Purpose Of An Income Statement

The purpose of this paper is to define accounting, and identify the four basic financial statements. The paper also explains how the different financial statements are interrelated to each other and why they are useful to managers, investors, creditors, and employees.

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

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.

While inaccurate accounting can cause misleading information about the company, every successful company should develop an income statement and balance sheet when monitoring financial growth. Also, formulating a horizontal and ratio analysis creates an accurate trend of the company spending behavior and debt-to-ratio venerability. A balance sheet can be considered as the bloodline of the company, allowing a quick view of financial fluency which could be attractive to outside investors. Last but not least, the income statement presents a hard result of gains, liabilities, revenues and debt within a yearly

These statements can also be used to make a company look stronger, than they appear. Therefore, it is important for investors to do extra research on companies. As an investor, the information will be used to decide the true financial position of a company. If one is, a government official this information can be used to find out if a company is out of compliance. This is an important

* 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

Financial statements are a very useful tool for individuals interested in the organization. Investors use the information to determine if it a wise decision to put their money into the organization. Investors need to determine if the organization has been successful and profitable and will continue to be successful and profitable. Creditors use the financial statements to determine the amount of credit that should be advanced to the organization. Employees generally do not look at the financial statements, but if a new executive was thinking of joining the organization, he or she may want to see the potential of the organization to make sure the investors are becoming a part of a successful organization. Management uses the financial statements on a monthly basis to determine which areas of the organization are profitable and which areas of the organization that needs to be discontinued or restructure to become more profitable.

Income statement refers to the financial statement that helps in evaluating a company 's financial progress over a particular accounting period (Robinson, 2009). The financial progress of a particular company is evaluated by providing a summary of the manner in which the business sustains its revenues and expenses through operating and non-operating undertakings. An income statement also indicates the net profit or loss suffered over a particular accounting period, usually over a financial quarter or year (Robinson, 2009).

This essay will begin to look at the main financial statements used by decision makers in businesses today. This essay will go into detail about the income statement and statement of financial position and whether these two statements provide decision makers with their financial information adequately. This essay will also include the various advantages and disadvantages of each financial statement as well as describing whom the decision makers are and why financial statements are important to them. A conclusion will be present at the end of this essay to demonstrate an overall view of whether financial statements are beneficial to decision makers.

This Income Statement also known as the Earnings Statements or statement of operation, is one of the four Financial Statement used by accountants, business owner’s, and investors. The Income Statement provides a detailed look into how profitable a business has been over a designated period of time.

The Purpose of Financial Statements The financial statements of a business are used to provide information about the status of the business, set performance targets and impose restrictions on the managers of the firm as well as provide an easier method for financial planning. The financial statements consist of the Profit and Loss Account, Balance Sheet and the Cash Flow Statement. There are four areas of information, which we can collect from a company's financial statements. They are: Ÿ

The income statement shows a true and fair view of the company profit or loss for its financial year

The health of any organization or firm is dependent upon the numbers associated with it. These include the firm 's income statement, balance sheet, statement of cash flows, and ratio analysis. For any investor, lender, or owner to have a full picture of the performance of any entity, it is imperative that they have an in depth knowledge of the construction of values associated with individual line items described and detailed in these documents. In addition, the overall health of the organization can be determined by the reflection of said numbers. In short, these documents make up the nutrition label of the specific company (U.S. Security and Exchange Commission, 2007).

Chapter 17 covers the financial statement analysis and ratios. Financial statement analysis is the process of examining financial statements that will depict the financial position of the company allowing them to make better financial decisions. A typical financial statement consist of a balance sheet, income statement, cash flow statement and notes to account. The most common being the balance sheet and the income statement. The balance sheet, also referred to as a statement of financial positon, is usually made up of assets and liabilities and provides information about the financial position of the company. It is a two sided report, assets on one side, and liabilities on the other. Liabilities typically include accounts payable, accrues expenses, income tax owed, stockholders’ equity (net worth), and loans. The income statement, also referred to the earning and loss statement, depicts the profitability of the company. It shows to total sales revenue for one year. The expenses the company incurs in producing finished good to sell is subtracted from the sales revenue. Also deducted is the operating cost expenses and the deprecation. When analyzing the income statement, it is important to note that the profitability isn’t just the total profit. It is important to look at the ratio of expenses as a percentage of profit. A company with high profits and high expenses could easily be mismanaged.

Income Statement by a company is the information on the financial statement of a business activity over a certain period of time usually a quarter or a year. It also explained how much revenue the business grew throughout a period of time and the cost it gained in relating to its revenue. Companies have to be able to bring money otherwise they would not be able to stay in business; therefore income statement show how well or how bad the company is doing.