Lesson 6 of Fundamentals: Financial Statements and Analysis Flashcards
Personal Financial Statements
Used as a scoring mechanism for capturing and analyzing an individual’s financial position and performance.
Financial Statements Include
Balance Sheet:
- CFP board may call it a “Statement of Financial Position” or
- “Net Worth Statement”
Income and Expense Statement
- (CFP board may call it “Cash Flow Statement”)
Balance Sheet
- Listing of Assets, Liabilities, and net worth
- A snapshot of account balances in a moment in time.
- Proper dating is “As of December 31, 20xx”
Formula:
Assets - Liabilities = Net Worth
Assets
- Property that is owned or partially owned by the client.
- All assets are stated at FMV.
Fair market value
The price at which a willing buyer is willing to buy and the price at which a willing seller is willing to sell.
Cash & Cash Equivalents or Current Assets
Current Assets or Cash & Cash Equivalents Examples
- Cash
- Checkings
- Money Market
- CD (12 months or less maturity)
- Includes laddered CDs set to mature every 6 months.
- Includes anything client will convert to cash within 1 year.
Invested Assets
Examples:
- Stocks
- Bonds
- Mutual Funds
- Retirement accounts (IRA)
- Business ownership
- Any assets maturing in greater than 12 months.
- EE Savings bond
- Brokerage
Personal Use Assets
Examples:
- Personal Residence
- Car
- Furniture
- Boat
- Clothing
- Includes any assets used to maintain the client’s lifestyle.
Liabilities
- Stated at Principal Outstanding
- Debt obligations that are owed by the client.
- Are classified according to the timing of when they are due.
- Either current or
- long-term liabilities.
Mortgage can be in both Current and Long Term.
Current Liabilities
(Short Term Liabilities)
Obligations due within 12 months.
It includes interest unless already incurred.
Example:
- Credit cards
- Taxes Payable
- Unpaid bills (Utilities, Cable, cell phone)
Long term Liabilities
Remaining balance on any outstanding debt beyond 12 months.
Examples:
- Outstanding balance on a loan for a client:
- House
- Car
- Boat
- Other outstanding Loan
Net Worth
Difference between assets and liabilities.
What does the balance sheet not explain?
- Why or how an asset increased in value?
- Whether the client bought more of the asset or did the asset appreciate?
- Why or how an asset or liability appear on the balance sheet?
- Whether the client purchased an asset or inherited the asset?
- Does not explain the changes in net worth.
- Whether the increase in net worth is the result of added savings, inherited assets, appreciation of assets, or debt retirement.
Statement of Income and Expenses
Listing of income, savings, expenses, and taxes. Also Called Statement of Cash Flows
Income:
- Salary
- Interest
- Dividends
- Business Income
Savings:
- Outflow to retirement plans
- Education savings
- Any other Savings account
Expenses:
- Variable
- Fixed
- Presents income and expenses over a period of time
- Proper dating would be, “For the Year 20xx”
Discretionary Cash Flows should be postive which means good, negative means bad.
Fixed Expenses examples
- Mortgage
- car payments
- boat payment
- student loan payment
- Any expenses that remain constant each month
Variable expenses examples
- Car repairs
- Entertainment expenses
- Utilities
- Charitable contributions
- Generally, any expense over which the client can control.
Example: Purchasing a new bedroom suite
What does a Cash Flow Statement not do?
- Consider an employee’s contributions to retirement plans (only captures and reports employees’ contributions to a savings account.)
- Captures and report the giving or receiving of gifts or inheritance
Exam Question - Financial Statements
During the gathering phase of the financial planning process, a client provides a financial statement of cash flows to a CFP certificate. The financial statement will provide the certificate with an understanding of all the following?
a) Variable Expenses
b) Income Taxes Paybale
c) 401 (k) savings contributions
d) Discretionary Cash Flow
B- Income Taxes Payable
Would appear on the current liabilities of the balance sheet. (Statement of financial position)
Financial Statement Analysis
Provides us insight into a client’s strengths and weaknesses.
Allows us to answer questions to:
- How well does the client manage debt?
- How well client is progressing toward the financial goals?
- How well client is able to meet short-term obligations?
Limitations of Financial Statement Analysis
Only Provides us with a historical perspective.
Not a predictive of the future.
Ratio Analysis
Science + Art
Science: Calculating the ratio
Art: Providing meaning and insight to the ratio.
Objective of Ratio Analysis
Gain additional insight into the financial situation and behavior of the client.
Generate questions for the client to further gain insight.
Example:
- If the client has a low savings rate and high variable expenses, can the client adjust any variable expenses to increase the savings rate?
Liquidity Ratios
Measure the ability of a client to meet short-term or current liabilities.
- Current Assets
- Emergency Fund