The three primary financial statements tell us important and different things about a business. The balance sheet tells us about a company’s resources and claims on those resources, the income statement measures a company’s financial performance for a period of time, and the statement of cash flows reports the cash inflows and outflows of a company by category.
You and your business partner have been running your company for one year now—long enough for your accountant to prepare a complete set of financial statements for your review. Your business partner maintains that everything she needs to know about the business is contained in the balance sheet, the statement of cash flows, and the income statement.
As a business owner, discuss at least one item (account) reported on the income statement that would help you make decisions about future business operations. In addition, choose 1 of the questions below to answer based on your response:
- What are two items (accounts) from the balance sheet that you would track on a regular basis? Why?
- What are two elements on the statement of cash flows that you and your business partner would find informative and useful as decisions about the future are made?
- How are the four financial statements interrelated? Which line items are used to prepare other statements?
- In your opinion, explain which financial statement you think is the most useful?