Financial Statements And Financial Statement Analysis Essay

Financial ratio analysis is a valuable tool that allows one to assess the success, potential failure or future prospects of the company (Bazley 2012). The ratios are helpful in spotting useful trends that can indicate the warning signs of

A financial statements are documents prepared communicating with a business financial activities. Financial statements are a key component of accounting. Financial statements are presented in a structured manner with conventions accepted by accounting and regulatory personnel. There are four different financial statements which includes the balance statement, income statement, retained statement, and the statement of cash flow.

Wells Fargo shows a much higher profitability ratio than Samsung, with over 8X that of Samsung. This is to be expected as services are typically more profitable than hardware sales which operate on leaner margins. Wells Fargo also outperforms Samsung significantly on return on sales with over 25X better performance. This again is attributable to better margins on services than hardware. Wells Fargo has a much stronger return on equity than Samsung with a Dupont ratio over 5X higher than Samsung's. Samsung has a stronger financial leverage ratio than Wells Fargo with almost 20% lower ratio for Samsung. Samsung also has a much lower total asset turnover than Wells Fargo. This is attributable to the quick turnover of assets in the manufacturing industry compared to the slow turnover of assets in the financial services sector.

There is a essential use and limitations of financial ratio analysis, One must keep in mind the following issues when using financial ratios: One of the most important reasons for using financial ratio analysis is comparability and for this, a reference point is required. Usually, financial ratios are compared to historical ratios of the business itself, competitor’s financial ratios or the overall ratios of the industry in question. Performance may be adjudged as against organizational goals or forecasts. A number of ratios must be analyzed together to get a true and reliable picture of the financial performance of the business. Relying on each ratio

The paper illustrates that financial ratio analysis is an important tool for firm’s to evaluate their financial health in order to identify areas of weakness so as to institute corrective measures.

After coming up with all of the financial ratios the financial statements are able to provide, management can figure out the trend analysis,

The “financial statements are formal reports providing information on a company's financial position, cash inflows and outflows, and the results of operations” (Hermanson, p.22). There are four main components that make up a financial statement. The four parts are, balance sheet, income statements, cash flow and, statement of owner’s equity. The balance sheets role is to define the company’s assets liabilities and revenue of the business. The income statement shows the income within the company. Cash flow reviews the position of the company by cash payments and receipts. Lastly, the statement of owner’s equity shows the amount of earnings, stock and other capitals of people in the company. (Hermanson, p.34-35).

Landry’s Debt to Asset ratio also increased from year 2002 to 2003. In 2002 Landry had a debt to asset ratio of 0.39. In 2003 Landry’s debt to asset ratio increased to 0.45. While both numbers are acceptable and considerably low, the increase from 2002 to 2003 could influence potential investors to not invest in Landry’s stock. This increase also suggests that Landry’s debt also increased from 2002 to 2003. Overall, while there was a slight increase from 2002 to 2003 Landry’s still had a good debt to asset ratio. We think that a contributing factor to the debt

have explained that the Financial statements provide asummarized view of the financial position and operations of a firm. Therefore, much can belearnt about a firm from a careful examination of its financial statements as invaluabledocuments / performance reports. The analysis of financial statements is, thus, an important aidto financial analysis.

The calculation of ratios is the calculation technique for analyzing a company’s financial performance that divides or standardize one accounting measure by another economically relevant measure. Financial ratios can be used as a tool to demonstrate financial statement users for making valid comparisons of firm operating performance, over time for the same firm and between comparable companies. External investors are mostly interested in gaining insights about a firm’s profitability, asset management, liquidity, and solvency.

The balance sheet and Income statement are the most important financial statements of the company that help conduct current analysis of company and evaluate its trends overtime. The balance sheet represents the company snapshots of its financial position on the last days of accounting period. Apple balance sheets, which represent a snapshot of its ending balances in asset, liability and equity account as of the date stated on the report, are changes each year from 2003 to 2014. On the other hand, the income statement shows its financial performance over 2003 to 2014. Apple basically ends its accounting period in September. Most of the long-term debts are in the form of the bonds. According to appleinsider.com, Apple recently issues a new euro bond worth about $2.26 billion with a maturity date on January 17, 2024 and coupon rate of 1.375% payable annually. The first payment will occur on January 17, 2016. Moody’s recently assigned a rating of Aa to Apple Inc. 's senior unsecured note issuance. Thus, Apple recent capital expenditure amount to 11,488 million according to morningstar.com. The analysis of financial statements is conduct to compare Apple with one of its closest rival Hewlett-Packard and twelve ratio were calculated. From table1 and chart1, the current ratio that determine the company ability to meet its short term obligation shows Apple’s current ratio is higher than that of Hewlett-Package from 2003 to 2014. That is, Apple is solvent than Hewlett Packard. Table

Ratio analysis is the fundamental indicator of company’s performances for so many years; it is also can be seen as the very first step to measure a company’s performance along with its financial position. Moreover, ratio analysis has been researched and developed for many years, Bliss had presented the first coherent system of ratios, and he also stated that ratios are “indicator of the status of fundamental relationship within the business” Horrigan (1968). However there are some arguments on whether the ratio analysis is useful or not since to conduct these analyses will be costly to the company, also there are several limitations on how these ratios work. Therefore, the usefulness and the limitation of ratio analysis will be discussed further in this essay, with the use of easyJet’s annual report as examples.

Financial Statements basically show the historical performance or record of the company at some previous point of time. By the time when financial statements are made public, changes are many economical areas such as market conditions, currency exchange rate and inflations can change the values of assets and liabilities. In this case there often exist discrepancies between book value of assets and their market values.

The Purpose of Financial Statements The financial statements of a business are used to provide information about the status of the business, set performance targets and impose restrictions on the managers of the firm as well as provide an easier method for financial planning. The financial statements consist of the Profit and Loss Account, Balance Sheet and the Cash Flow Statement. There are four areas of information, which we can collect from a company's financial statements. They are: Ÿ

A financial statement (or financial report) is a formal record of the financial activities of a business, person, or other entity. In British English including United Kingdom company law a financial statement is often referred to as an account, although the term financial statement is also used, particularly by accountants.