Other Strategic Issues

A case analysis is a critical step by step appraisal of an individual or group of persons involved with a given field. It is a detailed process that requires the collection of relevant data followed by an intense analysis of the same. The study of a company involves determining the impact of critical decisions by members of the organizations. It may also include the evaluation of trends in operation for the specified period, and the impact those activities have to a company in its current condition (Wheelen et al., 2017). Financial statements, on its part, is the assessment of organizations or development projects to determine how they are performing financially. The two forms of analysis have a strong connection with each other. Although, a case analysis may target all the elements making up a company, the outcomes from a financial appraisal makes a considerable portion of the overall results of the former. Without an exhaustive study on the financial capabilities of an organization, it would be impossible for a case analysis to determine the quantitative aspects of the business in question.

Financial statements are essential aspects of case analysis. They provide a significant amount of information concerning the effects of business decisions on the overall performance of the organization (Wheelen et al., 2017). A balance sheet shows the currents standing of a business entity. It systematically displays the liabilities, capital, and assets of an establishment. These figures are crucial as they enable specialists to determine the strong points of a business and the weaknesses. It also details the threats that face the company as regards its debts, and the opportunities that it may be having prospectively.

Additionally, income statements may provide valuable insights into the amounts of money generated by a company throughout a given period. It shows the total incurred expenditures and the goods sold, and services rendered. Through this profit and loss evaluation, an analyst will be able to understand an establishment’s external environment, and the precise ways in which it impacts the performance of the organization, that is, whether it increases or decrease its competitive advantage.

Financial statements are documents that highlight where business got resources from, how they spent it, and their current monetary status. These statements all include varying information, which, therefore means that their methods of calculations are different. Balance sheets display three types of data: assets, which highlight all the valuable properties that the organization owns; liabilities which indicate the debts of the entity and; the capital which represents the left-over resources after a business clears all of its properties and settles every amount owed to others. Here, an organization adds all its liabilities to the capital and equates it to the assets to evaluate how they balance (Brooks & Mukherjee, 2013).

Income statements are report cards indicating the amount of money earned by the company over a period. It is worth noting that the final figures here may either be positive or negative denoting whether a company made gains or losses. In a bid to prepare this statement, has to calculate all the expense incurred during that period, and the then less them from the total revenues, thereby arriving at the net income of the business.

Finally, cash flow statements on their part highlight the changes in accounts, that is, money in, and money out (Brooks & Mukherjee, 2013). It functions to complement the other statements and involves the amounts spent in operations, investments and financing activities. The organization arrives at it by adding up all the receipts and payments within different periods and scrutinizing the decrease and increase in the accounts, the money spent versus the cash paid in by customers, suppliers among other stakeholders.

References

Brooks, R., & Mukherjee, A. K. (2013). Financial management: core concepts. Pearson.

Wheelen, T. L., Hunger, J. D., Hoffman, A. N., & Bamford, C. E. (2017). Strategic management and business policy (p. 55). Boston: pearson.