Question : Why Did GM’S Business Plan Not Include A Cash Flow Analysis?
I have a sneaky suspicion GM didn’t want us to see where all this money will go. Any bank, as part of a commercial loan application, requires a cash flow projection. The Congress needs someone with banking and or accounting credentials to review the business plans.
commercial loan application

Best answer:

Answer by rehman vohra
It may sound silly, but the financial statements are prepared for external users and it is up to them to study and understand these statements and make their own decisions. Cash flow projections are prepared for internal use to make rational decisions. These are not available for general public. For instance, would you allow an outsider to peek into your own cash flow projections?

An average user is presumed to have sufficient knowledge or resources to analyze the financial statements. There are recognized techniques as Ratio Analysis which calculate key ratios and compare them with the previous period ratios of the entity as well as with industry averages.

There is yet another technique called bankruptcy analysis developed by Prof Altman which provides weights to five ratios, which should add up to 1.81 any figure below this benchmark indicates progress towards bankruptcy.

I would suggest investopedia.com for further understanding of the topic.

I tried to download financial statements of all three companies, GM, Ford and Chrysler, but all I got was error messages.