Читать книгу Corporate Value Creation - Karlson Lawrence C. - Страница 10

When one opens a financial report or a set of financial statements, the first statement encountered is usually the Income Statement, followed by a Balance Sheet and Cash Flow Statement. There isn't anything sacrosanct about this order of presentation. In fact they could be presented in any order. One of the reasons the presentation conventions have evolved in this manner is by doing so they present the financial affairs in a logical order. Stated simply, the Income Statement presents how a business has done during a period of time (usually the most recent period, i.e., month, quarter, or year). The Balance Sheet is a presentation of the Company's capital structure and ability to make investments. The Cash Flow Statement shows where the business generated cash and what it did with it and is developed from the accounts in the Income Statement and Balance Sheet. In the discussion that follows, the definitions implied by the simplified financial statements shown in Tables 1-1, 1-3, and 1-5 will be used.3

As its title implies, this chapter deals with basic concepts. The intent is to quickly move through the basic concepts associated with financial statements such as the Income Statement, Balance Sheet, and Cash Flow Statement and give the reader an overview. An in-depth discussion of this material and more will be provided in the chapters that follow.