Accounting
From an investor's perspective, what is the most important information on the income statement? Why? From management's perspective, what is the most important information on the income statement? Why?
The income statement, also called the profit and loss statement is the financial statement that details a company's sales and earnings. When evaluating an income statement, the savvy investor usually wishes to maximize his or her immediate or long-term ability to make a profit on a stock. Thus, conventional wisdom holds that investors should buy when a stock's price to earnings ratios are low and sell when these ratios are high. In other words, if a stock stands to earn a great deal and has a strong track record of doing so, yet is priced relatively cheaply in relation to those future earnings, it is wise for an investor to buy that stock. The reverse is true as well, though -- if the stock is priced relatively high, but shows a poor record of earning dividends for shareholders in the long-term, in ratio to the asking price, the investor should not purchase the stock.
For management, the most important information is about sales and expenses at the company, over which the manger must keep a watchful eye. The manager has the responsibility to the company to make sure that both sales and expenses are recorded accurately and that the market regarding the company's products is not softening in the long-term. Management Discussion and Analysis section of the income statement must contribute additional important data such as about segmented sales, references to accounting method changes in company policy, and discussions about new company costs. Management must keep a watchful...
Loyalty to the client was clearly placed above loyalty to the overall public good and the standards of the profession. "Enron paid Andersen $25 million for its audit…and $27 million for 'consulting' and other services" which meant that Anderson had a substantial financial stake in retaining Enron as a client (Kadlec 2002). The Enron case illustrates the difficulty of self-policing within the industry. Today, providing additional services besides the
Accounting in Australia: Accounting basically incorporates the recording of events as well as the organization and detailing results, which is the main medium in discharging accountability. Accounting has developed to become an important element of the business fabric and economic development of a country and its organizations and institutions. This element has developed as a profession and business practice that is closely linked with the considerable economic development in Australia for
Accounting forms the overall backbone of the financial world. Financial markets are predicated on consumer and user confidence. Without confidence, consumers attempting to make financial decisions will be doing so using inaccurate and incomplete information. The lack of transparency regarding the truthfulness of reported numbers creates uncertainty within the capital markets. This uncertainty regarding the accuracy of information ultimately undermines the overall financial system, causing harm to society in the
However, they have also changed the face of the accounting profession in a way that will affect the education and conduct of accountants in the future. In the future, the accountant will have to do more than to balance the books. In order to understand the potential educational requirements for accountants in the future, we will examine how they have changed historically and then apply the changes that have
Accounting Principles To expressly explain the similarities and differences that exist between the GASB and FASB accounting standards it is imperative that we first examine the philosophical approaches that the boards have taken (Marsh & Fischer, 2011). These are found in the board's concept statements. The boards use the concept statements to develop accounting standards. The FASB conceptual framework focuses on provision of best information that influences decisions made by creditors,
Accounting and Intrusion Detection In a report issued by Paladin Technologies, Inc., entitled: "Security Metrics: Providing Cost Justification for Security Projects," 273 organizations were surveyed on the topic of security. The report illustrates in quantifiable terms the depth and reach of intrusion detection on the financial viability of the organization. The combined reported losses from the firms surveyed totaled $265.6 million in 1999. The highest loss categories were reported as follows: Type
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