FINANCIAL STATEMENTS by Michael J
CHAPTER 7 FINANCIAL STATEMENTS by Michael J. Buckle, PhD, James Seaton, PhD, and Stephen Thomas, PhD LEARNING OUTCOMES After completing this chapter, you should be able to do the following: a Describe the roles of standard setters, regulators, and auditors in finan- cial reporting; b Describe information provided by the balance sheet; c Compare types of assets, liabilities, and equity; d Describe information provided by the income statement; e Distinguish between profit and net cash flow; f Describe information provided by the cash flow statement; g Identify and compare cash flow classifications of operating, investing, and financing activities; h Explain links between the income statement, balance sheet, and cash flow statement; i Explain the usefulness of ratio analysis for financial statements; j Identify and interpret ratios used to analyse a company’s liquidity, profit- ability, financing, shareholder return, and shareholder value. Introduction 195 INTRODUCTION 1 The financial performance of a company matters to many different people. Management is interested in assessing the success of its plans relative to its past and forecasted performance and relative to its competitors’ performance. Employees care because the company’s financial success affects their job security and compensation. The company’s financial performance matters to investors because it affects the returns on their investments. Tax authorities are interested as well because they may tax the company’s profits. An investment analyst will scrutinise a company’s performance and then make recommendations to clients about whether to buy or sell the securities, such as shares of stocks and bonds, issued by that company. One way to begin to evaluate a company is to look at its past performance.
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