Topic 4 - Introduction To Financial Statement
Topic 4 - Introduction To Financial Statement
RECORDING INTERPRETING
• Asset • Trial Balance
• Liability • Financial Statements
• Journal • Financial condition
• Capital • SoFP
• Ledger • Profit/loss
• Revenue • SoPoL
• Financial ratio analysis
• Expenses
• Liquidity, leverage,
profitability etc
CLASSIFYING SUMMARIZING
Functions/Objectives/Purposes/
Uses of Financial Statements
• To provide information about the financial
position, performance and changes in
financial position of a company.
• To evaluate financial performance of the
business in order to identify strength and
weakness for corrective action.
• For decision making purposes such as for
expansion, loan application and etc.
Main user groups of financial statements
INTERNAL USERS EXTERNAL USERS
- Those who work in the organizations. - Those who are indirectly involved with
the organization.
Owners Creditors/Suppliers/Bankers
The owner interested in the profits They are interested to know the ability of
earned, financial stability and growth. the business in repaying the amount
owing.
Managers Current and potential investors
Management needs information as a Investors require information regarding to
guidance in planning, organizing and solvency and financial strength of the
controlling the organization. business.
Employees Government
Employees are interested in the business The government is interested in the
ability to progress and expand. financial statements and report of a
business for tax purposes.
Past year questions
• Jun 2019
• June 2018 Q1
• Jan 2018 Q1
Past year questions
• December 2016 Q1
• June 2016 Q1
• June 2015 Q1
• December 2014 Q1
Types and various forms of
business
Registration Registered with the business Registered with the business Registered with the Registrar of
registrar under the Business registrar under the Business Companies under the Companies Act
Registration Act Registration Act
Capital Contributed by the owner from Contributed by partners according Contributed by shareholders through
savings or other properties brought to the Partnership Agreement (profit buying of shares
in sharing ratio)
Ownership Own by one person Own by 2 - 20 partners A private company must have a
minimum of 2 and a maximum of 50
shareholders. A public company must
have a minimum of 2 shareholders and
the maximum amount will be as to the
authorised capital
Management Manage and control by the owner Manage and control by partners or Manage and control by a board of
and Control with the help from his family and by a board which consists of a few directors appointed by the shareholders
workers partners
Liability Unlimited liability Unlimited liability Limited liability
If the business fails and the assets If the business fails and the assets If the business fails and the company’s
are not enough to cover the debt, are not enough to cover the debt, assets are not enough to cover the debt,
the creditors have a right against the creditors have a right against the the creditors do not have a right against
the owner personal properties owner personal properties the shareholders personal properties
Profit or Loss Profit belong to the owner and any Profit or loss will be shared by Profit will be paid to the shareholders in
losses incurred will be bear by the partners according to their profit the form of dividend
owner sharing ratio as stated in the
Partnership Agreement
Books and No legal obligation to keep the No legal obligation to keep the Proper books of account must be kept and
Accounts books and prepare accounts books and prepare accounts annual accounts must be sent to the
registrar of company
Strengths & weaknesses of each form of
businesses
Advantages/Strength Disadvantages/Weakness
Sole trader over No conflict for decision making Limited capital contribute
Partnership Easy to manage by one owner
Cheaper cost to manage Owner bear
responsibility/liability
alone
Partnership over Sole Increase decision making Conflict for decision
trader capabilities as more than one making by partners may
person involved arise
Able to grow the business from Higher cost to manage
new capital injection by partner
Share responsibility/liability
Sole trader over No conflict for decision making Limited capital by one
Company No requirement for proper owner
accounting record Owner bear
Cheaper cost to manage responsibility/liability
alone
Strengths & weaknesses of each form of
businesses
Advantages/Strength Disadvantages/Weakness
Company over Sole trader Able to hire a competent Required to prepare
and experience manager to proper accounting record
run the business Conflict for decision
Able to raise greater making may arise between
capital injection board of director
Enjoy the benefit of Higher cost to manage
limited liability
Partnership over Company No obligation to prepare Unlimited liability may
proper accounting record exposed the risk on
partner’s personal asset
Company over Partnership Able to hire a competent Required to prepare
and experience manager to proper accounting record
run the business Higher cost to manage
Able to raise greater
capital injection
Enjoy the benefit of
limited liability
Past year questions
• June 2019
• June 2018
• Jan 2018 Q1
Past year questions
• July 2017 Q1
• December 2016 Q1
Past year questions
• June 2016 Q1
• December 2015 Q1
Past year questions
• June 2015 Q1
Past year questions
• December 2014 Q1
• June 2014 Q1
Components of Financial
Statement
Statement Statement
of Financial of Profit or
Position Loss
(SoFP) (SoPoL)
Statement Statement
of Changes of Cash
in Equity Flows
(SoCiE) (SoCF)
Example: Financial Report
1.SoFP
2. SoPoL
3. SoCiE
4. SoCF
FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
Financial
statement
Statement of Statement of
Statement of Statement of
Financial Changes in
Profit or loss Cash Flows
Position equity
• Jan 2018 Q1
Past year question
• July 2017 Q1
• December 2016 Q1
Past year questions
• December 2016 Q1
• June 2015 Q1
• December 2014 Q1
Qualitative characteristics of
Financial Statement
Relevance
• Relevance refers to how helpful the information is for financial
decision-making processes. For accounting information to be
relevant, it must possess:
• Confirmatory value – Provides information about past events
• Predictive value – Provides predictive power regarding
possible future events
• Therefore, accounting information is relevant if it can provide
helpful information about past events and help in predicting
future events or in taking action to deal with possible future
events. For example, a company experiencing a strong quarter
and presenting these improved results to creditors is relevant
to the creditors’ decision-making process to extend or enlarge
credit available to the company.
Example - Relevance
• A default by a customer who owes RM1000 to
a company having net assets of worth RM10
million is not relevant to the decision making
needs of users of the financial statements.
• However, if the amount of default is, say, RM2
million, the information becomes relevant to
the users as it may affect their view regarding
the financial performance and position of the
company.
Representational Faithfulness
• Representational faithfulness, also known as reliability, is the extent
to which information accurately reflects a company’s resources,
obligatory claims, transactions, etc. For accounting information to
possess representational faithfulness, it must be:
o Complete – Financial statements should not exclude any transaction.
o Neutral – The degree to which information is free from bias. Note that there
are subjectivity and estimation involved in financial statements, therefore
information cannot be truly “neutral.”
o Free from error – The degree to which information is free from errors.
• Faithfull representation requires that transactions and events should
be accounted for in a manner that represent their true economic
substance rather than the mere legal form. This concept is known as
Substance Over Form. Substance over form requires that if
substance of transaction differs from its legal form than such
transaction should be accounted for in accordance with its
substance and economic reality.
Example – Faithful Representation
• A machine is leased to Company A for the entire duration of
its useful life.
• Although Company A is not the legal owner of the machine, it
may be recognized as an asset in its SoFP since the Company
has control over the economic benefits that would be derived
from the use of the asset.
• This is an application of the accountancy concept of substance
over legal form, where economic substance of a transaction
takes precedence over its legal aspects.
Verifiability
• Verifiability is the extent to which information
is reproducible given the same data and
assumptions.
Example - Verifiability
• A company owns equipment worth
RM100,000 and told an accountant the
purchase cost, salvage value, depreciation
method, and useful life.
• The accountant should be able to reproduce
the same result. If they cannot, the
information is considered not verifiable.
Timeliness
• Timeliness is how quickly information is available to users of
accounting information.
• The less timely (thus resulting in older information), the less
useful information is for decision-making.
• Timeliness matters for accounting information because it
competes with other information.
Example- Timeliness
• A company issues its financial statements a
year after its accounting period.
• Thus, users of financial statements would find
it difficult to determine how well the company
is doing in the present.
Understandability
• Understandability is the degree to which information is easily
understood.
• In today’s society, corporate annual reports are in excess of
100 pages, with significant qualitative information.
• Information that is understandable to the average user of
financial statements is highly desirable. It is common for
poorly performing companies to use a lot of jargon and
difficult phrasing in its annual report in an attempt to disguise
the underperformance.
Example - Understadibility
• One of the main problems with the financial statements of
ENRON was that it contained a very complicated structure of
special purpose entities that were presented in a manner that
concealed the financial risk exposure of the company.
• The accounting treatments of ENRON were not
comprehensible by the capital market participants who
consistently overvalued its worth until the inevitable collapse
of its share price in 2001 upon the news of its bankruptcy.
ENRON – Special Purpose Entity
Qualitative
characteristics of
Financial Statement
Past year questions
• Jan 2018