The start of the new fiscal year is an important moment with many commitments for the finance office staff. It marks the finalization of one fiscal year and the culmination of preparing the financial statements.
Although it is often considered a process carried out only by specialists and statutory auditors, any economist can prepare financial statements. What is required are the fundamentals of financial accounting, knowledge of the accounting framework, and, in some cases—when expertise and valuation are needed—experience in handling such matters.
The financial reporting process should never be viewed as the mechanical completion of financial statement forms and explanatory notes. These statements will be read by external users, so they must be as clear and comprehensible as possible.
To offer you some assistance, by providing an example and ideas for techniques that can help in preparing financial statements, below you will find the simplified format of the financial statements for a fiscal year. They may be of assistance to some practitioners in finance matters—who may not be economists—as well as to colleagues in the finance office and beyond.
The first material is prepared in Excel format, with built-in formulas and formatting for financial statements and explanatory notes. It is the result of our years of experience. The second format is that of complete financial statements, including explanatory notes.
We hope this material will provide only a preliminary idea of what a simplified set of financial statements might look like and how you can adapt this material to your situation.
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