NCERT Solutions Class 12 Accountancy 2 Financial Statements of a Company

Answer : Significance of Financial Statement :The users of financial statements include Shareholders, Investors, Creditors, Lenders, Customers, Management, Government, etc. Financial statements help all the users in their decision-making process. They provide data about general purpose needs of these members.
The various uses and importance of financial statements are as follows
(i) Reporting to the Share Holders: Financial statements report the performance of the management to the shareholders. The gaps between the management performance and ownership expectations can be understood with the help of financial statements.
(ii) Basis for Fiscal Policies :The fiscal policies, particularly taxation policies of the government, are related with the financial performance of corporate undertakings. The financial statements provide basic input for industrial, taxation and other economic policies of the government.
(iii) Basis for Granting of Credit: Corporate undertakings have to borrow funds from banks and other financial institutions. for different purposes. Credit granting institutions take decisions based on the financial performance of the undertakings. Thus, financial statements form tf\e basis for granting of credit.
(iv) Basis for Prospective Investors :The investors include both short-term and long-term investors. Their prime considerations in their investment decisions are security and liquidity of their investment with reasonable profitability. Financial statements help the investors to assess long term and short-term solvency as well as the profitability of the concern.
(v) Aids Trade Associations in Helping their Members: Trade associations may analyse the financial statements for the purpose of providing service and protection to their members. They may develop standard ratios and design uniform system of accounts.
(vi) Helps Stock Exchanges: Financial statements help the stock exchanges to understand the extent of transparency in reporting on financial performance and enables them to call for required information to protect the interest of investors.

Answer : Financial statements are very useful to an organisation but still , they suffer from the following limitations
(i) Historical Data :Financial statements are prepared on the basis of historical cost. Since the purchasing power of money is changing, the values of assets and liabilities shown in financial statement do not reflect current market situation.
(ii) Assets May not Realise: Accounting is done on the basis of certain conventions. Some of the assets may not realise the stated values, if the liquidation is forced on the company. Assets shown in the balance sheet reflect merely unexpired or unamortised cost.
(iii) Bias: Financial statements are the outcome of recorded facts, accounting concepts and conventions used and personal judgments made in different situations by the accountants. Hence, bias may be observed in the results, and the financial position depicted in financial statements may not be realistic.
(iv) Aggregate Information: Financial statements show aggregate information but not detailed information. Hence, they may not help the users in decision-making much.
(v) Vital Information Missing: Balance sheet does not disclose information relating to loss of markets, and cessation of agreements, which have vital bearing on the enterprise.
(vi) No Qualitative Information: Financial statements contain only monetary information but not qualitative information like industrial relations, industrial climate, labour relations, quality of work, etc.
(vii) They are Only Interim Reports: Profit and loss account discloses the profit/loss for a specified period. It does not give an idea about the earning capacity over time similarly, the financial position reflected in balance sheet is true at that point of time, the likely change on a future date is not depicted.

Answer : Income statement may also be presented in vertical form with detailed data. This is considered more suitable for further analysis and providing necessary data for decision-making. The form and contents of vertical income statement is shown below (Vertical Form)

Answer :

Elements of Balance Sheet: A brief description of various element of balance sheet is given below
Description of Elements at the Liabilities Side of Balance Sheet
(i) Share Capital :This is the first thing which is being shown in the liabilities side of balance sheet. It consists of the following items
(a) Authorised Capital
(b) Issued Capital Equity share and preference share.
(c) Subscribed Capital less Call in Arrears add Forfeited Shares
(ii) Reserve and Surplus: As per the Schedule VI, it consists of the following items
(a) Capital Reserve
(b) Capital Redemption Reserve
(c) Security Premium
(d) Other Reserve less Debit Balance of Profit and Loss account
(e) Surplus Credit Balance of Profit and Loss account
(f) Proposed Additions
(g) Sinking Fund
(iii) Secured Loans:
(a) Debentures
(b) Loan and advances from bank etc.
(iv) Unsecured Loans:
(a) Fixed Deposits
(b) Loan and Advances from subsidiaries
(v) Current Liabilities: Current Liabilities are those liabilities which are liable to pay with in an operating cycle generally one year; e.g., bank overdraft creditors, bills payable, outstanding wages, short term loans, etc are called current liabilities.

Description of Elements at the Liabilities Sfde of Balance Sheet
(i) Fixed Assets: These are those assets that are used for more than one year, like, Goodwill, Land and Building, Plant and Machinery, Motor Car, Patents, Trade Marks, Livestock etc.
(ii) Investments :Under this head, various investments made such as investment in government securities or trust securities; investment in shares, debentures, and bonds of other companies, immovable properties, etc., are to be shown separately in the balance sheet.
(iii) Current Assets: Assets which are converted into cash within an operating cycle is known as current assets. In other words current assets are required to run day to day business activities; e.g., cash, debtors, stock, etc.
(iv) Miscellaneous Expenditure: The expenditure which has not been written of fully its balance is shown under this heading. These expenses include preliminary expenses, advertisement expenditure, discount on issue of shares and debentures, share issue expenses, etc.
(v) Profit and Loss Account: When the Profit and Loss account shows a debit balance, i.e., loss which could not be adjusted against general reserves, the same is shown as a last item on the asset side.

Answer : The various parties interested in financial statements directly or indirectly can be categorised in two broad categories
(i) Internal Parties: The following are the internal parties directly related to the company and interested in financial statements.
(a) Owner :The owner/s is/are interested in the profit earned or loss incurred during an accounting period. They are interested in assessing the profitability and viability of the capital invested by them in the business.
(b) Management: Management interested in financial statements for drafting various policies measures, facilitating planning and decision making process.
(c) Employees and Workers: The employee and workers are interested in financial statement for knowing about the timely payment of wages and salaries, bonus and appropriate increment in their wages and salaries. Financial statement enables them to know about the figure of profit earned during the year.
(ii) External Parties :There are various external parties who are interested in financial statements for a number of reasons.

The following are the various external parties.
(a) Creditors: Creditors are always interested in financial statement to gather information about credit worthiness of the business.
(b) Investors and Potential Investors: Persons who are willing to invest in any organisation always wish to know about the profitability and solvency of the business concern. Hence, in order to assess the viability and prospectus of their investment, creditors need information about profitability and solvency of the business.
(c) Consumers: The survival and growth of any organisation largely depends upon the Goodwill earned in the heart of the customers. In this regards if the Business has transparent financial records it help in assisting the customers to know the correct cost of production and accordingly assess the degree of reasonability of the price charged by the business.
(d) Banks/Financial Institutions: Banks and financial institutions provide finance in the form of loans and advances to various businesses. Thus, they need information regarding liquidity, creditworthiness, solvency and profitability to advance loans.
(e) Tax Authorities: They need information about sales, revenues, profit and taxable income in order to determine and levy various types of tax on the business.
(f) Government :It needs information to determine national income, GDP, industrial growth, etc. The accounting information assist the government in the formulation of various policies measures and to address various economic problems like employment, poverty etc.
(g) Researchers :Various research institutes like NGOs and other independent research institutions undertake various research projects and the accounting information facilitates their research work.