Introduction Successful businesses derive their strength from skillful management strategies and a positive financial position. The only way to gauge and improve the financial position of any business is to have a solid method of tracking its dollars and cents, as a function of how it performs against its own track record over time and within the market in which it operates. Profitable businesses utilize the income statement, balance sheet, owners’ equity calculations, and the statement of cash flows for this purpose.
Income Statement The income statement reflects business operations over time. It reports the revenues generated and expenses incurred by a firm over an accounting period (Melicher & Norton, 2014).
Major expenses that are shown on the statement are the cost of goods sold; the selling, general, and administrative expenses; and depreciation. Income expense is also included, which is basically a representation of federal and state taxes that the business incurs based on the type of business organization. This statement is crucial because it demonstrates how well a business is doing in its market compared to other similar businesses and can be used as a method for determining how the business can improve itself. Naomi Smith of the Houston Chronicle notes: “Use your income statement to track important metrics and determine which areas need particular attention.” (Smith, n.d.)
Balance Sheet The balance sheet is a view of the financial condition of a company
An income statement, also known as a profit and loss statement shows how much money a company has spent over a period of time. It also shows the costs and expenses that are associated with earning that revenue. It is an important measure of the company’s profitability. The simple building blocks of a net income formula are revenues minus expenses equal net income.
Financial Management is an important aspect of how a business operates efficiently. The way that the finances are controlled can determine how successful the company is. The finances of a business allows for the growth of the company. The five practices of financial management: capital structure decision, investment appraisal techniques, dividend policy, working capital management and financial performance assessment are critical when assessing a company. The performance of a company plays a key role on how successful the company is on meeting goals. There are different strategies and tools that a company can implement and if they are used to effectively the company can meet their goals. If a company has good finances, a good
In accounting there is much to be learned, about the financial aspects of a business. In the past five weeks I have learned the importance of financial reports and how they relate to the success of an establishment. These reports may include balance sheets and income statements, which help accountants and the public grasp the overall financial condition of a company. The information in these reports is really significant to, managers, owners, employees, and investors. Managers of a business can take and deduce financial
When you’re looking at the income statement, you can get information about profitability for a particular period. This is also called the profit and loss statement. The income statement is composed of both income and expenses. This statement can be used to deduct expenses from income and report either a net profit or net loss for that period. This statement will deduct all expenses from income and then report your net profit or net loss for that period. This will allow the business owner to determine if the business is bringing in a good amount of revenue to make a profit. The cash flow statement shows the movement in cash and balance over period. The cash flow can vary depending on the operating activities, investing and financing activities. This statement provides one business owner with insight to the company’s liquidity which is vital to the growth of the business. Reinvesting in business is very important, looking at the statement of retained earnings will tell a business owner how much were reinvested in the company. After profitable period, every big business has to give some of its profits to stockholders, and keep the rest amount as retained earnings. Out of all statements, retaining statement is important to companies that sells stocks to the public. This statement can also provide you with assets and liabilities information. These informations can be used to assess the financial health of your business. The results of a balance sheet will help the business owners to show the risk of liquidity and credit. Looking at these information you can measure trends and relationships to show where in the areas you can improve. These can also be compared to similar companies to show how the business measures up to leading competitors (Ali, 2010). In summary, the financial statements can provide a business owner
a.) The income statement, also called the profit & loss account (P & L), is used to illustrate a company’s revenues and expenses over a particular period of time. It shows the net profit and/or loss for the given period (the difference between the business’ total income and its total costs). It also allows shareholders to see the performance of the business and if it has made an acceptable profit.
* An income statement is a report that contains information in regards to an organizations’ assets and financing in order to obtain those assets that is collected over a certain period of time
In order to ascertain how well a company is performing, analyses must be done in regard to the business being stable, including its’ ability to pay debts, how much cash or other liquid assets are available, and whether the organization is viable enough to continue operations. These analyses typically look at income statements, balance sheets, and statements of cash flow, where current and past performance will be studied with the goal of predicting how the company will perform in the future.
(Ohara, 2007) Most financial statements are made public for the benefit of stakeholders and potential investors. The bottom-line is that financial statements are the main source for analyzing how well a company is operating. The income (or profit and loss) statement is simply a report card of how much activity (revenue) was performed in the period, how profitable that activity was (gross profit/loss), and what it cost the contractor to run the business (overhead). (Murphy, 2006)
The income statement (IS) also known as the profit & loss statement provides the net gain or net loss of a business entity. The importance of the income statement is to evaluate profitability of a company (Finkler, Jones, and Koyner, 2013). The best use of the IS,
Reports revenues and expenses for a specific period of time. A firm's revenues, gains, expenses and losses are listed on the income statement. Revenue is money earned from a company’s
Users are likely interested in information that will assess the company's liquidity, solvency, risk and return, etc. Therefore, they can know more about how is the company financed and the availability of cash to pay debt from the balance sheet. They can know exactly about allocation of the use of cash for different activities from the statement of cash flows. Income statement will provide the information about the revenues and expenses of the company. They can also access information associated with dividend paid and retained earnings.
Income statements generally report on a period matching the standard accounting periods of the business, or may cover a specific period as defined for research purposes. At the core, the income statement provides a key measure of the profitability of a business. This differs from the liquidity or cash on hand of a business, but instead examines the business’ ability to bring in revenues that exceed expenses over a given period of time (Hofstrand, 2009).
Ans: The income statement lists the revenues minus expenses or costs of goods sold and operating expenses and will reveal a net income or net loss (Revenues – Expenses = Net Profit or Net Loss). Income statements show how much money a company made and spent over a period of time. Income Statements cover a specified period of time usually annually or quarterly. An Income Statement represents only one limited view of the companies’ net profits or net loss after all revenues are listed while expenses (costs) and taxes are subtracted. The Income
This income statement tells how much money a company has brought in (its revenues) how much it has spent (its expenses) and the difference between the two (its profit). The income statement show’s a company’s revenues and expenses over a specific time frame. This statement
The first of the financial statements is the income statement. The income statement states the revenues and expenses in an understandable way that shows a clear picture of net income or net loss for the