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An Income Statement Essay

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Income Statement Ananlysis1
An income statement measures the performance over some period of time, usually a quarter or a year (Ross, Westerfield, Bradford (2014) p. 27). There are three aspects of an income statement that a financial manager needs to keep in mind when analyzing the numbers; GAAP, cash versus noncash item, and time and costs. GAAP will show revenue when it accrues. The general rule is to recognize revenue when the earnings process is virtually complete and the value of an exchanges of goods or services is known or can be reliably determined (Ross, Westerfield, Bradford (2014) p. 28). As some production costs of items produced are made on credit, the revenue on that item will not be recognized until the sale of that item occurs. Any other costs incurred in assembling that product will also not be recognized until the time of its sale. With this situation occurring, the income statement might not be able to represent all the actual cash flows during the particular period being evaluated.
Non-cash items are also key sources of evaluating and income statement. A non-cash item is the expenses charged against revenues that did not directly affect cash flow, such as depreciation (Ross, Westerfield, Bradford (2014) p. 29). Depreciation is not actually an expense that is paid out. When an asset is purchased for use, the company classifies that as cash spent. However, depreciation is the lesser value of the recently purchased asset over a period of time.

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