How to Quickly & Effectively Read an Annual Report

Benton Co. has compiled the following account balances from its general ledger on August 31, 20Y8 (the last day of its fiscal year). Note that this policy may change as the SEC manages SEC.gov to ensure that the website performs efficiently and remains available to all users. However if the Company would not have applied revaluation model, but the cost model, its PPE and equity would have not looked that great. One small note said that the Company was applying revaluation model to its PPE and as there are no market values available, the company determined fair value by using “3rd level of inputs” into the fair value model.

Harold Averkamp (CPA, MBA) has worked as a university accounting instructor, accountant, and consultant for more than 25 years. Upgrading to a paid membership gives you access to our extensive collection of plug-and-play Templates designed to power your performance—as well as CFI’s full course catalog and accredited Certification Programs. Access and download collection of free Templates to help power your productivity and performance.

Perhaps even before digging into a company’s financials, an investor should look at the company’s annual report and the 10-K. Much of the annual report is based on the 10-K, but contains less information and is presented in a marketable document intended for an audience of shareholders. Securities and Exchange Commission or SEC and tends to contain more details than other reports. The financial statement numbers don’t provide all of the disclosure required by regulatory authorities.

Employee benefit plans provide benefits to both employees and former employees. One example is a health and welfare benefit plan that provides medical, dental, vision, vacation, and dependent care (just to name a few) benefits to employees and former employees. Investopedia’s Glossary of Terms provides you with thousands of definitions and detailed explanations to help you understand terms related to finance, investing, and economics.

The financial statements are reports that exhibit all the company’s financial information but are supposed to be prepared in a proper structure and format in accordance with IAS 1 (International Accounting Standards). Other details mentioned in the footnotes include errors in previous accounting statements, looming legal cases in which the company is involved and details of any synthetic leases. These types of disclosures are of the utmost importance to investors with an interest in the company’s operations. The second item of importance to examine is any changes made in an account from one period to the next, and the effect it will have on the bottom-line financial statements. In the company X example, imagine the company switched from the delivery method to the production method.

Footnotes to the financial statements serve as a way for a company to provide additional explanations for various portions of their financial statements. Footnotes to the financial statements thus report the details and additional information that is left out of the main financial statements such as the balance sheet, income statement, and cash flow statement. Alone, the balance sheet doesn’t provide information on trends, which is why you need to examine other financial statements, including income and cash flow statements, to fully comprehend a company’s financial position.

Purpose for financial statements

This is particularly true of the balance sheet; the income statement and cash flow statement are less susceptible to this phenomenon. Knowing how to work with the numbers in a company’s financial statements is an essential skill for stock investors. The meaningful interpretation and analysis of balance sheets, income statements, and cash flow statements to discern a company’s investment qualities is the basis for smart investment choices.

At the most minimal level, a business is expected to issue an income statement and balance sheet to document its monthly results and ending financial condition. The full set of financial statements is expected when a business is reporting the results for a full fiscal year, or when a publicly-held business is reporting the results of its fiscal quarters. It shows the results of an entity’s operations and financial activities for the reporting period. It usually contains the results for either the past month or the past year, and may include several periods for comparison purposes.

Use the information given to create Benton Co.’s annual financial statements. The notes to the financial statements also must disclose claims by creditors against the assets of the company. It also gives the user of the financial statements a look at future cash flows, which can affect the payment of dividends. Depreciation is spreading the cost of a long-term asset over its useful life (which may be years after the purchase). A business values its ending inventory using inventory valuation methods. The methods a company opts to use for both depreciation expense and inventory valuation can cause wild fluctuations in the amount of assets shown on the balance sheet and the amount of net income (loss) shown on the income statement.

• The document is often shared as part of quarterly and annual reports, and shows financial trends, business activities (revenue and expenses), and comparisons over set periods.
• Those wanting to dig a little deeper may want to consider learning how to analyze reports, such as shareholder’s equity and retained earnings.
• Footnotes to the financial statements thus report the details and additional information that is left out of the main financial statements such as the balance sheet, income statement, and cash flow statement.
• Any information that is needed to clarify or add additional detail to a financial statement will be found in the footnotes.

Download our free course flowchart to determine which best aligns with your goals. Because of this, 10-K reports are longer and denser than annual reports, and have strict filing requirements—they must be filed with the SEC between 60 to 90 days after the end of a company’s fiscal year. You can also find detailed discussions of operations for the year, as well as a full analysis of the industry and marketplace. If you’re not an investor, but an employee working within a corporation, the annual report can impart valuable information pertinent to your career. Understanding how your company is performing and the impact your actions have had on its business objectives can help you advocate for a promotion or other form of career advancement. I was discussing the financial statements of one big company with a very clever investor who was seeking a company with good potential to invest in.

Financial Statements to Use

Current assets are things a company expects to convert to cash within one year. Noncurrent assets are things a company does not expect to convert to cash within one year or that would take longer than one year to sell. Fixed assets are those assets used to operate the business but that are not available for sale, such as trucks, office furniture and other property. It’s the money that would be left if a company sold all of its assets and paid off all of its liabilities.

If you look at some financial statements online, you will often see similar structure as presented here. Notes are the integral part of a complete set of financial statements in line with IAS 1. Accounting for depreciation and inventory is usually addressed in whichever note gives a summary of accounting policies.

Read the MD&A

If you see situations in which the company is writing only a paragraph on a major event or issue, or using convoluted language to skirt it entirely, it may be wise to simply move on to another company. However, what is often not provided along with this wise advice is a set of instructions on exactly how to read a company’s footnotes. This article will not only explain what footnotes are, but what they mean and how to use them to your financial benefit. In tax changes shake up salt deductions consolidated financial statements, all subsidiaries are listed as well as the amount of ownership (controlling interest) that the parent company has in the subsidiaries. In the United States, prior to the advent of the internet, the annual report was considered the most effective way for corporations to communicate with individual shareholders. Blue chip companies went to great expense to produce and mail out attractive annual reports to every shareholder.

Business Insights

Depreciation takes into account the wear and tear on some assets, such as machinery, tools and furniture, which are used over the long term. Companies spread the cost of these assets over the periods they are used. This process of spreading these costs is called depreciation or amortization.

The content of each footnote and the different explanatory notes will vary tremendously between companies and industries, so it is essential to read them whenever analyzing a company’s financials thoroughly. Some footnotes will be filled with accounting jargon, which may make the information conveyed difficult for the reader to understand. It could be to hide something from the public, and investors should be wary of any financial statements like them. Auditors will also use the financial statements and their footnotes to help understand the company’s financial position.

“Show me the money!”

Information on the state of the economy, the industry, competitive considerations, market forces, technological change, the quality of management and the workforce are not directly reflected in a company’s financial statements. Investors need to recognize that financial statement insights are but one piece, albeit an important one, of the larger investment puzzle. In the United States, especially in the post-Enron era there has been substantial concern about the accuracy of financial statements. Corporate officers—the chief executive officer (CEO) and chief financial officer (CFO)—are personally responsible for fair financial reporting that provides an accurate sense of the organization to those reading the report. Usually, the first notes in the series explain the “basis for accounting”—if cash or accrual rules were used to prepare the documents—and the methods used to report amortization/depreciation expenses. Both an annual and 10-K report can help you understand the financial health, status, and goals of a company.

Beyond the editorial, an annual report summarizes financial data and includes a company’s income statement, balance sheet, and cash flow statement. It also provides industry insights, management’s discussion and analysis (MD&A), accounting policies, and additional investor information. The financial statements used in investment analysis are the balance sheet, the income statement, and the cash flow statement with additional analysis of a company’s shareholders’ equity and retained earnings. Although the income statement and the balance sheet typically receive the majority of the attention from investors and analysts, it’s important to include in your analysis the often overlooked cash flow statement. For large corporations, these statements may be complex and may include an extensive set of footnotes to the financial statements and management discussion and analysis.