Saturday, July 28, 2012

Financial Statement


Financial Statements
•       Financial statements are written reports of financial affairs of a company.
•       Such companies’ reports communicate the result of its business operations for a particular period of time and its financial position at the end of that period.
•       Financial Statements
•       Financial statements of the company include:
•      Balance Sheet
•      Profit & Loss Account
•      Trading Account
•      Cash Flow Statement
•      Profit & Loss Appropriation Account

Users of Financial Statements
•       Owners and managers
•       Employees
•       Prospective investors
•       Financial institutions
•       Government
•       Creditors
•       Others

Objectives of Financial Statements
•        To provide financial information to users.
•        To provide useful financial information for predicting, comparing and evaluating potential cash flow of a business.
•        To help in knowing earning power of a company.
•        To help in judging management’s ability to utilize resources effectively.
•        To provide statement of financial position of the company concerning the assets and liabilities of the business.
•        To provide the financial statement in periodic basis so that the comparisons of progress can be made.
•        To compare with competitors.
•        To provide necessary information for financial forecasting.
•        To provide required data for research.

Balance Sheet
•       The balance sheet is a snapshot of the firm’s assets and liabilities at a given point in time
•       Assets are listed in order of liquidity
•      Ease of conversion to cash
•      Without significant loss of value
•       Balance Sheet Identity
•      Assets = Liabilities + Stockholders’ Equity
•        Net Working Capital
•       Current Assets – Current Liabilities
•       Positive when the cash that will be received over the next 12 months exceeds the cash that will be paid out
•       Usually positive in a healthy firm
•        Liquidity
•       Ability to convert to cash quickly without a significant loss in value
•       Liquid firms are less likely to experience financial distress
•       But liquid assets earn a lower return
•       Trade-off to find balance between liquid and illiquid assets

Market Vs. Book Value
•       The balance sheet provides the book value of the assets, liabilities and equity.
•       Market value is the price at which the assets, liabilities or equity can actually be bought or sold.
•       Market value and book value are often very different. Why?
•       Which is more important to the decision-making process?

Income Statement
•       The income statement is more like a video of the firm’s operations for a specified period of time.
•       You generally report revenues first and then deduct any expenses for the period
•       Matching principle –shows revenue when it accrues and match the expenses required to generate the revenue



Statement of Cash Flows
•       Is used to help answer questions such as:
•      Is the firm generating enough cash to purchase the additional assets required for growth?
•      Is the firm generating any extra cash that can be used to repay debt or to invest in new products?
•       Such information is useful both for managers and investors

Statement of Retained Earnings
•       Shows how much of the firm’s earnings were retained, rather than paid out as dividends
•       A positive number in the retained earnings account indicates only that in the past the firm earned some income

Statement of Cash Flows
•       Summarizes the changes in a company’s cash position
•       The statement separates activities into three categories, plus a summary section:
•      Operating activities
•      Investment activities
•      Financing activities
•       Operating activities
•       Includes:
•      net income,
•      depreciation,
•      changes in current assets and liabilities other than cash,
•      short-term investments and
•      short term debt
•       Investing activities
•       Includes:
•      investments in fixed assets
•      or sales of fixed assets

•       Financing activities
•       Includes:
•      Raising cash by selling short-term investments or by issuing short-term debt
•      Long term debt, or stock
•      Also because both dividends paid and cash used to buy back outstanding stock or bonds reduce the company’s cash, such transactions are included here

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