The creation of your financial statements is largely a mechanical exercise. The numbers to be used are found in your accounting records after the books are closed at the end of the period; to draw up the statements, you, your accountant, or your accounting software simply look up the numbers and plug them into the statement.
Using the numbers to your benefit. The real value to the statements comes after their creation, when you analyze them to see how your business is doing in numerous areas. You don't have to know the exact makeup of each item on the balance sheet and income statement, but you must have a sense of what the numbers mean in order to interpret and analyze these financial records. Raw data in isolation does not make sense — it is in relation to what that counts. The following discussion will help you make sense of the data.
Below is a checklist of issues you may want to consider after your financial statements are prepared.