In accounting, financial statements report on the state of a company’s finances. They have four constituent components:
- Income statements (or statement of earnings) — how you performed.
- Statement of retained earnings — what you kept.
- Balance sheets — what you own/owe.
- Cash flow statements — how you spent/collected cash.
They provide information about the company’s economic resources and claims to those resources, as well as changes in those resources and claims. They enable users to assess what’s going on and make decisions on how to best allocate their resources.
All companies must give their shareholders and annual report each year, that contains financial and non-financial information about the company. The public company information for all Canadian companies is at SEDAR. For all American companies, it’s called EDGAR. Financial highlights show some cut-out selective analysis that shows how well the company did in a year. It’s found at the front of the annual report.