{"40610":{"#nid":"40610","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Mgt. Faculty Study Misleading Accounting Practices","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EInvestors who\u0027ve been burned by numerous corporate accounting scandals in recent years have increasingly turned their attention from questionable earnings reports to cash flow when gauging a company\u0027s financial performance.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EBut cash-flow reports may not be any more trustworthy a measure, according to a new book, \u003Cem\u003ECreative Cash Flow Reporting: Uncovering Sustainable Financial Performance\u003C\/em\u003E, written by accounting professors Charles Mulford and Eugene Comiskey of Georgia Tech\u0027s College of Management and published by Wiley.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EThe authors, who will hold a book signing at \u003Cstrong\u003E5:00 PM\u003C\/strong\u003E on \u003Cstrong\u003EMarch 10 \u003C\/strong\u003Eat the Management building, describe how generally-accepted accounting practices can be used to produce misleading operating cash-flow statements.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0022Managers are well aware of the importance placed by analysts, investors, and creditors on operating cash flow,\u0022 write Mulford and Comiskey. \u0022Cash flow is the lifeblood of any organization. A boost in operating cash flow, even as total cash flow remains unchanged, communicates enhanced financial performance.\u0022\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003ETheir book, aimed at individual investors and other serious readers of financial statements, provides detailed instructions for revealing a clearer picture of a company\u0027s financial performance by calculating sustainable cash flow. Profitable operations are a must to produce sustainable cash flow, which is recurring cash, but companies often can generate positive operating cash flow without actually turning a profit, Mulford and Comiskey explain.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0022I always assumed that operating cash flow was the last word when it comes to evaluating a company\u0027s results,\u0022 writes Harry Domash, publisher of the \u003Cem\u003EWinning Investor newsletter \u003C\/em\u003Eand an investing columnist for the \u003Cem\u003ESan Francisco Chronicle\u003C\/em\u003E and \u003Cem\u003EMSN Money\u003C\/em\u003E. \u0022No more! Mulford and Comiskey\u0027s latest effort opened my eyes to what really counts: sustainable cash flow.\u0022\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003ECreative Cash Flow Reporting\u003C\/em\u003E is the authors\u0027 follow-up to their best-selling 2002 book \u003Cem\u003EThe Financial Numbers Game: Detecting Creative Accounting Practices\u003C\/em\u003E, which generated extensive media attention in the wake of enormous accounting scandals involving Enron, Worldcom, and other corporate giants. \u003Cem\u003EThe Financial Times\u003C\/em\u003E recently ranked it among the very best personal-investing books ever.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EMulford and Comiskey also have collaborated on the books \u003Cem\u003EFinancial Warnings \u003C\/em\u003E(1996) and \u003Cem\u003EGuide to Financial Reporting and Analysis \u003C\/em\u003E(2000).\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":[{"value":"Professors Mulford and Comiskey\u0027s New Book Shows How to Look at Sustainable Cash Flow as an Accurate Measure of a Company\u0027s Financial Performance"}],"field_summary":[{"value":"Investors burned by recent corporate accounting scandals have increasingly turned to cash flow rather than questionable earnings reports to gauge a company\u0027s financial performance. But cash-flow reports may not be any more trustworthy a measure.","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Cash-flow reports may not be a trustworthy measure"}],"uid":"27301","created_gmt":"2005-02-03 01:00:00","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:00:59","author":"Elizabeth Campell","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2005-01-31T00:00:00-05:00","iso_date":"2005-01-31T00:00:00-05:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"40611":{"id":"40611","type":"image","title":"Professors Charles Mulford and Gene Comiskey","body":null,"created":"1449174220","gmt_created":"2015-12-03 20:23:40","changed":"1475894218","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:36:58","alt":"Professors Charles Mulford and Gene Comiskey","file":{"fid":"189528","name":"tvd68419.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/tvd68419_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/tvd68419_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":1238616,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/tvd68419_0.jpg?itok=awSKVXTP"}}},"media_ids":["40611"],"related_links":[{"url":"http:\/\/mgt.gatech.edu\/index.html","title":"College of Management"}],"groups":[{"id":"1214","name":"News Room"}],"categories":[{"id":"135","name":"Research"}],"keywords":[{"id":"1427","name":"Accounting"},{"id":"1072","name":"Business"},{"id":"3253","name":"earnings"},{"id":"1052","name":"Management"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cstrong\u003ELisa Grovenstein\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003ECommunications \u0026amp; Marketing\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.gatech.edu\/contact\/index.html?id=lgrovenste3\u0022\u003EContact Lisa Grovenstein\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E404-894-8835\u003C\/strong\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["lisa.grovenstein@comm.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}