1. Understanding Accounting and Financial Statements
Chapter 16
Understanding Accounting and
Financial Statements

2. financial information
Accounting
Accounting is
THE PROCESS
Of measuring, interpreting, and communicating
financial information
TO SUPPORT
internal and external business decision making.

3. Open Book Management
Open book management - sharing sensitive financial information with employees and teaching them how to understand and use financial statements.
Viewing financial information may help them better understand how their work contributes to the company’s success.
Outsiders use financial data to evaluate investment opportunities.

4. Business Activities Involving Accounting
Financing activities provide necessary funds to start a business and expand it after it begins operating.
Investing activities provide valuable assets required to run a business.
Operating activities focus on selling goods and services, but they also consider expenses as important elements of sound financial management.
Hotel Refurb Group

5. Accounting Professionals
Public Accountants
Provide accounting services to individuals or business firms for a fee
(1) auditing, or examining, financial records;
(2) tax preparation, planning, and related services; and
(3) management consulting.
CPAs

6. Accounting Professionals …
Management Accountants
Provide timely, relevant, accurate, and concise information that executives can use to operate their firms
Where is the company going?
What opportunities await it?
Do certain situations expose the company to excessive risk?
Does the firm’s information system provide detailed and timely information to all levels of management?
Government and Not-for-Profit Accountants
CMA
Cost accountant, Tax accountant
Internal auditor

7. The Foundation of Accounting Systems
Generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) encompass the conventions, rules, and procedures for determining acceptable accounting practices at a particular time.
Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) is primarily responsible for evaluating, setting, or modifying GAAP in the U.S.
Sarbanes-Oxley Act responded to cases of accounting fraud.
Created the Public Accounting Oversight Board, which sets audit standards and investigates and sanctions accounting firms that certify the books of publicly traded firms.
Senior executives must personally certify that the financial information reported by the company is correct.
Resulted in increase in demand for accountants.

8. Accounting process - set of activities involved in converting information about transactions into financial statements.

9. The Accounting Equation
Assets - anything of value owned or leased by a business.
Liability - claim against a firm’s assets by a creditor.
Owner’s equity - all claims of the proprietor, partners, or stockholders against the assets of a firm, equal to the excess of assets over liabilities.
Basic accounting equation - relationship that states that assets equal liabilities plus owners’ equity.
Assets = Liabilities + Owners’ equity
Double-entry bookkeeping - process by which accounting transactions are entered; each individual transaction always has an offsetting transaction.
A decrease in an asset must be offset by either an increase in another asset, a decrease in a liability, or a decrease in owners’ equity.

10. Impact of Computers & The Internet on Accounting
Simplifies the accounting process by automating data entry and calculations.
Available products are customized for businesses of different sizes.
Entrepreneurs and small businesses use: QuickBooks, Peachtree, and BusinessWorks.
Larger firms use larger scale software packages like: Computer Associates, Oracle, and SAP.
Specific software based advantages
International business- different country information/language.
Web-based package

11. Balance Sheet
Balance sheet - statement of a firm’s financial position—what it owns and the claims against its assets—at a particular point in time.
Photograph of firm’s assets together with its liabilities and owner’s equity
Follows the accounting equation

12. Balance Sheet Current Assets: Plant, Property, and Equipment (net):
Cash and other liquid assets that can or will be converted to cash within one year.
Plant, Property, and Equipment (net):
Physical assets expected to last for more than one year; shown net of accumulated depreciation the cumulative value that plant, property, and equipment have been expensed (depreciated).
Value of assets
such as patents and trademarks.
Current Liabilities:
Claims of creditors that are to be repaid within one year; accruals are expenses, such as wages, that have been incurred but not yet paid.
Long-Term Debt:
Debts that come due one year or longer after the date on the balance sheet.
Owners’ (or shareholders’) Equity:
Claims of the owners against the assets of the firm; the difference between total assets and total liabilities.

13. Income Statement - financial record of a company’s revenues and expenses, and profits over a period of time.
Firm’s financial performance in terms of revenues, expenses, and profits over a given time period.
Reports profit or loss.
Focus on revenues and costs associated with revenues.
Bottom Line

14. Statement of Owner’s Equity
It is designed to show the components of the change in equity from the end of one fiscal year to the end of the next.
Begins with the amount of equity shown on the balance sheet at end of the prior year.
Net income is added, and cash dividends paid to owners are subtracted.

15. Statement Of Cash Flows
Statement of cash flows - a firm’s cash receipts and cash payments that presents information on its sources and uses of cash.
Accrual accounting - method that records revenue and expenses when they occur, not necessarily when cash actually changes hands.

16. Operating Activities:
day-to-day activities
Increases in accounts receivable and inventory are uses of cash
increases in accruals and accounts payables are sources of cash
in financially healthy firms, net cash flow here should be positive.
Investing Activities:
often a use of cash.
Financing Activities:
Ways to transfer cash to or from creditors and to or from owners; can be either positive or negative.
Net Cash Flow: The sum of cash flow from operating, investing, and financing activities, a reconcilement of cash from the beginning to the end of the accounting period (one year in this example).

17. Financial Ratios Analysis
Ratio analysis - tool for measuring a firm’s liquidity, profitability, and reliance on debt financing, as well as the effectiveness of management’s resource utilization.

18. Liquidity Ratios
Total current assets
Current ratio compares current assets to current liabilities. Rule of thumb ~ 2 to 1
Total current liabilities
Acid-test (or quick) ratio measures the ability of a firm to meet its debt payments on short notice.
Rule of thumb ~1
Cash and equivalents + short-term investments + accounts receivable
Total current liabilities

19. Activity Ratios Net sales
Inventory turnover ratio indicates the number of times merchandise moves through a business. Rule of thumb~ industry standards
Average of inventory

20. Activity Ratios Receivables turnover = Credit sales
__________________________
Average accounts receivable
Net sales
Total asset turnover ratio indicates how much in sales each dollar invested in assets generates.
Average of total assets

21. Profitability Ratios
Profitability ratios measure the organization’s overall financial performance by evaluating its ability to generate revenues in excess of operating costs and other expenses.

22. Leverage Ratios
Leverage ratios measure the extent to which a firm relies on debt financing.
Total liabilities to total assets ratio > 50 percent indicates that a firm is relying more on borrowed money than owners’ equity.

23. Budget - planning and control tool that reflects a firm’s expected sales revenues, operating expenses, and cash receipts and outlays.
Management estimates of expected sales, cash inflows and outflows, and costs.
Budgets are a financial blueprint that serves as a financial plan.
Cash budget - tracks the firm’s cash inflows and outflows.

24. International Accounting
International Accounting Standards Committee (IASC) promotes worldwide consistency in financial reporting practices. In 2001, became the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB). International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) are the standards.
Exchange Rates - ratio at which a country’s currency can be exchanged for other currencies.
Consolidated financial statements must reflect gains and losses due to changes in exchange rates.
Can have significant impact on financial statement.

25. Learning Goals
Explain the functions and major components of the four principal financial statements: the balance sheet, the income statement, the statement of owner’s equity, and the statement of cash flows.
Discuss how financial ratios are used to analyze a company’s financial strengths and weaknesses.
Describe the role of budgets in a business.
Outline accounting issues facing global business and the move toward one set of worldwide accounting rules. 5 1
Explain the functions and importance of accounting, and identify the three basic activities involving accounting.
Describe the roles played by public, management, government and not-for- profit accountants.
Identify the foundations of the accounting system, including GAAP and the role of the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB).
Outline the steps in the accounting cycle, and define double-entry bookkeeping and the accounting equation. 2 6 3 7 4 8