Table of Contents
Short Answer Type Question:
Q.1 State the meaning of financial statements?
ANSWER: Financial statements of a company present a true and fair picture of the results of a company’s operations to the various users of an accounting information. Financial Statements are the end products of the accounting process. These are the annual formal statements that are prepared by various enterprises or organisations for a particular accounting period.
Quoting the words of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA), “Financial statements are prepared for the purpose of presenting a periodical review or report on progress made by the management and deal with the status of investment in the business and the results achieved during the period under review.”
Q.2 What are limitations of financial statements?
ANSWER: The limitations of the financial statements are as follows:
- Historical Data- The items recorded in the financial statements reflect their original cost i.e. the cost at which they were acquired. Consequently, financial statements do not reveal the current market price of the items. Further, financial statements fail to capture the inflation effects. Thus, it can be concluded that financial statements reflect the data and information of historical nature.
- Ignorance of Qualitative Aspects- Financial statements do not reveal the qualitative aspects of a transaction. The qualitative aspects such as colour, size and brand position in the market, employees’ qualities and capabilities are not disclosed by the financial statements. These statements record only those transactions that are quantitative in nature and can be expressed in the monetary terms.
- Biased- Financial statements are based on the personal judgments regarding the use of methods of recording. For example, the choice of practice in the valuation of inventory, method of depreciation, amount of provisions, etc. are based on the personal value judgments, which may differ from person to person. Thus, the financial statements reflect the personal value judgments of the concerned accountants and experts.
- Inter-firm Comparison- Usually, it is difficult to compare the financial statements of two companies (either in the same business or in different businesses). This is basically because of the difference in the methods and practices followed by them in preparing their respective financial statements.
- Window Dressing- The possibility of window dressing is highly probable. This might be because of the motive of the company to overstate or understate its assets and liabilities to attract more investors or to reduce taxable profit. For example, Satyam showed high fixed deposits in the Assets side of its Balance Sheet for better liquidity that gave false and misleading signals to the investors.
- Difficulty in Forecasting- Since the financial statements is based on the historical data, so they fail to reflect the effect of inflation. This drawback makes the forecasting difficult.
Q.3 List any three objectives of financial statements?
ANSWER: The financial statements are basically the accounts that are prepared for providing the true financial information to the internal as well as external users. These statements lay the base for the decision making process and policy designing by different users. The following are the various objectives for preparing financial statements.
- To Provide Information about Economic Resources- Financial statements provide adequate, accurate, reliable and periodical information about the employment of economic resources. It also specifies the obligation of a business to its external users who do not have the powers or authority to access the information directly.
- To Ascertain the Financial Position- These statements help to reveal the true financial position of an enterprise. In other words, it discloses the performance and position of an organisation in terms of their profitability, solvency, liquidity, financial viability, etc.
- To Ascertain the Earning Capacity- These statements are prepared with an objective of providing useful information to compare, predict and evaluate the earning capacity of a business firm. Thus, it helps in ascertaining the earning capacity of firms.
Q.4 State the importance of financial statements to
(i) shareholders
(ii) creditors
(iii) government
(iv) investors
ANSWER: Importance of financial statements to its various users is given below.
(i) Shareholders– They are interested in assessing the profitability and viability of the capital invested by them in the business. The financial statements prepared by the business concerns enable them to have sufficient information to assess the financial performance and financial health of the business.
(ii) Creditors– These are those individuals and organisations to whom a business owes money on account of credit purchases of goods and services. Hence, the creditors require information about the credit worthiness and liquidity position of the business.
(iii) Government– It needs information to determine various macroeconomic variables such as national income, GDP, industrial growth, etc. The accounting information assist the government in the formulation of various policies measures and to address various economic problems such as unemployment, poverty, etc
(iv) Investors– These are the parties who have invested or are planning to invest in the business of an enterprise. Hence, in order to assess the viability and prospects of their investments, they need information about the profitability and solvency position of the business.
Q.5 How will you disclose the following items in the Balance Sheet of a company:
(i) Loose Tools
(ii) Uncalled liability on partly paid-up shares
(iii) Debentures Redemption Reserve
(iv) Mastheads and publishing titles
(v) 10% debentures
(vi) Proposed dividends
(vii) Share forfeited account
(viii) Capital Redemption Reserve
(ix) Mining Rights
(x) Work-in-progress
ANSWER:
Disclosure of various items in the Balance Sheet of a company is given below.
| Items | Main Head | Sub-Head | |
| (i) | Loose Tools | Current Assets | Inventories |
| (ii) | Uncalled liability on partly paid-up shares | Contingent Liability and Capital Commitments | Capital Commitments |
| (iii) | Debentures Redemption Reserve | Shareholders’ Funds | Reserve and surplus |
| (iv) | Mastheads and publishing titles | Non-Current Assets | Fixed Assets – Intangible assets |
| (v) | 10% debentures | Non-Current Liabilities | Long-Term Borrowings |
| (vi) | Proposed dividend | Current Liabilities | Short-Term Provisions |
| (vii) | Share forfeited account | Shareholders’ Funds | Subscribed Capital (to be added) |
| (viii) | Capital Redemption Reserve | Shareholders’ Funds | Reserve and surplus |
| (ix) | Mining Rights | Non-Current Assets | Fixed Assets – Intangible assets |
| (x) | Work-in-progress | Current Assets | Inventories |
LONG ANSWER TYPE QUESTIONS:
Q.1 Explain how financial statements are useful to the various parties who are interested in the affairs of an undertaking?
ANSWER: The various parties interested in financial statements directly or indirectly can be categorised in two broad categories
(i) Internal Parties: The following are the internal parties directly related to the company and interested in financial statements.
(a) Owner :The owner/s is/are interested in the profit earned or loss incurred during an accounting period. They are interested in assessing the profitability and viability of the capital invested by them in the business.
(b) Management: Management interested in financial statements for drafting various policies measures, facilitating planning and decision making process.
(c) Employees and Workers: The employee and workers are interested in financial statement for knowing about the timely payment of wages and salaries, bonus and appropriate increment in their wages and salaries. Financial statement enables them to know about the figure of profit earned during the year.
(ii) External Parties :There are various external parties who are interested in financial statements for a number of reasons.
The following are the various external parties.
(a) Creditors: Creditors are always interested in financial statement to gather information about credit worthiness of the business.
(b) Investors and Potential Investors: Persons who are willing to invest in any organisation always wish to know about the profitability and solvency of the business concern. Hence, in order to assess the viability and prospectus of their investment, creditors need information about profitability and solvency of the business.
(c) Consumers: The survival and growth of any organisation largely depends upon the Goodwill earned in the heart of the customers. In this regards if the Business has transparent financial records it help in assisting the customers to know the correct cost of production and accordingly assess the degree of reasonability of the price charged by the business.
(d) Banks/Financial Institutions: Banks and financial institutions provide finance in the form of loans and advances to various businesses. Thus, they need information regarding liquidity, creditworthiness, solvency and profitability to advance loans.
(e) Tax Authorities: They need information about sales, revenues, profit and taxable income in order to determine and levy various types of tax on the business.
(f) Government :It needs information to determine national income, GDP, industrial growth, etc. The accounting information assist the government in the formulation of various policies measures and to address various economic problems like employment, poverty etc.
(g) Researchers :Various research institutes like NGOs and other independent research institutions undertake various research projects and the accounting information facilitates their research work.
Q.2 Financial statements reflect a combination of recorded facts, accounting conventions and personal judgements. Discuss.
ANSWER: The financial statements not only help in presenting the true and real financial position of the company but they also help in taking managerial decisions. The nature of the financial statements depends upon the following aspects like recorded facts, conventions, concepts and personal judgement.
(i) Recorded Facts: The items recorded in the financial statements reflect their original cost i.e., the cost at which they were acquired. Consequently, financial statements do not reveal the current market price of the items. Further, financial statements fail to capture the inflation effects.
(ii) Accounting Conventions: The preparation of financial statements is based on some accounting conventions like, Prudence Convention, Materiality Convention, Matching Concept, etc. The adherence to such accounting conventions makes financial statements easy to understand, comparable and reflects the true and fair financial position of the company. Besides the above while preparing financial statements, certain concepts are adhered to. The nature of these concepts is reflected in the nature of the financial statements.
(iii) Personal Judgements: The nature of financial statement largely depends upon the personal value judgements. Personal judgements are attached to different practices of recording transactions in the financial statements, e.g., recording stock either at market value or at the cost requires value judgement depending upon the personal judgement. Thus, personal judgements help in determining the nature of the financial statements.
Q.3 Explain the process of preparing income statement and balance sheet.
ANSWER: The process of preparing income statement is explained below
(i) First of all a Trial Balance is prepared on the basis of the balances of various accounts in the ledger.
(ii) After that trading account is prepared by recording Opening Stock, Purchases, Manufacturing Expenses and other direct expenses on the debit side.
(iii) On the other hand sales and closing stock is recorded on the credit side of the trading account.
(iv) After that the balancing figure of trading account is determined by totalling both the sides, if the credit side exceeds the debit side, then the balancing figure is termed as gross profit, but if the debit side exceeds the credit side, then the balancing figure is termed as gross loss.
(v) Carry forward the Gross Profit (Gross Loss) to the credit (debit) side of the Profit and Loss Account.
(vi) After that all the operating and non-operating revenue expenditures with their relevant adjustments are recorded on the debit side of the profit and loss account. Record all current year’s operating and non operating revenue incomes with their relevant adjustments on the credit side of the profit and loss account.
(vii) Ascertain the balancing figure by totalling both the sides of the profit and loss* account. If the credit exceeds the debit side, then the balancing figure is termed as net profit, but if the debit side exceeds the credit side, then the balancing figure is termed as net loss.
The process of preparing Balance Sheet is given below
(i) First of all match the total of both the side of trail balance. If there is any difference in the debit side of trail balance it will be posted in assets side of balance sheet and if there is any difference in credit side of balance sheet it will be posted in the liabilities side of the balance sheet.
(ii) Record all the debit balances of real and personal accounts on the left hand side (i.e., Assets side) of the balance sheet after making all adjustments for provision and other related items.
(iii) Record all the credit balances of real and personal accounts on the right hand side (i.e., Liabilities side) of the balance sheet after making all adjustments for interest and outstanding items.
(iv) Add Net Profit to the opening capital and deduct Net Loss, if any from the opening capital.
(v) Acertain the total of two sides, which must be equal.
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