Cash flow from Belgian annual accounts: formula, codes and a worked example

The short answer

Most Belgian annual accounts contain no cash flow statement, so you calculate cash flow yourself. The quick version works on every model: profit for the year (code 9904) plus the charges that cost no money in the year, namely depreciation and write-downs on fixed assets (630), write-downs on stocks and trade debtors (631/4) and provisions for liabilities and charges (635/8). That is the simple cash flow: what the business generated from its own activity, before investment and before changes in working capital. The National Bank uses a fuller version in its cash flow to equity ratio. Read cash flow next to the cash on the balance sheet (54/58) over at least three years: cash flow rising while cash falls means money is going into stock, unpaid customer invoices or investment.

The codes come from the National Bank's standard models for companies and its ratio definitions, and the rule on what annual accounts contain from article 3:1 of the Code of Companies and Associations, all read on 1 October 2026. This is general information, not accounting or financial advice.

Profit is not cash

The income statement records what a company earned and used up in a year, not what moved through its bank account. Three things open the gap. Some charges cost no money in the year: depreciation spreads the price of a van over several years, a write-down records that a customer will probably not pay, a provision sets aside an amount for a future claim. Money gets tied up in working capital: an invoice sent in December counts as turnover but is paid in February. And an investment leaves the bank account at once but reaches the income statement only gradually, through depreciation. The simple cash flow corrects for the first; operating and free cash flow correct for the other two.

The simple cash flow in Belgian codes

Cash flow = 9904 + 630 + 631/4 + 635/8

All four lines appear on the full, abbreviated and micro models, so the formula works for every company that files. It uses the same add-backs as EBITDA from Belgian annual accounts, but starts lower: EBITDA starts from operating profit (9901), cash flow from the profit for the year, after the financial result and tax. Each line is explained in the Belgian income statement.

The National Bank's fuller definition

In its ratio statistics the National Bank calculates "cash flow / equity" with a broader numerator. On the full model it starts from 9904, adds 630, 631/4 and 635/8 plus depreciation, write-downs and provisions of a financial or non-recurring nature (6501, 651, 6560 minus 6561, 660, 661, 662), subtracts write-backs (760, 761, 762), adds losses on the disposal of fixed assets (663) and corrects for deferred taxes (minus 780, plus 680). The abbreviated and micro models do not split non-recurring charges, so there it takes depreciation and write-downs on fixed assets from the statement of fixed assets in the notes (8079, 8279 and 8475, minus write-backs 8089, 8289 and 8485), together with 631/4, 635/8 and the deferred tax lines. The ratio divides by equity (10/15) and is only calculated for a financial year of 12 months.

Both versions land close together for most companies. They part ways in a year with a large one-off write-down, which the quick formula misses because it sits in non-recurring charges (66A or 66B). Keep one version across years.

Why there is no cash flow statement

Article 3:1 of the Code of Companies and Associations says the annual accounts consist of the balance sheet, the income statement and the notes, which form one whole. A cash flow statement is not on that list, and none of the National Bank's three standard models for companies contains one. Some companies add one voluntarily, and listed groups publish one in their consolidated accounts, which must follow IFRS. For the ordinary Belgian company you work from the balance sheet and income statement, which always show the previous year next to the current one: enough to calculate the changes.

Operating and free cash flow, in brief

Two steps take you from the simple cash flow to the money that actually came in.

• Operating cash flow = simple cash flow minus the increase in working capital. Take the change between two balance sheets in stocks (3), trade debtors (40) and trade debts (44): more stock and more unpaid customer invoices absorb cash, more unpaid supplier invoices release it. Working capital in Belgian accounts covers these lines in detail.

• Free cash flow = operating cash flow minus investment. The statement of fixed assets in the notes shows the acquisitions of the year, for intangible (8029) and tangible fixed assets (8169), on all three models.

Both are approximations: trade debtors include VAT, tax is booked rather than paid, and the price received for assets sold is not shown. For direction and size, they are good enough.