5.3 Financial reports
The final step in the accounting cycle is the preparation of the annual General Purpose Financial Reports to be presented to shareholders and other parties external to the company. As mentioned you have copies of these and together we will explore their structure and content in the next two chapters.
Very briefly, the three statements making up the annual report reveal the following:
Statement of financial position (balance sheet)
This shows assets (the resources a company has invested in), liabilities and shareholders' equity (the sources of finance obtained). Assets minus liabilities measure the company's net wealth at a particular point in time, the last day of the financial year.
Shareholders' equity represents shows the value of the resources that shareholders contribute to the company. This is made up of a direct contribution when individuals and other companies take up shares, called share capital, and an indirect contribution called retained profits and reserves. We will see how both arise in the next chapter.
Text reading
Atrill, Mclaney, Harvey & Jenner, pages 28-39.
Work carefully through Examples 2.1 and 2.2
Make your own notes on the differences between ordinary and preference shares, and why 'reserves' are not cash. You can ignore bonus shares.