Cash flow forecasting by using simple and sophisticated models in Iranian companies

Cash flow is one of the critical resources in the economic unit and the balance between available cash and cash needs is the most important factor in economic health. Since judgments of many stakeholders such as investors and shareholders about the position of the economic unit are based on liquidity situation, so predicting future cash flow is crucial. In this research, the impact of cash and accrual items on cash flow forecasts has been studied. Providing a proper model to predict operating cash flows and review some important characteristics of cash flow forecasting regression models, using a multilayer perceptron and determining the best model by using accrual regression model variables for predicting cash flows. For this purpose, 287 firms listed in Tehran Stock Exchange during 2008 to 2017 were studied; Linear and nonlinear regression, correlation coefficient and artificial neural network statistical methods have been used for data analysis and predictive power of powers was compared by using the sum of squared prediction error and coefficient of determination. Results showed that the accrual regression model can predict future cash flows better than other tested models and among corporate characteristics, the highest correlation belongs to sales volatility and firm size with accrual regression models. On the other hand, results of fitting different neural network models indicate that two structures with 8 and 11 hidden nodes are the best models to predict cash flows.