheet