A financial report is an official record of a business’s income and expenses, as well as its current assets and liabilities. It’s a document that shows how much money your company has coming in and going out over a given period, which is useful for tracking business growth and making informed strategic decisions.
Creating and maintaining a financial report requires collecting and reconciling data from numerous sources. This includes sales invoices, purchase orders, expense receipts, bank statements, payroll records and other relevant documents. The report’s accuracy depends on its consistency, verifiability and timeliness. It is important that the information in a financial report is comparable to other reports over time, even when a company changes its accounting policies or practices. Ideally, the information in a financial report can be verified by independent observers such as auditors or other companies’ accountants.
When preparing your company’s financial reports, make sure that you follow a legal framework, such as IFRS or GAAP, to ensure transparency and clarity in your company’s information. This will help protect investors, creditors and other stakeholders and promote trust in financial markets.
Developing and maintaining accurate financial reporting is key to growing your business and staying competitive. It’s important to have all the data you need in one place, so that you can analyze your performance against your benchmarks and set SMART business goals for future success. By using software that streamlines and automates your financial reports, you can turn financial reporting from a frustrating administrative burden into a collaborative team sport where Finance partners with the rest of the business to drive business results.