How'd ya do this year? Financially speaking...
That's really all an annual report is. A report card with dollar signs. Generally, in public companies, an annual report covers the three legs on the stool of financial reporting: an Income Statement, a Cash Flow Statement and a Balance Sheet.
If we're talking about a public company in the U.S., investors already know much of the information by the time the annual report comes out. That's because the company puts out regular quarterly earnings statements. However, the annual report is often more detailed. There's rarely information that will move the stock (though every once in a while, the company tries to sneak something in), but real investing nerds like to dive into the minutiae and then ask questions on conference calls that make Elon Musk yell at them.
Related or Semi-related Video
Finance: What is an Income Statement?51 Views
what is an income statement I made money yeah that's an income statement and it's [Man jumping up as money rains down]
actually not all that far off from what accountants lawyers bankers and other
forms of humans who count beans call an income statement well cleverly named an
income statement is a statement of income it just states how you made your [Two guys stood at a food stall]
income your french fries smoothie stand like who would have ever thought that
would taste good sold a million units at five bucks each to give you five million
dollars in revenue last year well you had some cost that went with
those sales though you had to buy cups the french fries and other unnamed [Costs of french fries smoothie stand]
ingredients and you had to pay 2 some ones to stand there and convince people
to drink liquefied potatoes then you had to rent space for your stand and buy
insurance and advertise and that abnoxious mascot in the potato costume
you had five million in revenue and three million in expenses and this [revenue of french fries smoothie stand]
number right here that's your pre-tax or operating profit
you then take away your 30% in taxes which on two million dollars is 600
grand and blammo that 1.4 million is your net income or [net income figure for business]
after-tax profit this whole thing right here is your income statement and yeah [income statement for french fries smoothie business]
it can and does get way way more complex than this but let's start with starch
smoothies and work our way up [man at french fry stand thinking about selling sushi shakes]
Up Next
What are a 10K and a 10Q? A 10K is an annual report and a 10Q is a quarterly report. These reports are filed by public companies and contain vital...
What is a Consolidated Income Statement? Consolidated income statements (or any financial statements) are just the statements of all businesses wit...
What is a balance sheet? A balance sheet is a financial document that public corporations are required to use. It shows their assets and liabilitie...