What are the basic reports?
Published
The five, and their questions
| Report | Answers | Its glossary page |
|---|---|---|
| Income statement | Are we profitable? From where? | With Al-Waha worked in full |
| Balance sheet | What do we own and owe? | With six computed ratios |
| Cash flow statement | Where did cash go despite profit? | With the −9,000 case |
| Receivables ageing | Who is late, and by how much? | The ageing table on the AR page |
| Trial balance | Are the books sound beneath all of the above? | With the four errors it can't catch |
They stack: the trial balance verifies the base, the statements read on top of it, and the ageing runs operationally, even daily.
A monthly half-hour routine
1. Trial balance (5 min): odd-signed balances? jumps vs last month?2. Income statement, comparative (10 min): margins, not figures - what did 41.7% become?3. Balance sheet (5 min): inventory, receivables, owner's current - the three that swell silently4. Cash flow (5 min): is operating positive?5. Ageing (5 min): who crossed 30 days, and what happens about it tomorrow?
The rule: a report read six months late is not a report but an archive - the whole value is regularity and comparison.
Frequently asked questions
If I read only one report, which?
The monthly income statement against the prior month - its questions will drag you to the rest on their own.
System-standard reports, or build my own?
The five above are one click in any sound system - hand-building is reserved for custom analysis (cost centres, product lines).