Financial Statements

• BALANCE SHEET

A summary table of asset and liability accounts grouped by category, according to the accounting framework in force in the profession. In banking, only the end-of-year balance sheet is called a balance sheet, while the monthly published tables are referred to as "situations". Off-balance sheet items essentially include commitments by signature and financial instruments for the future.

• ASSETS

The assets reflect the use of the company's resources (permanent capital, loans, profits). These uses can be in the form of "fixed assets," "securities," or "losses."

From a legal perspective: assets are the company's assets.

From an accounting perspective: assets balance with liabilities.

• LIABILITIES

Liabilities list all the resources of the company, namely the equity provided by the shareholders and the operating or banking and financial debts that will finance the company's assets.

• EQUITY

Equity represents the money contributed by shareholders to the establishment of the company or subsequently, or left at the disposal of the company as undistributed profits in the form of dividends.

It represents the difference between the total value of the assets on the balance sheet and the total of the debts (financial and operating).

• INCOME STATEMENT

The income statement lists all the flows that positively or negatively modify the company's assets during a given period: products that generate wealth, and expenses that destroy it. The balance of these flows, or result, is positive when the value of the company's assets has increased over the period considered; it is negative when the company has become impoverished.

• OPERATING INCOME

Operating income mainly corresponds to sales recorded during the accounting period; they differ from operating revenue only due to the payment terms granted to customers.

• OPERATING EXPENSES

Operating expenses reflect the destruction of wealth necessary for the creation of operating income. The main operating expenses are: raw material consumption, other external consumption (transport, energy, advertising...), personnel expenses, taxes and fees, as well as provisions for depreciation of current assets.

In consolidated accounts, they are often presented by destination: cost of sales, administrative and financial expenses, and research and development expenses.