Financial Statements Flashcards
Primary Statements
Statement of Profit or Loss
Statement of Financial Position
Statement of changes in equity
Statement of cash flows
Statement of Profit or Loss
Profit and loss account, also known as Income Statement
Shows financial performance of entity
Statement of Financial Position
Also known as Balance Sheet
Shows financial position of an entity at a particular date
Statement of changes in equity
Reconciles owners interest from start to end of period
Statement of Cash Flows
Presents cash movements in and out of the entity
What are financial statements used for?
To provide information about an entity that is useful in making economic decisions
Relevance
Will make a difference to the decisions users make. Relevant financial information may have a predictive value, or a confirmatory value
Confirmatory value
Confirms how accurate previous predictions have been
Predictive value
It may provide information that helps users make predictions about future performance.
Faithful representation
Representing transactions of a business as accurately as possible. It is approximately equivalent to ‘true and fair’ which is used in UK company law. There are three aspects : completeness, neutrality, and freedom from error
Completeness
No information is missing
Neutrality
Freedom from bias
Freedom from error
Accuracy of the information
4 enhancing (secondary) characteristics
Comparability
Understandability
Verifiability
Timeliness
Comparability
Comparability is about a level of standardisation that allows users to make comparisons between different entities and also from year to year
Verifiability
Whether there is evidence to support the information, and therefore whether it can be checked.