Preview

Purpose of the Main Financial Statements

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
341 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Purpose of the Main Financial Statements
Purpose of the main financial statements
Throughout the existence of a business many requests will be made for its financial statements. Financial statements are formal presentations of the flow of money into, through and out of a business. Financial statements are comprised of three main areas: balance sheets, income (profit and loss) statements and cash flow statements. Each area of a financial statement has its own purpose and provides specific information about a company’s financial stability (unknown author, wikipeida).
Income Statements
Income statements (profit and loss statements) show the revenue earned during a reporting period. Included in this report are expenses and cost of creating the revenue. Once the expenses and costs are removed from the total revenue, the bottom line of the report reveals whether or not the company lost money or made money. Sometimes this report referred to as the profit and loss statement. In addition, another feature is to indicate EPS (Earning Per Share). It reveals what a shareholder would receive if you were being paid dividends per each share owned.
Cash Flow Statements
Cash on hand is important because it supports the daily activities of a business. There must be enough cash on hand to pay expenses and buy assets as needed. Cash flow statements track the inflow and outflow of cash (unknown author, BTEC HND textbook). Cash flow statements track the inflow and outflow of cash. They reveal whether or not cash was generated by the business. In another words, it provides information to track where exactly the money goes. After all, cash flow statements reveal net decreases or increases of cash for the reporting period.
Financial Statements
Once a set of financial statements are prepared they can be used for loan applications, fund-raising or to place a value on a business. However, they are typically used for making business decisions that will affect operations. The information in the financial statements is also

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    A Financial Statement can be defined as, “Summary report that shows how a firm has used the funds entrusted to it by its stockholders (shareholders) and lenders, and what is its current financial position” (Business Dictionary, 2011). The Financial information is required for various users to make an informed Decision. “The purpose of financial information is to provide inputs for decision making” (Kimmel, Weygandt, Kieso, 2009, Para 1, p. 6). There are four different parts covered in a Financial Statement; those are Balance Sheet, Income Statement, Retained Earnings Statement, and Statement of Cash flow. The assignment will elaborate the purpose of each statement and differentiate its utility for different…

    • 749 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    A financial statement is a statement, or formal record, that lays out the activities of a business, person, or other entity. Quarterly or yearly financial information is put into relative categories and displayed to show how the company is matching up to expectations. For larger corporations, these statements may include large amounts of side notes and subcategories to show all the parts that the company may have connected to the larger company structure.…

    • 814 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    xacc week 1

    • 376 Words
    • 2 Pages

    “Cash Flow Statement - The cash flow statement shows the amount of monies within the company ("Boundless", 2014).” Anything that affects the cash balance is listed on this statement. This allows managers, creditors, and investors to view the company’s operations from a cash perspective.…

    • 376 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Financial Statements are designed to define the health and well-being of a company. It is necessary that the information on the financial statements is accurate.…

    • 989 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    ACC 561 Week 1 paper

    • 1112 Words
    • 5 Pages

    There are four major financial statements that investors, creditors, accountants, CEO’s, and the like study when looking at the financial health of a business. They are income statements, retained earnings statements, balance sheets, and statement of cash flow. Each financial statement has a unique use and purpose in business, which will be explained throughout the following assignment.…

    • 1112 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Brandywine Homecare

    • 1320 Words
    • 6 Pages

    A cash flow, also known as a cash flow statement simply reports the inflows and outflows of cash in a company.…

    • 1320 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The statement of cash flows statements reports over a period of time and covers cash inflows and outflows. Generally the statement of cash flows refers to the day to day operations or operating cash flows, cash from investing and cash from financing. It is difficult for a company to manipulate the cash flow and therefore is a very important financial statement.…

    • 688 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Intermediate Notes 101

    • 617 Words
    • 3 Pages

    2. Financial Statements include balance sheet, income statement, statement of cash flow, statement of owners or stockholders equity. Financial Reporting includes corporate annual reports, prospectuses, reports filed with gov’t agencies, news releases, management forecasts, and social or environmental impact statements.…

    • 617 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    The cash flow statement reports on a company's cash flow activities, particularly its operating, investing and financing activities.…

    • 2442 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Accounting

    • 395 Words
    • 2 Pages

    The four basic financial statements are the balance sheet, income statement, statement of retained earnings, and statement of cash flows. The balance sheet shows what it owes and owns. Income statement shows how the company did during a period of time both revenues and expenses. Statement of retained earnings indicates how much previous income was distributed to yourself and other business owners and what was kept for future growth. Statement of cash flows shows where the business obtained cash during a period of time and how the money was used. In my opinion the most important of the four would be the balance sheet because it is important to know what you have and what you owe at all times.…

    • 395 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    There are four basic financial statements that companies use. They begin with income statement, statement of owner’s equity, balance sheet, and the statement of cash flows. Company’s use income statements to report how much money they have made and how much they have spent over a specified period of time. The statement of owner’s equity is used to report any changes in equity from a company’s net income or net loss, as well as report changes in the owner’s investments and withdrawals over a specified period of time. The balance sheet is used to report a company’s financial position at any point in time. This statement includes information such as what types of assets and their amounts, liabilities, and equity. The statement of cash flows is…

    • 297 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Income Statement can be considered the most important statement in most business scenarios. This statement provides an idea of the overall success and profitability of a company during a given period of time (Weygandt, 2006, pg. 55). This statement can be considered the most basic, since the other financial statements are based on information which is derived from the income statement. On the income statement are listed the overall revenue and expenses for the company. The revenue is listed first, normally to the right, while the expenses are listed, afterwards, normally to the left. This allows for a more visible breakdown in the difference between the two. After all the revenue and expenses have been listed on the statement, the difference of the two is then taken at the bottom for the net income, or net loss, whichever applies to the situation at hand. These reports are important to companies because they analyze the company as a whole. The overall financial situation of the company can be analyzed in the income statement by either highlighting the gain or loss in profits for a specific time frame.…

    • 785 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Financial Statements Paper

    • 1105 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Accounting financial statements are reports that allow interested parties to evaluate the profitability and solvency of a business. These reports include the Balance Sheet, Income Statement, Retained Earnings Statement, and Statement of Cash Flow. These four financial statements are the final product of the accountant’s analysis of the transactions of a business.…

    • 1105 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Financial Statements

    • 320 Words
    • 2 Pages

    The third PhxKlips viewed was “Financial Statements.” There are four financial statements to work with; Balance Sheets, Income Statements, Retained Earnings Statements, and Statement of Cash Flows. Balance sheets let you have a quick review of what assets, liabilities, and equity were distributed within the accounting period. Income statements show the business whether they made a profit or not. Retained earnings statement shows what the company decides to retain for them, after everything else is paid. The statement of cash flows shows what the cash receipts and cash payments were in the accounting period, and shows how much cash is available.…

    • 320 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The Profit and Loss account shows whether your business has made profit or loss , over your financial year. This also shows how much sales you’ve made and how much loss, it helps you make decisions in the future and improve on your business. You may also view whether you made Profit or loss weekly, monthly but usually it is shows yearly.…

    • 817 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays

Related Topics