Читать книгу Financial Accounting For Dummies - Maire Loughran - Страница 36

IN THIS CHAPTER

Realizing why the financial statements matter

Reflecting a company’s financial position: The balance sheet

Offering a short-term scorecard: The income statement

Reporting cash moving in and out: The statement of cash flows

This chapter provides a brief overview of the three key financial statements: the balance sheet, income statement, and statement of cash flows. (Later in the book, I go into much more detail about each one.) If you’re going to be an accountant, you have to get to know financial statements backward and forward. To get you moving in the right direction, I show you the purpose of each financial statement and which accounts show up on each. I also offer a thumbnail sketch of how accounts on one statement interact with accounts on another.

You find out about the three balance sheet components: assets, liabilities, and equity. I also discuss the various sections on the income statement, including the difference between revenue from operations and other gains and losses. You learn why a statement of cash flows is so crucially important to users of financial statements that are prepared using the accrual method of accounting. And finally, I introduce the three sections of the statement of cash flows — operating, investing, and financing — and explain what types of information you record in each.

You may never love financial statements so much that they become your bedtime or beachside reading material. But if you decide to pursue a career in accounting, you have to enjoy spending time with them at least a little because they’re crucial to the work you do.