Understanding a Financial Statement

December 24th, 2009 by admin Leave a reply »

Understanding a Financial Statement PhotoConsolidated profit and loss account and balance sheet are two joint statements. This report contains information on the company’s performance this year and provides a snapshot of the health of the company at a particular time. Publicly traded companies are required to submit to them with the SEC and are publicly available through Edgar. The understanding of the information contained therein can help investors include better decisions. Consolidated profit and loss statement is always the figures for revenue, cost of goods sold (manufacturing), sales, general and administrative (SG&A), and income.

Revenue is the gross revenue. This is the total income before the deduction of taxes made, etc. Cost is the cost of purchasing raw materials and manufacturing costs. Here is a detailed inventory is very important because the COGS produced with the beginning inventory plus the cost of goods last year, minus the last survey. COGS figures show the cost of production of goods. These costs could show how the company is well managed. SG&A expenses of salaries, commissions and travel expenses for management and sales personnel, advertising costs, and labor costs. These figures must also be controlled by management, because if they get out of control, they affect profitability. Finally, the income of revenue minus costs (production costs, SG&A and tax).

In the profit and loss account numbers easy to see because they are labeled only be described Sun Sometimes refer to enterprises, the turnover cost than the cost of turnover, however.

The balance sheet is a snapshot of the health of the company at a particular time. Balance sheet has two parts: assets and liabilities. Assets on the balance sheet are listed in order of liquidity or availability for use as an Enterprise Fund. In general, listed on the balance sheet assets are cash, receivables, working capital and fixed assets. We all know what the cash. Debt claims on corporate bonds. Claims are in working capital that they will be expected to put into cash within a year. Other current assets are cash, stocks, securities, and prepaid expenses (rent, for example). Tangible assets are written off from time to time and real, long-life resources such as machinery and equipment. The liabilities are short-term liabilities (debts due this year), the long-term debt (payments during the year) and held equity (total value of shares from shareholders).

What is most important to investors of the balance sheet is the book value of the shares will be determined from the list of assets. Shareholders’ equity and book value that the shareholders would theoretically receive an amount if the company went out of business soon. Market value of companies is usually higher than the companies tend to make money. How much higher the market value, is that it can help to determine whether the investors, the stock is overvalued or perhaps even less respected.

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