Reading an income statement

This is the first of three posts which give you a quick guide to reading the three key financial statements – the income statement, balance sheet and statement of cash flows. This post deals with the income statement, with the other two coming over the next few weeks.

The Income Statement

An income statement presents the results of a company’s operations for a given period—usually a year. The income statement presents a summary of the revenues, expenses, profit or loss of an entity for the period. This statement is similar to a moving picture of the entity’s operations during the time period specified. Along with the balance sheet and the statement of cash flows, the income statement is one of the primary means of reporting financial performance. The key item listed on the income statement is the profit or loss.

Within the income statement there’s a good bit of information. If you’re knowledgeable about reading financial statements, in a company’s income statement you’ll find information about return on investment, risk, financial flexibility, and operating capabilities.

The current view of the income statement (in line with International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS)) is that income should reflect all items of profit and loss recognised during the accounting period. The following summary income statement illustrates the format under IAS 1 – Presentation of Financial Statements (image from www.accaglobal.com):

This example above is fairly typical of the income statement of a large public company. I’ll explain some items below.

Some terms on the income statement explained

Revenue

According to the IASB’s IAS 18, revenue is defined as “the gross inflow of economic benefits (cash, receivables, other assets) arising from the ordinary operating activities of an entity (such as sales of goods, sales of services, interest, royalties, and dividends)”. This means that revenue is typically the figure for sales of goods or provision of services for the period of the income statement.

Cost of sales.

The cost of sales figure includes all expenses incurred in buying to making the product or service which generates revenue.

Other Income

This is income from sources like interest or investment income.

Expenses

Expenses are classified as either distribution cost, administrative expenses, other expenses or finance costs. No further detail is needed.

Share of profit of associates

This figure is the share of the profits made in an associate company – one where 20-49% is owned by the company (or group of companies) the income statement is prepared for.

The final item in the example above represents a loss made in a section of a business which is discontinued. This separate disclosure is required by accounting standards. Additionally, IAS1 also requires a short statement of comprehensive income, which shows unrealised gains (like unrealised asset revaluations, or currency gains/loses on translation). I don’t include it here, but it is usually no more than a few lines.

Govt to notify converged accounting norms for IFRS by December

NEW DELHI: The government on Tuesday said it will notify the new accounting norms in sync with international practice IFRS for India Inc by the end of this year, and ensured that the April, 2011 deadline will not be missed.

Speaking at an Assocham conference on International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), Corporate Affairs Secretary R Bandyopadhayay said the accounting standards are almost ready and all issues, including the tax implications for the convergence, will also be resolved.

"By the end of December, we will notify the converged accounting norms...all issues are almost resolved and we are confident that by the next fiscal, that is April, 2011, Indian companies will prepare their accounts books as per the IFRS," Bandyopadhayay said.

The taxation committee of Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI), which is helping the government with preparing the IFRS convergence, is almost ready with the recommendations, said Corporate Affairs Joint Secretary Renuka Kumar.

Another issue that needs a re-look is projecting value of an asset in account books. While some are in favour of arriving at the value in terms of historical cost, others believe in the fair value concept.

In accounting, fair value is defined as an estimate of the potential market price of a good or service, taking into consideration factors like acquisition, production and distribution costs and replacement costs.

However, the historical cost does not consider these factors and instead, is calculated at the initial value.

Soon after the issues are resolved, the National Advisory Committee on Accounting Standards (NACAS), the final recommending body for IFRS, will notify all the 37 standards.

In the ongoing winter session of Parliament, the government is also expected to come out with an amendment to the Companies Act, 1956 to pave way for the convergence of the Indian accounting norms with the IFRS.

According to the roadmap laid out by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs , companies with a networth of over Rs 1,000 crore, will have to prepare their account books as per the IFRS from April, 2011.

Further, while scheduled commercial banks and urban cooperative banks will adopt it from April 1, 2013, all insurance companies will convert their opening balance sheets with IFRS from April, 2012.

Listed large non-banking finance companies (NBFCs) will converge their opening books of accounts with IFRS norms from April 1, 2013.