SUMMARY POINTS
• Financial statements are needed to analyze financial position and performance.
• Financial position refers to the total resources controlled by a business compared to the claims against those resources.
• Financial performance refers to the results of decisions over time.
• The three main financial statements are the income statement, balance sheet, and cash flow statement.
• The income statement shows the difference between the gross income and the costs incurred to produce that income.
• The balance sheet shows the assets and liabilities on a specific date.
• The cash flow statement shows the annual flow and timing of cash in and out.
• To assess financial position and performance adequately, profitability, solvency, liquidity, repayment capacity, and financial efficiency need to be assessed.
• Both absolute and relative measures are needed.
• Profitability is measured by net farm income, rate of return on farm equity (ROE), and rate of return on farm assets (ROA).
• Solvency is measured by net worth (or equity), debt/asset ratio, equity/asset ratio, and debt/equity ratio.
• Liquidity is measured by working capital and current ratio.
• Repayment capacity is measured by the asset turnover ratio, four operational ratios (the operating expense ratio, depreciation expense ratio, interest expense ratio, and net farm income from operations ratio), and cost measures appropriate to the farm.
• An initial analysis is performed to gain an understanding of the farm and to find areas that have problems or opportunities so that further analysis can better focus on those areas.
• Diagnostic analysis is used once a problem or symptom of a problem becomes evident