The Chief Operating Officer where you work does not understand why the company should waste their time in preparing the statement of cash flows. He wants to have a better understanding of this financial statement and asks you to do the following:

• Select two companies in the same industry, and use the Internet to find their current statement of cash flows; provide citations for both.
• For each company, answer the following questions:
  • Which method do they each use when calculating the net cash provided by operating activities?
  • What was the most significant item reported by each company in their investing section and in their financing section?
  • What were the companies’ trends in net cash provided by operating activities during this period of time?