One of the important roles of any member of the financial team. Including the controller, may be involvement in the preparation of the company’s financial statements. Even if that responsibility falls within the office of the CFO, the controller and other finance personnel must understand how their transitions recorded impact the financial statements. Financial statements (or financial reports) are formal records of the financial activities and position of a business, person, or other entity.

Relevant financial information is presented in a structured manner and in a form which is easy to understand. They typically include four basic financial statements accompanied by a management discussion and analysis:

  • A balance sheet or statement of financial position, reports on a company's assets, liabilities and owners’ equity at a given point in time.
  • An income statement may have varying names including: profit and loss report (P&L report), statement of comprehensive income, or statement of revenue & expenses. These report on a company's income, expenses, and profits over a stated period. A profit and loss statement provides information on the operation of the enterprise. These include sales and the various expenses incurred during the stated period.
  • A statement of changes in equity or “statement of equity” also called “statement of retained earnings” reports on the changes in equity of the company over a stated period.
  • A cash flow statement reports on a company's cash flow, particularly its operating, investing and financing activities over a stated period.

 

A balance sheet represents a single point in time, where the income statement, the statement of changes in equity, and the cash flow statement each represent activities over a stated period.

For large corporations, these statements may be complex and may include an extensive set of footnotes to the financial statements, management discussion and analysis and supplementary information. The notes typically describe each item on the balance sheet, income statement and cash flow statement in further detail. Notes to financial statements are considered an integral part of the financial statements.

 

Below courses are currently available on the site:

  • The Controllership Series: The Controller Function - Elevating the Role
  • The Controllership Series: The Controller Function - Strategic and Annual Planning
  • The Controllership Series: The Controller Function - Cash and Investments
  • The Controllership Series: The Controller Function - Inventory Process Part 1
  • The Controllership Series: The Controller Function - Inventory Process Part 2
  • The Controllership Series: Financial Statement Preparation and Presentation
Learning Objectives
  • Discover and understand the purpose of the Financial Statement.
  • Explore how to prepare a Balance Sheet, Income Statement, statement of Stockholder Equity, and Statement of Cash Flow.
  • Discover and understand basic analytic ratios for the Balance Sheet, Income Statement and Statement of Cash Flow.
  • Recognize and understand the components of notes to the Financial Statement.
  • Identify the need for and uses of supplemental information to the Financial Statement.
Last updated/reviewed: May 10, 2022

Included In Certifications

This course is included in the following Certification Programs:

18 CoursesThe Controllership Series Certification

  1. The Controllership Series: The Controller Function - Elevating the Role
  2. The Controllership Series: The Controller Function - Strategic and Annual Planning
  3. GAAP Principles, Assumptions and Considerations
  4. The Treasury Function Part 1: Cash, Liquidity and Investments
  5. The Controllership Series: The Controller Function - Cash and Investments
  6. ASC 842 Accounting for Leases - Deep Dive
  7. Revenue Recognition (ASC Topic 606) Standard Overview
  8. The Controllership Series: The Controller Function - Inventory Part 1
  9. The Controllership Series: The Controller Function - Inventory Part 2 - Inventory Valuation, Physical Inventory Methods and Inventory fraud
  10. The Controllership Series: Overhead, Direct and Indirect Costs and Allocation Methods
  11. The Controllership Series: Financial Statement Preparation and Presentation
  12. Analyzing Financial Ratios - Leverage
  13. Analyzing Financial Ratios - Performance And Efficiency
  14. The Controllership Series: The Controllers Role in Data Analytics and Big Data
  15. The Controllership Series: The Financial Close Process
  16. The Controllership Series: Managerial Accounting Basics and Cost Principles
  17. The Controllership Series: Sales, Collections and Customer Credit
  18. Tools for The Controllership Series Certificate
57 Reviews (296 ratings)

Reviews

4
Member's Profile
This course is a good overview of financial statement preparation and presentation.

5
Anonymous Author
Great course, clear and concise, would recommend others to take this course

5
Member's Profile
Anyone reading this review take note: Lynn Fountain is one of the hardest working contributors on Illumeo. The quality and quantity of her course speak for themselves. Great courses. Great content. Great presentations. Every course is WONDERFUL. Thank you Lynn, Larry

5
Anonymous Author
Excellent content. This course really did a good job at getting to the meat and potatoes of the content. The content, context, and multiple modes of representation they provide is highly effective and enjoyable!

5
Member's Profile
great over view of financial statement presentation and accounting. presenter was well informed and stayed engaged through the entire presentation. Length of the presentation also seemed appropriate.

5
Anonymous Author
This course provides an interesting high level overview of the financial statement preparation process and all the associated elements involved. I particularly liked the ratio material included.

5
Member's Profile
This course takes a detailed look at the different financial statements and financial ratios. It's an excellent summary of all items important to an organization's financial reports.

5
Anonymous Author
Course was very informative and helped give me a better understanding of the financial statements. I would recommend this course to others. The slide show PDF was useful as well.

5
Anonymous Author
Great high level overview of financial reporting & the breakdown of the respective statements / footnotes / etc. Simplified approach makes for a nice refresher course.

5
Anonymous Author
Great course to give an overview on financial statement preparation and the purpose of the different statements. I really appreciate the summary of financial ratios.

5
Anonymous Author
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5
Member's Profile
This course provided a holistic and sufficient view of the basic financials for an experienced accountant/controller to refresh on how to manage company finances

5
Anonymous Author
Great high level overview of the financial statements and what they are used for. The instructor also talks about financial ratios and their use. Great course!

5
Member's Profile
Great overview of preparation of financials. I especially liked the slides on the relationships between the statements, a great way to ensure you are accurate.

5
Anonymous Author
Professor Lynn Fountain - I just love your courses and your style of teaching! You make it easy for follow, review and retain the information. Thank you!

5
Anonymous Author
Great financial statement overview. Specifically focuses and provides several in depth examples of statement of cash flows which I found helpful.

5
Anonymous Author
Very thorough and detailed course on the financials statements and what is important for understanding the FS of an organization.

5
Anonymous Author
Good review course for overviewing of the financial statement preparation process. Easy to understand and well written materials.

5
Anonymous Author
Great overview of financial statements and the appropriate notes that accompany financial statement. Great high level review.

5
Member's Profile
This course is a good refresher on the categories of the Statement of Cash Flows as well as the purpose of the statement.

5
Member's Profile
Excellent overview of the various financial statements. Thought the section on financial ratios was a great addition.

4
Member's Profile
THis was a refresher on financial statements and their presentation and the differentiation between each of them.

5
Anonymous Author
good review of foundational concepts in financial statement preparation and analysis. thank you for the course.

5
Anonymous Author
I enjoyed The Controllership Series: Financial Statement Preparation and Presentation great refresher course.

5
Anonymous Author
Lynn does such a great job preparing and presenting her presentations. I enjoy and find them very useful.

5
Anonymous Author
This was a helpful course that effectively used the allotted time to mee t the stated learning objectives

5
Anonymous Author
This course was very helpful and provided a good refresher. I highly recommend this course to other CPAs!

5
Member's Profile
this course was a good review on the basics of preparation and presentation of the financial statements

5
Member's Profile
A very nice intro/refresh for accounting people. One of the final exam questions has a typo though.

4
Member's Profile
Good review for an accountant, but some info is too basic for someone considered to be a controller.

5
Anonymous Author
This is a very comprehensive course. It provides relevant information without being overwhelming.

5
Anonymous Author
Quick review. Pretty surface level knowledge on Financial statement preparation and analysis.

5
Anonymous Author
Useful introduction course on Financial Statement preparation and presentation, good content.

4
Anonymous Author
A balanced overview of FS Statements and Notes, worth the review even if a familiar topic!

5
Anonymous Author
This was a helpful overview of the financial statement preparation process. Thank you.

5
Anonymous Author
Good overview of stakeholders and their needs/wants of different financial statements.

5
Member's Profile
Good overview of the main components of financial statement preparation and reporting.

5
Anonymous Author
Good course on financial statement preparation and key items one would need to know.

5
Member's Profile
The course covered the elements of financial statements in a good amount of detail.

5
Anonymous Author
This course was a great review of the high level financial statement preparation.

3
Anonymous Author
This course is a good basic overview of financial statement concepts. Thank you.

4
Member's Profile
Clear presentation. Presenter well versed in financial statements and footnotes.

5
Member's Profile
The author was clear and informative. Made the information easy to understand.

5
Member's Profile
Very good to understand all the financial information reported by management.

5
Anonymous Author
Clear and concise training on the financial statements and their components.

4
Anonymous Author
good higher level summary of financial statements and what is involved.

5
Anonymous Author
Very good refresher for financial statement presentation and footnotes

5
Anonymous Author
Great course! Fantastic teacher - highly recommend to take this class.

5
Member's Profile
Nice overall review. Source materials were clear and laid out well.

5
Anonymous Author
The information in this course was presented clearly and consicely.

4
Member's Profile
Very basic, but a good jump off point for more in depth analysis.

5
Member's Profile
Good overview for anyone wanting to brush up topics in this area.

4
Anonymous Author
Good basic overview of financial statements for a beginner.

5
Member's Profile
Another really good class in the series, well presented.

5
Member's Profile
Good overview of financial statements and ratio analysis.

5
Anonymous Author
I enjoyed this course, and I found it very informative.

4
Anonymous Author
Good course to refresh your financial understanding

Prerequisites
Education Provider Information
Company: Illumeo, Inc., 75 East Santa Clara St., Suite 1215, San Jose, CA 95113
Contact: For more information regarding this course, including complaint and cancellation policies, please contact our offices at (408) 400- 3993 or send an e-mail to .
Instructor for this course
Course Syllabus
INTRODUCTION AND OVERVIEW
  The Controllership Series: Financial Statement Preparation and Presentation2:46
  Purpose16:04
  Balance Sheet Preparation15:08
  Income Statement Preparation17:19
  Shareholder Equity Statement3:35
  Statement of Cash Flow10:04
  Statement of Cash Flow Cheat Sheet8:22
  Statement of Cash Flow Cheat Sheet Cont'd10:04
  Financial Statements Inter Relationship15:19
  FS Structure and Notes to FS7:32
  Financial Statement Ratios9:21
APPENDIX
  Appendix 13:25
  Appendix 25:16
  Appendix 31:40
CONTINUOUS PLAY
  The Controllership Series: Financial Statement Preparation and Presentation2:05:55
SUPPORTING MATERIAL
  Slides: Financial Statement Preparation and PresentationPDF
  Financial Statement Preparation and Presentation Glossary/ IndexPDF
REVIEW AND TEST
  REVIEW QUESTIONSquiz
 FINAL EXAMexam