A companyÃÂs financial statements are a necessary source of information for a large variety of users. There are four types of financial statements: the balance sheet, the income statement, the retained earnings statement, and the statement of cash flows.
A balance sheet is a detailed statement of a companyÃÂs assets (what a company owns) and claims against the company (liabilities and stockholdersÃÂ equity) on a specific date. Liabilities are what a company owes, and stockholdersÃÂ equity is claims of owners against the company. A balance sheet basically shows that a companyÃÂs assets must equal the claims against the company.
The income statement shows a companyÃÂs revenues and expenses for a specific period. The income statement provides uses with the companyÃÂs net income which can show investors information about the companyÃÂs future income. The income statement list the companyÃÂs revenues followed by the companyÃÂs expenses. The difference between revenues and expenses is the companyÃÂs net income.
The retained earning statement reports the changes in a businessÃÂs retained earnings (the companyÃÂs net income) over a specific time period (the same time period as the income statement). The retained earnings statement uses information from the income statement (net income) and provides information for the balance sheet.
A companyÃÂs statement of cash flows shows the cash the business generated and used during the period indicated. The statement of cash flows organizes cash generated into categories: operating activities, investing activities and financing activities.
Comparative statements allow a company to compare financial statements covering several different periods to show the businessÃÂs performance. A company uses the financial statements to make future business decisions. A balance sheet shows the companyÃÂs assets against the liabilities and stockholdersÃÂ equity. This statement is used to figure out the chance of repayment to creditors. The income statement shows a companyÃÂs...
Financial Statements
I read this through, thinking that it was curious how entirely arid this essay was. This is little more than a recital of dictionary definitions, with no examples, no discussion no explanation of how the various users would use any of these statements other than having various pieces of paper with differing ranges of disconnected data.
There is no life in this.
0 out of 1 people found this comment useful.