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Financial Statements Financial statements are summaries of the operating, financing, and investment activities of a business. Financial statements should provide information useful to both investors and creditors in making credit, investment, and other business decisions. And this usefulness means that investors and creditors can use these statements to predict, compare, and evaluate the amount, timing, and uncertainty of potential cash flows. In other words, financial statements provide the information needed to assess a company’s future earnings and therefore the cash flows expected to result from those earnings. In this chapter, we discuss the four basic financial statements: the balance sheet, the income statement, the statement of cash flows, and the statement of shareholders’ equity. The analysis of financial statements is provided in Part Six of this book. ACCOUNTING PRINCIPLES AND ASSUMPTIONS The accounting data in financial statements are prepared by the firm’s management according to a set of standards, referred to as generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP). The financial statements of a company whose stock is publicly traded must, by law, be audited at least annually by independent public accountants (i.e., accountants who are not employees of the firm). In such an audit, the accountants examine the financial statements and the data from which these statements are prepared and attest—through the published auditor’s opinion—that these statements have been prepared according to GAAP. The auditor’s opinion focuses on whether the statements conform to GAAP and that there is adequate disclosure of any material change in accounting principles. The financial statements are created using several assumptions that affect how we use and interpret the financial data: ■ Transactions are recorded at historical cost. Therefore, the values shown in the statements are not market or replacement values, but rather reflect the original cost (adjusted for depreciation, in the case of depreciable assets). ■ The appropriate unit of measurement is the dollar. While this seems logical, the effects of inflation, combined with the practice of recording values at historical cost, may cause problems in using and interpreting these values. ■ The statements are recorded for predefined periods of time. Generally, statements are produced to cover a chosen fiscal year or quarter, with the income statement and the statement of cash flows spanning a period’s time and the balance sheet and statement of shareholders’ equity as of the end of the specified period. But because the end of the fiscal year is generally chosen to coincide with the low point of activity in the firm’s operating cycle, the annual balance sheet and statement of shareholders’ equity may not be representative of values for the year. ■ Statements are prepared using accrual accounting and the matching principle. Most businesses use accrual accounting, where income and revenues are matched in timing such that income is recorded in the period in which it is earned and expenses are reported in the period in which they are incurred to generate revenues. The result of the use of accrual accounting is that reported income does not necessarily coincide with cash flows. Because the financial analyst is concerned ultimately with cash flows, he or she often must understand how reported income relates to a company’s cash flows. ■ It is assumed that the business will continue as a going concern. The assumption that the business enterprise will continue indefinitely justifies the appropriateness of using historical costs instead of current market values because these assets are expected to be used up over time instead of sold. ■ Full disclosure requires providing information beyond the financial statements. The requirement that there be full disclosure means that, in addition to the accounting numbers for such accounting items as revenues, expenses, and assets, narrative and additional numerical disclosures are provided in notes accompanying the financial statements. An analysis of financial statements is therefore not complete without this additional information. ■ Statements are prepared assuming conservatism. In cases in which more than one interpretation of an event is possible, statements are prepared using the most conservative interpretation. The financial statements and the auditors’ findings are published in the firm’s annual and quarterly reports sent to shareholders and the 10K and 10Q filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Also included in the reports, among other items, is a discussion by management, providing an overview of company events. The annual reports are much more detailed and disclose more financial information than the quarterly reports.
