Business

TECHNOLOGY AND ACCOUNTING 2

TECHNOLOGY AND ACCOUNTING

Folashade Aina

Intro to Business

Professor Yorkshire

September 30, 2021

At the end of each trading period, companies produce annual reports to assess performance within the specific period. According to the reading material provided, the annual report with regards to the finances of the company. The accounts department of a company is trusted with the duties of generating the yearlyreports for the company. Various sets of information such as sales, purchases, salaries, loans, and other financial information are considered in preparing annual reports. A company's annual report is used for various reasons. One of the uses of annual reports is to indicate a company's financial position within the specified year. The annual report will reveal the company's profits or losses and what needs to be done to make the company more profitable. Investors use the annual reports to evaluate a company's performance and decide on the right course of action for their investments. The annual reports also help a company make performance comparisons with the past year and develop performance targets for the following year.

In the annual reports, critical financial statements are used to reflect the financial position of the company. Some of the necessary financial statements include the balance sheet, statement of income, and statement of cashflows. The balance sheet is a financial statement that indicates a company's assets, equity, and liabilities within a specified period. The date of the balance sheet is strictly the last date of the specified period. When preparing the balance sheet, the accounting equation, that is Assets – Liabilities = Owners equity. Statement of income indicates the profitability of a business within a specified period. A company's profitability is realized after comparing the expenses incurred and the revenues earned within the said period. The statement of cashflows indicates the cash disbursements and receipts of a company within a given period. The report summarizes the effect of cash on investing, operating, and financing activities of a company within a certain period.

Apple Inc. maintains its annual reports that are used to evaluate the financial position of the company. As of 31st December 2020, Apple Inc.'s balance sheet balanced at $323,888 billion. The income statement, the net income for Apple as of 31st December 2020 was $57,411 billion. The cash flow statement indicated that the cash ending balance of 31st December 2020 was $39,789 billion. The information provided in the three annual reports is essentialfor the shareholders. SThe information helps shareholders make critical decisions, such as investment decisions.

Preparation of annual reports involves accounting software that can analyze the information to create meaningful reports. The accounting software used to prepare the annual reports include; Intuit QuickBooks, Oracle NetSuite, and Wave Financial.

References

12.3: Using Technology Libretexts https://biz.libretexts.org/Courses/Prince_Georges_Community_College/BMT1010%3A_I ntroduction_to_Business_(Bailey_Robinson_Park_Bassette__Perry_2021)/12%3A_Mod ule_Twelve_-_Importance_of_Technology_for_Businesses/12.03%3A_Using_Technolog y

13.6: Financial Statements Libretexts https://biz.libretexts.org/Courses/Prince_Georges_Community_College/BMT1010%3A_I ntroduction_to_Business_(Bailey_Robinson_Park_Bassette__Perry_2021)/13%3A_Mod ule_Thirteen_-_Business_Accounting/13.06%3A_Financial_Statements

https://s2.q4cdn.com/470004039/files/doc_financials/2020/ar/_10-K-2020-(As-Filed).pdf