Notes to the Financial Statements

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Accountancy
Key concepts
Accountant Bookkeeping Trial balance General ledger Debits and credits Cost of goods sold Double-entry system Standard practices Cash and accrual basis GAAP / IFRS
Financial statements
Balance sheet Income statement Cash flow statement Ownership equity Retained earnings
Auditing
Financial audit GAAS Internal audit Sarbanes-Oxley Act Big Four auditors
Fields of accounting
Cost • Financial • Forensic Fund • Management • Tax
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Notes to the Financial Statements are additional notes and information added to the end of the financial statements to supplement the reader with more information. Notes to Financial Statements help explain the computation of specific items in the financial statements as well as provide a more comprehensive assessment of a company's financial condition. Notes to Financial Statements can include information on debt, going concern, accounts, contingent liabilities, or contextual information explaining the financial numbers (e.g. to indicate a lawsuit). The information contained within the notes not only supplement financial statement information, but they clarify line-items that are part of the financial statements. For example, if a company lists a loss on a fixed asset impairment in their income statement, Notes to Financial Statements could serve to corroborate the reason for the impairment by providing specific information relative to how the asset became impaired. Notes to the Financial Statements are also used to explain the method of accounting used to prepare the financial statements (all publicly traded companies are required to use accrual basis accounting for financial reporting purposes as mandated by the SEC), and they provide valuations for how particular accounts have been represented. In consolidated financial statements, all subsidiaries should be listed as well as the amount of ownership (controlling interest) that the parent company has in the subsidiary companies. Any items within the financial statements that are valuated by estimation should be part of the Notes to Financial Statements if a substantial difference exists between the amount of the estimate previously reported and the amount of the actual results. Full disclosure of the effects of the differences between the estimate and the actual results should be in the note.

[edit] External links

• Fundamental Analysis: Notes To The Financial Statements by Investopedia.com
• The Notes to the Financial Statements May Be Worth Noting by Googobits.com

Notes to the financial statements are only useful, if the reader can understand them. They should be prepared keeping in mind the lowest level of expertise of the reader. Ernest Hemmingway, never wrote a book that required the reader to pickup a dictionary to understand what he was writing.