Talk:Financial statements

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[edit] 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)

[edit] 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)

[edit] 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)