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财务报表是根据会计准则而构成的一组数据。报表会体现业务综述,并通过展示这些利润的获得来评估英国石油(BP)的绩效以及通过金融评论包括现金流量表、损益表和资产负债表观察是否仍具有偿付能力。因此这些数据要以最简单的方式提供给用户,以便他们能分析他们在未来想做的事情。根据 Peter Atrill所说财务报表清晰是很重要的“这个信息是为谁准备的,是出于什么目的”(Peter Atrill and Eddie Mclaney, 5th edition financial accounting for decision makers) 因此明确和准确的信息将帮助各种组织在下一个声明发表之前做出的决定,并会给出对公司一个明确的理解。
股东投资者将相信“当前和潜在股东以及组织投资分析师。”(Mike Harvey and Fred Keer, 2nd edition financial accounting theory and standards)股东负责提供大笔比预期更高股息的资金。投资者可以决定他们是否想要再投资业务或者他们是否想保留它。我相信所有的股东在解释财务信息上都有不同的“品味、样式、信仰、偏好和技能。”(William H.Beaver, 2nd edition Financial reporting an accounting revolution)然而每个股东都希望得到业务中最大数量的股息。这不是英国石油公司2009年与2008年相比的利润情况,而是“更低的实现和精炼利润率和更高的贬值。”( annual reporting page 53)。在2008年到2009年间,当在损益表中看到45亿美元使利润发生重大的变化。这将关系到让很多股东确切地知道为什么会发生这种情况,是否涉及经理如何管理他们的资源。股东希望估量“绩效是为了处理无效率的经理或在股东利益中做出决定。”( Bill Rees, Financial Analysis)
财务会计的主要原则-Main Principle Of Financial Accounting
A financial statement is a set of data, which will be organised according to accounting standards. The statements will give an overview of the business and will evaluate the performance of BP by showing the profit earned and whether It will remain solvent through the financial review which includes the cash flow statement, income statement and balance sheet. Therefore this data has to be provided to the users in the simplest way so they can analyse what they want to do in the future. As per Peter Atrill it is important for financial statements to be clear “for whom the information is being prepared and for what purpose” (Peter Atrill and Eddie Mclaney, 5th edition financial accounting for decision makers) Therefore clear and accurate information will help various groups to make a number of decisions before the next statement is published and will give a clear understanding of the company.
Investors in the form of shareholders will embrace both the “current and potential shareholders of and organisation and investment analysts.” (Mike Harvey and Fred Keer, 2nd edition financial accounting theory and standards)The shareholders are responsible for providing large sums of capital anticipating higher dividends. The investor can then decide whether they want to re-invest in the business or whether they want to keep it. I believe all shareholders will have different “tastes, fashion, beliefs, preferences and skill in interpreting financial information.”(William H.Beaver, 2nd edition Financial reporting an accounting revolution) However each shareholder will want to earn the maximum amount of dividends from the business. This wasn’t the case for BP in 2009 as the profit compared to 2008, were “lower realizations and refining margins and higher depreciation.” ( annual reporting page 53) The amount of profit varied by a significant $4500 million between 2009 and 2008 as this was seen on the income statement. This will concern a number of shareholders to exactly know why this happened, whether it was concerning with how the managers managed their resources. Shareholders will want to measure the “performance in order to dispose ineffectual managers or take decisions in the shareholder interest.”( Bill Rees, Financial Analysis)
Investors will pay close attention to the cash flow statement as this will help them to understand the future cash flows. The operating activities were $25124 million profit before taxation (www.bp.com, annual reporting page 117). This information that will be provided by the reports will help to “estimate the likely returns from holding the share, the increase in profits and prices.” (The institute publisher, Financial reporting today, 1998 edition accounting books) This will be very important as it will be highly predictability of cash flows. This will reduce risk as they will know how much to invest.
The other annual reports which will shareholders make decision will be the balance sheet. The balance sheet will show what the company owns such as asset, what it owes and the shareholder equity. The balance sheet will help the shareholders to get a quick understanding of the strength and capabilities of the business and therefore will be a good decision making report. The balance sheet will show the shareholder equity which for BP was “$101,613 million in 2009 increased by about $10000 million from 2008(www.bp.com, annual reporting page 116). This will help the investors make more investment as it shows the efficiency of generating the profits.
Reports will be another way that shareholders can calculate ratios which will help them to assess the performance of the business. It will show the “risks associated with investment” (The institute publisher, Financial reporting today, 1998 edition accounting books) This will compare the consistency year on year and the way its managing against other similar companies. As a result they will be able to analyse the future trends using the liquidity, profitability and leverage ratios.
However the annual reports maybe difficult for the shareholders as they may misunderstand the layout in which the data is set. The annual reports may not even be relevant for the shareholders as it shows the starting point and will not show the trend, thus demotivate investment as it doesn’t show the reliability of the future trends. Shareholders will be concerned whether the “return will be significant or not” (The institute publisher, Financial reporting today, 1998 edition accounting books) but the annual reports will not be consistent as the market value will be changing and won’t be recognised in the accounting record. Ratios may not be too useful for comparability as most shareholders will not know how they work.
A employee is a person who has a contract with the employer and provides a service to the business where they get paid salary and fringe benefits. Employees will be interested in the income statement of BP and have a good understanding of it as they will want to know “the stability and profitability of their employers”( Weetman, P Financial Accounting An introduction pp12 to 20 ) They will use this to compare year on year to identify changes over time. This will be a key and help employees to sign a new agreement which will allow them to earn higher then before. They will be reluctant to ask for a new contract as the profit has reduced by $4500 million between 2009 and 2008. The income statement will also help the employees as it will offer shares and they will want to know how much. This will satisfy all employees and give their full commitment.
The employees will be affected by any changes which are made within BP as they will want to know their future prospects. This will directly affect their motivation and the way they look at being at the company. This is when they will be concerned with job security. However BP offers a number of pensions through “contribution plans or benefit plans”. (www.bp.com, annual reporting page 163) This will keep them satisfied as all employees will be “trying to assess future employment prospects”(J.M.Samuels, R.E Bratshaw and J.M. Cranar,1st edition Financial statement analysis in Europe) All employees will be pleased as BP offers “post-retirement benefits and life insurance” (www.bp.com, annual reporting page 163) as this will help them in the future.
The cash flow statement will be another key for employees as they will need this information in a “clear and simple non-technical way”(David Alexander and Anne Britton, 5th edition pg 12 Financial reporting) as this is when employees will be paid salaries and wages. BP also offers a number of bonuses which will keep allthe workers motivated to give their best. These bonuses include deferred bonus, performance shares and other benefits.”
Trade unions will represent employees and will be “interested in information for the purpose of wage bargaining”(Andrew Thomas and Annie Marie Ward, Introduction to financial accounting) and to ensure that all workers are treated well within the workplace. Safety is BP’s main priority and they have a number of ways in which they do this, by providing training programmes which will ensure injury frequency is reduced as it was seen in 2009 when it was “0.34 – signifi cantly lower than 0.43 in 2008 and 0.48 in 2007.” (www.bp.com, annual reporting page 10) the employee satisfaction also increased in 2009 which will please all employees.
Employees will have a number of issues with qualitative characteristics as the annual reports may be too complex for them to understand. This will therefore restrict them from giving opinions on new contracts, bonuses and salaries. Some information on BP may also be irrelevant to them such as the dividends. Comparisons will be difficult for employees to carry out as they may not have enough knowledge to understand how they work.#p#分页标题#e#
The government is a organisation that has authority and controls the public. The government will want accurate financial statements as they will use this for “revenue which will be mainly for taxation and economic planning purposes” as per Mike Harvey and Fred Keer. Governments will be concerned that BP complies with reporting and valuation every year which they will assess and charge taxation. BP will have a number of taxes such as Customs, excise duty and payroll taxes. Their economic plans are influenced by the taxes, therefore rely heavily on statements and would want “a system which seeks a degree of objectivity and measure the revenue service.”(Bill rees)
After every financial year the government will be interested in the income statement which will help them make decisions on where and how to revive the economy as the government will tax a number of groups within the business. Taxation on dividends is one where the individual “UK resident will be entitled to tax credit on cash dividends paid on shares”( www.bp.com, annual reporting page 106). This will be one place where the government will earn large sums of money. The taxation in 2009 was “$8,365 significantly low compared to 2008 were it was $12,617” ( www.bp.com, annual reporting page 114). This won’t be quite favourable in the government’s eyes as they will want the most amount of taxation. They will want to know why this was the case and will want to make sure the reporting is correct as this will help them for the economic plans.
The governments will be anxious to see the cash flow statement and balance sheet. It will help them make decisions on net surpluses and the goodwill of the company. The taxes on net surpluses will help “to assess the health and performance of sectors of the company” according to Bill Rees. The government will closely look at the flow of money to “ensure excess profits are not being earned.”( J.M. Samuels, R.E.Brayshaw and J.M.Craner) The balance sheet will be used to see the goodwill were $8,620 is lying on the balance sheet and the government will want BP to act on it as soon as possible.
The government will want a clear presentation of the annual reports as they will want to have a good understanding of the work. The annual reports will have to be made sure that they are free from error and have a faithful representation as this will then be provided to the public on a yearly basis. Irrelevant information will not be useful as they will want to analyse the business profits and the amount of taxation. Comparability will be difficult for the government that operate in two different sectors and the reports will not show how they affect the economy as a whole so it will not be too useful for planning for the future.
According to David Alexander and Anne Britton the public “are part of the society and they interact and react with the society at every level.” The public will be interested in the income statement to see the amount of profits and losses the business makes over the financial year. This will help the public to assess the future of the firm and the way it will affect the economy. As it was said by Thomas and Ward “employment policies of the reporting entity”, this could concern the public as they will want information on the “employment levels.”
The cash flow statement will allow the public to compare the performances of various firms by using the different accounting methods. They will also want to ensure the documents provided by BP are “enriched by the law”(The institute publisher)to ensure they don’t go against the law. The balance sheet will help the public whether the business will remain solvent as they will be interested in the liquidity.
The public will be awakened by the activities which affect the environment especially when “firm is proposing or undertaking activities of which the public disapprove.”(Bill Rees)
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