The financial planning is of paramount importance as it concerns the evaluation of the financial and economic potential of any business idea. The financial management requires a specific document, the Financial Plan (FP) which sets business objectives, development opportunities and marketing strategies.
The Financial Plan is structured as follow:
•Balance Sheet, in order to report Assets and Liabilities. Assets can be defined as the items your company owns that can provide future economic benefit. Liabilities indicate what you owe other parties.
•Profit and Loss Account, which shows income and expenses for a specific period of time. This could be monthly, quarterly, semi-annually, or annually.
•Cash Flow Statement, that provides aggregate data regarding all cash inflows a company receives from its ongoing operations and external investment sources. It also includes all cash outflows that pay for business activities and investments during a given period.
The balance sheet is a snapshot of what you have and what you owe at a given point in time. Unlike the income or cash flow statements, it is not a record of performance over a period of time, but simply a statement of where things stand at a certain moment.
The balance sheet is a list of assets, debts or liabilities, and equity or net worth, with their values. In business, assets are resources that can be used to create income, while debt and equity are the capital that financed those assets. Thus, the value of the assets must equal the value of the debt and the equity. In other words, the value of the business’s resources must equal the value of the capital it borrowed or bought in order to get those resources.
assets = liabilities + equity
Profit and Loss Account is a financial statement that summarizes the revenues, costs, and expenses incurred during a specific period of time, usually a fiscal year or quarter. These records provide information about a company's ability (or lack thereof) to generate profit by increasing revenue, reducing costs, or both. It includes the "statement of profit and loss," the "statement of operations," the "statement of financial results," and the "income and expense statement.“
The P&L account reveals the company's realized profits or losses for the specified period of time by comparing total revenues to the company's total costs and expenses. Over time it can show a company's ability to increase its profit, either by reducing costs and expenses or increasing sales. Companies publish P&L accounts annually, at the end of the company's fiscal year, and may also publish them on a quarterly basis. Accountants, analysts, and investors study a P&L account carefully, scrutinizing cash flow and debt financing capabilities.
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