What are the three financial statements?

The three financial statements are: (1) the Income Statement, (2) the Balance Sheet, and (3) the Cash Flow Statement. These three core statements are intricately linked to each other and this guide will explain how they all fit together. By following the steps below you’ll be able to connect the three statements on your own.

Overview of the three financial statements:

1 Income statement

Often, the first place an investor or analyst will look is the income statement. The income statement shows the performance of the business throughout each period, displaying sales revenue at the very top. The statement then deducts the cost of goods sold (COGS) to find gross profit. From there, the gross profit is affected by other operating expenses and income, depending on the nature of the business, to reach net income at the bottom – “the bottom line” for the business.

Key features:

Shows the revenues and expenses of a business

Expressed over a period of time (i.e., 1 year, 1 quarter, Year-to-Date, etc.)

Uses accounting principles such as matching and accruals to represent figures (not presented on a cash basis)

Used to assess profitability

2 Balance sheet

The balance sheet displays the company’s assets, liabilities, and shareholders’ equity. As commonly known, assets must equal liabilities plus equity. The asset section begins with cash and equivalents, which should equal the balance found at the end of the cash flow statement. The balance sheet then displays the changes in each major account. Net income from the income statement flows into the balance sheet as a change in retained earnings (adjusted for payment of dividends).

Key features:

Shows the financial position of a business

Expressed as a “snapshot” or financial picture of the company at a specified point in time (i.e., as of December 12, 2017)

Has three sections: assets, liabilities, and shareholders equity

Assets = Liabilities + Shareholders Equity

3 Cash flow statement

The cash flow statement then takes net income and adjusts it for any non-cash expenses. Then, using changes in the balance sheet, usage and receipt of cash is found. The cash flow statement displays the change in cash per period, as well as the beginning balance and ending balance of cash.

Key features:

Shows the increases and decreases in cash

Expressed over a period of time, an accounting period (i.e., 1 year, 1 quarter, Year-to-Date, etc.)

Undoes all accounting principles to show pure cash movements

Has three sections: cash from operations, cash used in investing, and cash from financing

Shows the net change in the cash balance from start to end of the period

The 3 statements are intricately linked

Summary comparison

	Income Statement	Balance Sheet	Cash Flow
Time	Period of time	A point in time	Period of time
Purpose	Profitability	Financial position	Cash movements
Measures	Revenue, expenses, profitability	Assets, liabilities, shareholders' equity	Increases and decreases in cash
Starting Point	Revenue	Cash balance	Net income
Ending Point	Net income	Retained earnings	Cash balance

How are these 3 core statements used in financial modeling?

As explained above, each of the three financial statements has an interplay of information. Financial models use the trends in the relationship of information within these statements, as well as the trend between periods in historical data to forecast future performance.

The preparation and presentation of this information can become quite complicated. In general, however, the following steps are followed to create a financial model.

Line-items for each of the core statements are set up. This provides the overall format and skeleton that the financial model will follow

Historical numbers are placed in each of the line-items

At this point, the creator of the model will often check to make sure that each of the core statements reconciles with data in the other. For example, the ending balance of cash calculated in the cash flow statement must equal the cash account in the balance sheet

An assumptions section is prepared within the sheet to analyze the trend in each line-item of the core statements between periods

Assumptions from existing historical data are then used to create forecasted assumptions for the same line items

The forecasted section of each core statement will use the forecasted assumptions to populate values for each line item. Since the analyst or user has analyzed past trends in creating the forecasted assumptions, the populated values should follow historical trends

Supporting schedules are used to calculate more complex line items. For example, the debt schedule is used to calculate interest expense and the balance of debt items. The depreciation and amortization schedule is used to calculate depreciation expense and the balance of long-term fixed assets. These values will flow into the three main statements

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