Balance Sheets

A Snapshot of a firms assets, liablities and source of capital at any moment in time. This helps us answer the following questions:

- What The Business is worth - Can It afford to expand - Is it a safe investment

Profit and Loss Accounts

Calculating the level of profit in the most recent trading period, usually the financial year.

REMEMBER: Profit = Revenue - Total Costs or P = R + T

TTU (Things to remember) = It tells us if the firm is trading successfully, how effecitve the senior management are and if it is likely to be a successful investment.

Cash Flow Statement

The required statement to be released in the published financial accounts of Public Limited Companies. It tells us where cash has come from and where the cash has been used over the course of the year.

Cashflow forecast

Estimating what a businesses bank account will look like in the coming year.

Budget

A financial plan set for costs and or revenues. They are a way of coordinating, motivating and controlling the key activites of the business in the coming year.

Contribution Statement

These set out the contribution to overheads made by each department or division of a company.