What is financial reporting?
Financial reporting refers to the process of preparing and presenting financial data, statements, and reports that provide insights into the financial performance, position, and prospects of a company to stakeholders, such as investors, shareholders, lenders, regulatory bodies, and internal management.
What are the documents for financial reporting?
These are the three fundamental financial statements every business needs: balance sheet, income statement, and cash flow statement.
- The balance sheet provides a snapshot of the company’s financial health at a specific point in time. It helps with financial modeling, budgeting, and managing cash flow by detailing what the company owns (assets), what it owes (liabilities) and how much has been invested into the company (equity).
- An income statement, otherwise known as a profit and loss (P&L) statement, is a record that measures and shows all the revenues and expenses a company incurred during a specific period of time.
- A cash flow statement summarizes the movement of cash in the company. It describes operating activities, investing activities, and financing activities.
This financial reporting package includes templates for balance sheets, income statements, and cash flow statements.
Why should businesses use financial report templates?
Companies need to prepare financial reports for financial performance analysis, decision-making, compliance, and benchmarking purposes. These reports serve as a snapshot of a company’s financial position, performance, and cash management, allowing stakeholders to assess its financial health. Advantages to using templates for your financial reporting include:
- Standardization: Financial report templates provide a standardized format for presenting financial information, making it easier for stakeholders to compare and analyze data. Standardization also facilitates compliance with regulatory requirements and accounting standards.
- Time-saving: Templates save time and effort in creating financial reports from scratch.
- Accuracy: By using our financial report templates, businesses can ensure that their reports contain all the necessary information and calculations, reducing the risk of omissions or errors.
- Ease of analysis: Financial report templates often include formulas and calculations that automatically aggregate and summarize data, making it easier to analyze and interpret the financial information.
- Adaptability: Many financial report templates are fully customizable, allowing businesses to tailor the reports to their specific needs and requirements.
How to prepare financial report templates
Download our financial reporting package to gain access to free Excel templates for balance sheet, income statement, cash flow statement, and more.
You can find more detailed instructions on how to use each of our financial report templates upon download.
Who is responsible for preparing financial report templates?
The responsibility for preparing financial report templates typically falls on the finance and accounting department of a company. Specific roles that may be involved in creating financial statements include financial managers, controllers, financial analysts, accountants, and more. Roles and responsibilities in financial reporting may vary depending on the organization's size, structure, and industry.
