Written By: Ryann Hristovsky
OneStream’s CPMx gives finance teams a fast, productized starting point for consolidation and reporting. It is a fantastic foundation, and like any foundation, it is built to be extended for the specifics of each close. That is where Black Diamond Advisory’s add-on components come in. Across this new series, we will walk through the add-ons we layer on top of that strong foundation, extending CPMx and tailoring it to the way each finance team actually closes.
Why Cash Flow Is Always the Hard One
The income statement and balance sheet tend to behave themselves. Cash flow is where the questions start. It pulls from everything else, often a maze of Excel links only one person in the company actually understands, it never quite ties on the first pass, and your CFO will scrutinize it line by line. Doing it well in OneStream, the same way every time, is exactly the repeatable problem the BDA cash flow solution was built to solve.
What’s Inside?
The BDA cash flow dashboard comes with several components, each tackling a different part of the cash flow lifecycle:
- Reporting: The cash flow statement presented per entity, ready to review and export.
- Activity: Balances and movements by account, so you can see exactly what drove each component of cash flow.
- Adjustments: A place to post top-side adjustments directly to the cash flow on an entity basis, no hunting through individual flow movements.
- Mapping: A clear view of where every balance sheet and flow combination maps to a given cash flow line.
- Confirmation Rules: Period checks that verify the required movement activity has been captured before the close moves forward.
- Proofs: Built-in checks for completeness, beginning balances, and FX impact, so you can prove the statement ties before review.
A Closer Look
Let’s walk through each one, starting where most reviews do: the statement itself.
Reporting
The full cash flow statement, presented per entity and ready to review on screen or export as a shareable workbook. It is the same clean, formatted statement every close, with no rebuilding it by hand each period.
Activity
The Activity view breaks each cash flow component down to the account level, so you can see exactly what drove it. In this example the entire change in working capital is laid out account by account, receivables, inventory, payables and the rest, so you can trace what moved the number without exporting anything or reverse-engineering a movement.
The activity worksheet also make it easy to view the FX impact by account.
Adjustments
Post top-side adjustments straight to the cash flow on an entity basis, each with a comment so the entry carries its own explanation. When a reviewer asks why a number moved, the answer travels with it, no hunting through individual flow movements.
Mapping
The Mapping tab keeps the cash flow logic transparent. Select a line and you can see exactly which balance sheet account and movement combinations feed it. If a new member has not been routed yet, it will be flagged on your forms, so it gets mapped instead of becoming a silent gap in the statement.
How the Data Gets There
Wherever we can, we let the system do the heavy lifting. Movement activity can be mapped directly from P&L balances, with depreciation and amortization being the classic examples, loaded straight from movement types in the GL, or gathered through forms built into the end user’s workflow. Because accounts like AR or Inventory almost always land in the same place on the cash flow, we give them a default movement out of the gate, so users only need to touch the forms by exception rather than routing every balance by hand. Confirmation rules make it easy to verify that every piece of movement activity has been captured for the period, so nothing slips through before you close.
The Part Everyone Actually Asks For: Proofs
Here is where things get fun (yes, we said cash flow and fun in the same sentence). A statement that balances is great. A statement you can prove balances is what gets you through review. We have added a set of proof tabs that do exactly that:
- Completeness Proof: Shows your cash flow balances with a breakdown by account group, so you can confirm nothing fell through the cracks.
- Beginning Balance Proof: Lays out beginning and ending balances side by side to help you tie out the period quickly.
- FX Impact on Cash: Breaks out the FX components so currency movement is no longer the mystery line item that derails your tie-out.
These proofs turn “I think it ties” into “here’s why it ties,” and that confidence is worth its weight come review time.
Beginning Balance Proof
Beginning and ending balances laid side by side so you can tie out the period at a glance. It is exactly the view that surfaces a stray top-side or an out-of-place balance before it turns into a review headache.
FX Impact on Cash
The FX impact broken out of the cash flow, so currency movement is no longer the mystery line that derails your tie-out. You can see how much of the change came from rates versus real activity.
Built for Every Close
We configure the mapping to your chart of accounts up front, validate it through the activity and proof tabs in UAT, and rely on the same process every close. Because the formatting is parameter-driven, we match the dashboard to your colors, so it feels like your application, not a template.
Extract and Go
When the review is done and people want the numbers out, there is a one-click extract that publishes a workbook with each entity on its own tab, for both the Activity and Reporting views. No manual copy-paste, no entity-by-entity export marathon.
Why It Matters
CPMx gets you a cash flow framework. The BDA cash flow solution gets you a cash flow you can map transparently, adjust cleanly, prove confidently, and hand off to management without breaking a sweat. When the hardest statement in the close becomes the one you trust most, that’s a win for everyone!
Interested in seeing how this works in practice? Reach out to Black Diamond Advisory to schedule a demo and talk through how the BDA cash flow solution could fit your needs.
Next up in the series: Traceable Journals and a Transparent Close.