Benchmark and Understand Your Business’s Performance If you are looking for a way to analyze your own or your client’s company performance, you’ll need to first grasp a good understanding of how the business is performing comprehensively.

Statement of Shareholder Equity The fourth financial statement, called a statement of shareholder equity shows how shares, total equity and ownership types have changed over time. It reconciles the activity in the equity section of the balance sheet from period-to-period. So when you see the “snap-shot” of a balance sheet from one year to the […]

Do You Understand Your Cash Flow Statement? In many businesses, income and cash flow are not always the same, which leads to the need for a cash flow statement showing the exchange of money between a company and the outside world over a period. The cash flow statement reconciles opening balance of cash (as opposed […]

Creating and Working with Your Balance Sheet A Balance Sheet is a statement showing the assets, liabilities and shareholders’ equity of a business. It provides detailed information in a specifically defined format. As the name implies, a balance sheet must be in balance – meaning: The total value of the assets must be the same […]

Understanding Your Income Statement An income statement is typically prepared at the end of a business period (such as a Fiscal Year or Quarter) to assess profit or loss. It can be thought of like a motion picture. It reports how a company performed during the period presented, and shows whether that company’s operations have […]

The Fundamentals of Financial Statements In general, financial statements show you where a company’s money came from, where it went, and where it is now. For example, did it come from sales, investments, or loans? How was it spent? How much was spent, how much is available and how much is invested?