Talk:Financial statement

In the modern capitalist system?

"In the modern capitalist system, most governments require publicly-traded companies to issue a set of documents each year called financial statements". This doesn't sound right, "in the modern capitalist system"?. There have been financial statements for as long as there has been written record of man. The reason for them is to keep records. - Jerryseinfeld 21:01, 3 Dec 2004 (UTC)

Yes, it's poorly-worded, but from a financial accounting standpoint it's correct. Financial statements of public companies follow a set form in order to allow comparison between periods and between companies. It's true that the theories they represent predate reporting requirements, but the requirements do exist. Rhobite 21:37, Dec 3, 2004 (UTC)

Title

These things are called "financial statements". We don't really refer to a "financial statement" of a company. Hence, the article should, pace Neonumbers, remain here, jguk 11:55, 31 Dec 2004 (UTC)

Financial condition

Can someone explain to me what does "financial condition" mean to the native speaker in the context of this article?

To me, it means a company's well-being, from a quantitative standpoint. Financial statements along with MD&A present a view of how well the company is performing financially. They only present facts that can be expressed in monetary units - hence the quantitative standpoint. Rhobite 21:11, May 10, 2005 (UTC)

On the contrary - there are many qualitative points. Directors' reports, operating statements, etc. etc. Also some of the notes to the financial statements may be qualitative in nature, jguk 05:54, 11 May 2005 (UTC)

I was referring to the financial statements themselves. You won't find the value of R&D on a balance sheet, for instance. Of course it will be mentioned at length elsewhere in the annual report. Rhobite 06:41, May 11, 2005 (UTC)

Not necessarily true as development costs can be capitalised on the balance sheet in certain circumstances - but your main point - that there are some assets (and liabilities) that are not reported on balance sheets is, of course, quite correct. I'd prefer internally-generated goodwill as a better example of something never shown on a balance sheet, but which could be the single most valuable asset of a company, jguk 19:24, 12 May 2005 (UTC)

Thank you, overall structure of the article makes more sense to me now. Since "Financial condition", "promotion", "audit", "system" are all functions of the Financial statements, I moved my edit regarding GAAP/IFRS to a separate section "Standarts and regulation". Maxx.T 12:38, 11 May 2005 (UTC)

Analogy section

I think it would be an improvement to replace the analogy section with brief definitions of the 4 statements with maybe an illustration on how they relate to each other. Comments? --Foggy Morning 15:57, 4 November 2007 (UTC)

External links

What is wrong with adding a 100% free text book which is written for teaching within this area??? [[User:Haffen|Haffen]08:00, 25 November 2008 (UTC)

It's covered in spam and being added to multiple articles by several throwaway accounts that are obviously associated with the website. Kuru ^talk 12:38, 25 November 2008 (UTC)

Cleanup tag

This article seems to have been improved significantly since it was tagged by an unregistered user in May 2008. I'm removing the tag because I can't find anything to clean up. If the original tagger has since registered and/or is watching the page, or if anyone else feels differently, please revert & discuss here. Ivanvector (talk) 16:45, 5 November 2009 (UTC)

Title revisited

The things you should not stuff up your nose but instead boil and eat are called "beans". We don't really say that you shouldn't stuff a "bean" up your nose and that you should eat your "bean". That's why the Wikipedia article on beans is appropriately titled Beans. Except that it isn't. "Beans" is a redirect to "bean".

While often we consider a collection of several financial statements issued together, each individual statement in the collection should be able to stand on its own and can be discussed in separation. Also, quite often just a single statement is issued, instead of a collection. Just think of personal financial statements. Google reports about 8,640,000 hits for the search term ["this financial statement" OR "financial statement is"], which shows that the use of the singular form is not that uncommon. Can we move the article back to "Financial statement", in conformance with Wikipedia:Article titles#Name construction, which states: Use the singular form?  --Lambiam 08:55, 10 April 2010 (UTC)

I agree with what you said, and the title of this article should be in singular form. Thanks for the clarification. —RJN (talk) 10:19, 10 April 2010 (UTC)

Perhaps this is the best place to mention this? I propose a routine editor pass over this text to address the nearly 100% use of passive voice sentences. Zero percent is the goal. Various other helpful exercises might include removing whichs and thats. The result more concise text, even with words added, and is easier to read. For example, the first two paragraphs can be rewritten thus (for American English)

A financial statement (or financial report) is a formal record of the financial activities of a business, person, or other entity. Accountants in particular prefer the term 'financial statement' over others. However, British English and United Kingdom company law refer to a financial statement as an 'account.'

Business enterprises use financial statements to present their relevant financial information in a structured and easy-to-understand form. They typically include the management discussion and analysis (MD&A) and the following four basic financial statements:[1].

I didn't login, so maybe 'I' won't come back. Please compare this to the original, and consider these improvements. 71.22.238.46 (talk) 21:19, 22 June 2013 (UTC)

Not-for-profit financials

FASB ASC 958-205-05-5 says that "A complete set of financial statements" includes a Statement of Financial Position, A Statement of Activities, and a Statement of Cash Flows. Just like any other business. I'd rather not put in a "citation" tag there until one of the grownups reviews it. :) — Preceding unsigned comment added by Shurikt (talk • contribs) 17:48, 16 May 2012 (UTC)

Statement of retained earnings

Is there a reason why the 4th financail statement - Statement of retained earnings - is not mentioned? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Orielno (talk • contribs) 10:52, 16 July 2015 (UTC)

Good catch. Kuru (talk) 12:33, 25 July 2015 (UTC)

Grammer check

"Employees also need these reports in making collective bargaining agreements (CBA) with the management, in the case of labor unions or for individuals in discussing their compensation, promotion and rankings." compensation, promotion should be compenstions, promotions.--Shuer (talk) 20:29, 21 September 2017 (UTC)

2. Income Statement 5.Comprehensive Income Statement

I don't understand the difference on the first section, 2. Income Statement and 5.Comprehensive Income Statement.

Why separate them? Why have a different category for a more comprehensive income statement, if it's still a type of income statement? Ejenriquez (talk) 05:22, 30 December 2022 (UTC)

There isn't a difference, that entry was added a while back by someone who didn't say why they were adding it and didn't provide a source, and I have removed it. There are some types of transaction that might not be included when determining net income on the income statement, but they are included elsewhere on that statement. See other comprehensive income for more detailed info. Ivanvector (^Talk/_Edits) 19:59, 30 December 2022 (UTC)