Why might one firm have positive cash flows and be headed for financial trouble?

A cash flow statement merely describes the net change in a company's cash flow in investment, operational, and financial activities at a given period in time. As such, a bad debt in the company's portfolio cannot be reflected correctly in the cash flow statement. A company can also result to selling products at a much lower prices than it purchased them. While this is reflected in the cash flow statement, it does not translate into overall profitability of the concerned company.