Why are banks still cranking out cash-flow statements that hardly anyone reads?
That was the uncomfortable question hanging over a Financial Accounting Standards Board meeting Wednesday, as rulemakers pulled the plug on a years-long effort to “fix” the reports, and opened the door to something far more dramatic: getting rid of them altogether.
In a move that could eventually shake up one of the basic pillars of financial reporting, FASB voted April 22, 2026, to abandon its project to revamp the statement of cash flows for financial institutions.
For now, banks are still stuck filing the same old report. But several board members made clear the real issue isn’t how to redesign the statement—it’s whether banks should have to file it at all.
“There’s a difference between something being operable and something being used,” FASB Vice Chair Hillary Salo said.
That blunt reality framed the debate: if investors, analysts and regulators are barely using the statement, why keep forcing banks to spend time and money producing it?
A Core Financial Statement – That May be Pointless for Banks
The cash-flow statement is supposed to show where a company’s money came from and where it went, broken into operating, investing and financing activities.
But for banks, critics say that setup has always been awkward.
Why? Because lending money, taking deposits, borrowing and collecting interest aren’t side activities—they are the business. That makes the traditional cash-flow categories look clumsy, confusing and, to many investors, not especially helpful.
FASB had tried to fix that.
The board added the project to its technical agenda in November 2023, hoping to reorganize and break apart the cash-flow statement for financial institutions and add a disclosure about cash interest received.
But after research and outreach, staff came back with a bleak conclusion: there wasn’t a clear path where the benefits outweighed the cost and hassle.
Board member Frederick Cannon said the quiet part out loud. “Statement of cash flows for banks isn’t useful today and it’s not used today,” he said.
That line appeared to capture the mood of the room.
Banks Doing Busywork for a Report Few Care About
Board members repeatedly said investors usually judge banks using other tools—regulatory filings, liquidity measures, capital ratios, earnings trends and other bank-specific metrics—not the standard cash-flow statement categories used across corporate America.
Some preparers said the statement could still be changed mechanically.
But several board members made clear that wasn’t the point.
If the result still wouldn’t matter to investors, why force banks to keep reworking a report that may just be expensive compliance theater?
Salo didn’t mince words: “If it’s not being utilized by investors, I really question why it should be required.”
FASB Chair Richard Jones drove home just how bizarre the rule has become. “Financial institutions are still surprised they have to provide it,” he said.
Then he hinted at what could come next: “We really need to consider replacing the statement of cash flows.”
What Could Replace it? More Useful Bank Disclosures
FASB did not vote to eliminate the statement of cash flows for banks. Not yet.
So the immediate outcome is simple: no rewrite, no relief, no rule change—for now.
But the discussion seemed to shift from “How do we fix this?” to “Why are we still requiring this?”
According to staff, some stakeholders suggested scrapping the statement for financial institutions entirely and replacing it with disclosures investors actually use—such as liquidity coverage ratios or a reconciliation from accrual-based net interest income to a more cash-based measure.
Cannon suggested investors still care about one thing: cash earnings.
In other words, the answer may not be preserving a broken format—it may be giving investors more focused information that actually helps them understand how banks make money and manage liquidity.
He also warned that even an ignored filing can still create headaches.
“Unused statements do cause problems,” Cannon said, noting that banks still have to prepare the report, run internal controls over it and risk getting tripped up by errors in a filing that gets little market attention.
One Idea Isn’t Dead: Cash Interest Received
Even as the broader project was shelved, one proposal appeared to survive: a disclosure showing cash interest received.
Board member Joyce Joseph said that information could help investors assess earnings quality, borrower credit quality and liquidity risk—not just for financial institutions, but potentially more broadly.
Cannon also backed the concept, floating the idea of a reconciliation between reported net interest income and a cash-based version of that figure.
Other board members said they’d be open to exploring a replacement for the current statement but only if it gives investors something genuinely useful.
Not Everyone Wanted to Drop the Project
There was one notable dissenter.
Board member Susan Cosper argued FASB should have done more direct outreach with investors before killing the project.
“I would not support dropping the project,” Cosper said.
She said some investors do use the cash-flow statement and that FASB should have tested possible improvements before throwing in the towel.
Still, she was in the minority.
Most board members appeared fed up with a project that had dragged on without delivering a convincing fix.
“The current project is expending resources and not progressing toward a solution that’s going to benefit investors,” board member Christine Botosan said.
Bottom Line
For now, banks still have to file the same cash-flow statement.
But Wednesday’s meeting signaled: one of the most basic reports in finance may be living on borrowed time—at least for banks.
And if rulemakers decide the statement really is more nuisance than necessity, Wall Street could be headed for an accounting shake-up that’s been years in the making.
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