Having a firm grasp of your company's finances is critical. You want to know where you stand at any given time. That said, there are three primary financial statements that almost every business will need to generate and usually do so either monthly/quarterly and also annually. Utilizing an online financial statement template to this end can make much easier work of trying to organize and keep track of all relevant data. Some sites allow you to download these financial statement templates for free; of course you can get access to premium paid versions as well. And especially when going to apply for any sort of business loan, having professionally generated financial statements is going to be an absolute must. In this article, we look at the various types of financial statement templates available for small business owners.
Understanding the Three Types of Financial Statements
Each of the three types of statements and statement templates that we will lo, ok at focuses on a particular aspect of your company's economic picture. All three taken together paint a fairly comprehensive picture and can therefore help lenders better evaluate where your business stands and whether or not it is worth taking the risk when it comes to offering you financing.
There are templates out there that make it incredible easy to just fill in the requisite info and they take care of the rest. And with easy to use dashboards, you can more effectively stay on top of this task regularly. This way too, all of your information is contained within one place, and all financial statement templates can be accessed from a single platform. QuickBooks Online is one such tool. Another you might look into is FreshBooks which seems to work well for smaller firms.
The Income Statement
The income statement paints a pretty broad picture of the company's finances. Within this particular financial statement, you will find a reporting of the company's overall revenue and expenses. The expenses are further broken down into the type of expense. So for example, you will have a section for the cost required to produce the actual products. You will also have a section denoting costs for advertising and outreach. Administrative costs will also come into play, as will any general operating costs.
On the income statement template, you will ultimately deduct all relevant expenses from the revenue brought in by the company over a specified period. At the bottom of your financial statement template, you will then see the business's net income for the quarter or year.
Why is this number useful? Ultimately, the net incredibly late on your income statement offers a snapshot of how profitable the company was during that period. You can also gain better insight regarding expenses. If you compare your income statement to that of previous years, this can tell you quite a bit about the direction your finances/expenses are headed.
Most financial statement templates of this type will make it incredibly easy for you to simply input the required information and generate the corresponding income statement. Typically you will fill out the cost of sales, operating costs and so forth and the net income will automatically be calculated for you. If you have multiple revenue streams, most templates will also allow you to add extra rows if necessary.
The Balance Sheet
The balance sheet is used to report company assets about shareholder equity. So essentially, this sheet will show what the company owns, what it owes, and that which is held by shareholders. The company's assets will either be owned outright or in many cases financed. Using a balance sheet template to help you here is often a good idea. The resulting numbers on the balance sheet will ultimately work out to the total amount of assets equals total liability plus shareholder equity. Both sides have to balance in the end, hence the name of this particular financial statement.
Let's say, for example, a shareholder invests 10k into the company. This then also ups your asset total, so the two sides remain in balance. Balance sheets prove useful when evaluating shorter periods. This type of financial statement is based on a moment. In other words, it is based on current balances versus long term sales and revenues. This way you know at a given moment how much money the company has on hand. This also enables you to have a better understanding of the organization's liquidity.
In using a balance sheet template, you have the capability again to add rows as needed to reflect new accounts and so forth. A template will then automatically figure the total amounts and essentially do the work for you.
Cash Flow Statement
The third primary type of financial statement is the cash flow statement. Understanding exactly how much is going out versus what you have coming in is crucial to the success of any business. This then lets you know how much cash you have on hand at a given time. There are a couple of different methods in terms of recording cash flow. There are financial statement templates available for both; this makes it so much easier to keep track of expenses as well as sales and other such income streams. Why should you generate a cash flow statement? Perhaps most importantly, it enables you to gain a clearer picture of how much money the business has, and thus if you are planning future projects, you will know whether or not these are indeed feasible.
A cash flow statement template will most often be in the form of a spreadsheet. You would then enter the relevant values in their allotted cells.
For any such financial statement template, the formulas are figured out for you. You are simply inputting your income, sales, expenses, operating costs, and any additional numbers depending on the type of financial statement template you are using. These are hugely important for keeping tabs on the financial well being of the business.
First Union Lending has been working with small businesses across the country for years. We have a variety of loan programs to suit your company's needs. Call today and let's get started!