The main difference is that a public company has a wider audience and therefore it is somewhat easier for a public company to raise the cash needed to finance the company development (both with a capital raise, and/or public debt, and short-term loans made available by the banks).
The private company has a limited access to the capital and the absence of a market valuation oblige the analyst to follow the Net worth model for the analysis. The result is a limited access to capital and longer term for a succesful business development.
Based on the above, the ranking should differentiate the private to the public company.

In my opinion, cash generation and cash management has ranks fall as one and two for both private and public company. Generation of cash is what keeps the doors open but sometimes for public companies has a lot of cash on hand is a negative. Because the public see the numbers of publicy traded companies, there may be a little more focus on the cash management aspects of things as opposed to private companies where I would thing cash generation would be more important.

The two have opposite ranking between public and private companies. For a public company, Cash Mgmnt would be #1 and Cash generation would be #2. This is based on the fact that public company's has access to "raise cash" through the markets at anytime and without any red tape. Therefore, the important topic for public companies is to "manage the cash flow" correctly since the other is not an issue in terms of access to capital.
On the other hand, for private companies, the opposite is true. Private companies are more concerned about "generating cash" because their access to capital is very limited and restricted. They do not have "unlimited" access to the capital market to raise cash or to generate cash. The topic of Cash Management would be second to private companies because they can not "manage cash" if they do not have it.

CASH IS KING - Did I say KING?

The Statement of Cash Flows [SCF]  summarizes the affects of a business  entity on cash balances and/or liquidity from these three activities:

• Operating activities: Including cash inflows (ARs, receipts, donations, accrued expenses, interest, and dividends) and outflows (inventory, prepaids, supplies, and loans) – this is where the majority of hospitals or medical practices generate most of their revenues from patient services and to a lesser degree from grants or other contributions, etc; 
• Investing activities: Including the disposal or acquisition of non-current assets, such as equipment, loans or marketable securities; and,
• Financial activities: Generally including the cash inflow or outflow effects of transactions and other events, such as issuing capital stock or notes involving creditors, owners, or shareholders. 

Any thoughts?

SCF Post Script;

Prior to 1988, the formal SCF was known as a Statement of Changes in Financial Position and projected estimated cash flows by month, quarter, and year, along with the anticipated timing of cash receipts and disbursements. 

Thoughts?