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Financial Statements - Acc290

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Financial Statements
ACC/290
October 8, 2013

Financial Statements

Financial Statements are formal reports or records generated from accounting information such as assets, expenses, liabilities or revenues that provide a view of an entity’s financial activities. According to Weygandt, Kimmel, and Kieso (2010), the four basic financial statements are a balance sheet, an income statement, a retained earnings statement and a statement of cash flows. All of the financial statements complement each other and work together. The balance sheet describes what a company owns and what it owes at a specific time. In this statement assets or what is owned by the company must balance with the claims to the assets. Internal users like managers and employees use a balance sheet to see the stockholders’ equity. The stockholders’ equity is a combination of the common stock and retained earnings. Common stock is when new shares of stock are sold and retained earnings is the net income held within the company. External users such as investors and creditor will review and analyze this balance sheet to decide whether or not they will be repaid by the company. By reviewing the assets, liabilities and the relationship between debt and stockholders’ equity the investors or creditors can determine whether or not the company is a healthy and safe risk or a dangerous risk. The income statement shows the success of a company during a specific time by reporting on the revenues and expenses of a company producing a net income for that time period. The income statement is important to both internal and external users. Externally, investors and creditors will use the income statement to determine the health and financial future based on the income statement. Investors will buy and sell stock shares depending on whether this statement projects a positive or negative future

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