Table 4 - Consolidated statement of cash flows 2015/16 to 2022/23

Type of data

Administrative data

Data source

HESA (Higher Education Statistics Agency) is part of Jisc. We are the experts in UK higher education data and analysis. We have been collecting higher education information since the 1994/95 academic year.

Finance data is taken from the HESA Finance record, which universities, colleges and other higher education providers return to HESA on an annual basis. The Finance record collects a range of information about the primary financial statements from HE providers' published accounts.

From 2018/19, data for English HE providers (excluding further education colleges and sixth form colleges under the primary regulation of the Education and Skills Funding Agency) was collected by the Office for Students.

We provide data and analysis on finances of HE providers to a wide variety of customers, including:

• Governments
• Universities (via the Heidi Plus analytics tool)
• Academic and commercial researchers
• Students and potential students
• Trade unions and employers' associations
• Policy makers.

Our data is used to regulate the sector, inform policy making, advance understanding of social and economic trends, support decision making, and enhance public understanding of - and confidence in - the higher education sector.

Related releases

Our HE Provider Data: Finance data pages collect together all of the tables we publish on finances in higher education.

Further information

• Definitions - Finances
• Data intelligence - Finances
• It may be helpful to refer to the information disclosed in a provider’s financial statements to help understand or contextualise the figures presented.

This table displays data relating cash flows during a financial year.

The statement of cash flows (sometimes called the cash flow statement) measures how well the provider has generated cash income to pay their cash operating expenses and their debt obligations. It is a statement that measures financial performance. The cash flow statement complements the consolidated statements of comprehensive income (CSCI) and the statement of financial position (SFP) and reconciles the surplus/deficit in the year to the increase/decrease of cash and cash equivalents. The increase or decrease in cash and cash equivalents is not the same as surplus or deficit in a year as it does not recognise non-cash accounting transactions that feature in the CSCI.

View Table 4 - Consolidated statement of cash flows

The main components of the cash flow statement are cash flows from operating activities, cash flows from investing activities, and cash flows from financing activities.

The surplus/deficit for the year is automatically populated during the data collection process from the CSCI.

Adjustment for non-cash items are transactions in the CSCI which are accounting transactions like depreciation and do not involve cash movement. In order to work out net cash flow from operating activities, non-cash expenditure is added back to surplus/deficit and non-cash income is deducted from surplus/deficit. Similarly, the movement of working capital like debtors and creditors are adjusted as they also do not involve cash movement. The impact on cash with the movement of current assets and liabilities over prior year is therefore reflected in this section to arrive at net cash flow. For example, if there is an increase in debtors over the previous year, the difference would be subtracted and a decrease in debtors over the previous year would require addition. Similarly, if there is an increase in creditors over the previous year, the difference would be added, and a decrease would require subtraction. This first section of the cash flow statement removes all these adjustments and reveals how much net cash is generated or spent on routine operations. Share in operating profits/deficits in joint ventures and associates are adjusted as these transactions are not related to cash generated from operating activities. Adjustments to financing activities are also eliminated as these transactions do not relate to cash generated from operations or used up for operations.

The above adjustments relating to non-cash transactions are made to surplus or deficit to arrive at the net cashflow from operating activities. This value is often a key performance indicator (KPI) for providers and is also used as a sustainability indicator and to assess funds available for investment.

Cashflow from investing activities include any sources and uses of cash from the provider’s investments. This includes non-current asset acquisition or disposal of assets. This section gives a sense of capital expenditure incurred.

Cashflows from financial activities sets out cash funds received from new borrowings and the sources of cash from investors or banks, as well as repayment of interest and loans.

Scottish providers are required to submit exchange gains and losses separately as required by Scottish Funding Council.

This table collects data retrospectively for the latest financial year. It also collects restated data to previously submitted information for the one year prior as comparison to the current year.