Question

I think I may of grabbed the wrong number for some of these... mainly because I thought the overall cash flows would be positive. Help?

THE GAP, INC CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF CASH FLOWS Fiscal Year ($ in millions) Cash flows from operating activities: Net income 2018 2017 $ 1,003 S 848 $676 593 (60) (62) 76 Depreciation and anortization 578 (61) 559 Share-based compensation 87 Tax benefit from exercise of stock options and vesting of stock units Excess tax benefit from exercise of stock options and vesting of stock units Store asset impairment charges Goodwill impairment charge Non-cash and other items Deferred income taxes 107 71 61 65 Changes in operating assets and liabilities: (154)14 Merchandise inventory Other current assets and other long-term assets Accounts payable 46 (18) (78) (90) (52) 1,380 1) 146 76 Income taxes payable, net of prepaid and other tax-related items Lease incentives and other long-term liabilities 113 1,381 Net cash provided by operating activities Cash flows from investing activities: Purchases of property and equipment Purchases of short-term investments Sales and maturities of short-term investments 1,719 (705) (464) (524) Other Net cash used for investing activities Cash flows from financing activities Proceeds from issuances under share-based compensation plans Withholding tax payments related to vesting of stock units Repurchases of common stock Excess tax benefit from exercise of stock options and vesting of stock units Cash dividends paid 46 30 29 (398) (315) (373 (361)(367) Net cash used for financing activities Effect of 749 10 1,799 731 19 379) .797 n exchange rate fluctuations on cash, cash equivalents, and Net increase (decrease) in cash, cash equivalents, and restricted cash Cash, cash equivalents, and restricted cash at beginning of period Cash, cash equivalents, and restricted cash at end of period Non-cash investing activities: Purchases of property and equipment not yet paid at end of period Supplemental disclosure of cash flow i Cash paid for interest during the period Cash paid for income taxes during the period, net of refunds 413 1.384 1,797 S 93 S 77 $56 S 76 S 76 $82 S 143 S 57O 488 See Accompanying Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements 1.What are the following amounts for the 2018 fiscal year? $1,381 mion ($1,001 million) (S749 million) a. Cash flows from operating activities b. Cash flows from investing activities c. Cash flows from financing activities

Answer 1

The numbers stated by you are all correct. It is not necessary that cash flows from different activities are always positive. When cash outflows are higher than cash inflows, cash flows become negative. In case of investing and financing activities, cash outflows are more than cash inflows, thus cash flows from investing and financing activities are negative. It is also not necessary that overall cash flows are always positive. When overall cash outflows are more than overall cash inflows, overall cash flow is negative. When it happens, it means that in the current year, some portion of the the beginning cash balance has been used to finance cash outflows.

Kindly comment if you need further assistance. Thanks