Under the epidemic situation, the cash flow of enterprises has been hit to some extent, and it cannot be overemphasized at present. This epidemic has caused many enterprises to fail to return to work normally, which will have a certain negative impact on operating cash flow. However, the rigid expenses such as rent, personnel salary and financial expenses remain unchanged, and the operating cash flow will even become negative. If the original cash source of an enterprise mainly depends on business activities, then the net cash flow may be negative. Once the cash on the books continues to flow out, enterprises will face the risk of cash flow break.

Corporate cash flow mainly covers operating cash flow, investment cash flow and cash flow from financing, and the factors affecting cash flow can be divided into macro-driving factors and micro-driving factors. Specifically: 1) The micro-factors that affect operating cash flow mainly include "net profit, accounts receivable and inventory", while the macro-level factors are closely related to economic growth and profits of industrial enterprises; 2) Micro-factors affecting investment cash flow mainly include "fixed assets purchase and construction and projects under construction", while macro-factors are closely related to fixed assets investment and other indicators; 3) Micro-factors affecting cash flow from financing mainly include "return on net assets, debt ratio" and other indicators that affect financing capacity, while macro-factors are closely related to social financing scale, M2 and other indicators.

The overall corporate cash flow of A shares leads the profit growth rate by about 3-4 quarters. Generally speaking, the change of operating cash flow of enterprises is more sensitive. Judging from the index of "operating cash flow/net profit" (that is, the ability to convert profits into cash), the operating cash flow of listed companies leads the profit growth of enterprises for about 3-4 quarters. Its internal logic is that the improvement of operating cash flow is generally driven by the increase of accounts receivable turnover rate and inventory turnover rate, and the improvement of cash flow promotes the increase of capital expenditure of enterprises, and then it is gradually transmitted to the income statement. From the data, we can also see that there is an obvious positive correlation between operating cash flow and the trend of capital expenditure of enterprises.

On the whole, A shares enter the cash flow recovery period, and the company's balance sheet will gradually recover after the debt repayment cycle. From the perspective of free cash flow, since the second half of 20 18, the free cash flow of A-share non-financial enterprises has improved significantly, and the obvious improvement of operating cash flow is one of the reasons to promote the improvement of free cash flow. Judging from the financing situation of enterprises, the current debt repayment speed of A-share non-financial enterprises is accelerating, and the net cash flow of financing of A-share non-financial enterprises continues to decline after the second half of 20 18, and it is negative for the first time in June of 20 19, which means that A-share non-financial enterprises continue to pay debts. We believe that the balance sheets of A-share listed companies will be gradually repaired after the debt repayment cycle.

In terms of industries, "public utilities, transportation" and other industries are typical "cash cows" in A shares, while "construction, real estate" and other industries have relatively average cash flows. Judging from the accumulated "net operating cash flow/net profit" in recent five years, the top industries are mostly heavy asset industries, such as mining, nonferrous metals, steel, public utilities, chemicals and transportation. On the one hand, most of these industries have certain monopoly attributes, high industrial chain status and good cash flow.

On the other hand, there are many depreciation and amortization in heavy assets industries, which need to be deducted from the net profit of the year, but it does not affect the cash flow. In addition, from the cumulative value of "operating cash flow+investment cash flow" in recent five years, this indicator reflects the degree of dependence on external financing. The cumulative values of "mining, food and beverage, steel, public utilities, chemicals, transportation, building materials, automobiles, leisure" and other industries are all positive, indicating that the endogenous cash flow of the industries can basically meet the operation and investment of enterprises. The accumulated values of real estate, construction and other industries are all negative, indicating that they are highly dependent on external financing.

Specific to a single business entity, enterprises with higher bargaining power upstream and downstream have relatively strong cash flow. From the company's financial statements, accounts receivable and accounts payable represent the bargaining power of the enterprise to downstream customers and upstream suppliers respectively. "The scale of accounts receivable declines, and the scale of accounts payable increases" represents the promotion of the enterprise's position in the industrial chain. Judging from the various factors that affect the operating cash flow, "accounts receivable are greatly reduced and accounts payable are greatly increased" also means that the operating cash flow of enterprises has been greatly improved. Therefore, enterprises with higher industrial chain status have relatively strong operating cash flow.