Purpose

This paper aims to use coordinated financial statements' system properties that include exogenous and endogenous variables to answer important questions. These questions include the following: What is the financial condition of the firm? What if there is a change in the firm's exogenous variable(s) – how will the financial condition of the firm change? And, how much of a change in the firm's exogenous variable(s) is required for the firm to reach its financial goal(s)?

Design/methodology/approach

This paper uses coordinated financial statements to construct solvency, profitability, efficiency, liquidity and leverage (SPELL) ratios to answer the question: what is the financial condition of the firm? It answers what-if questions by changing an exogenous variable(s) and recalculating SPELL ratios. It answers how-much questions by using Excel's Goal Seek algorithm to find the required change in an exogenous variable to reach a firm's goal.

Findings

The authors find that coordinated financial statements' system properties can be used to answer important what-is, what-if and how-much questions about the firm.

Research limitations/implications

The usefulness of coordinated financial statements' system properties to answer what-is, what-if and how-much questions about the firm depends – mostly on the accuracy of exogenous data used to represent the firm's external financial environment. Furthermore, the usefulness of what-if and how-much analysis depends on how appropriate the changes are in exogenous variables used to represent alternative scenarios.

Practical implications

Using coordinated financial statements' system properties to answer what-is, what-if and how-much questions provides the firm's financial manager the tools to not only asses the firm's current financial condition but also to assess its ability to respond to opportunities and threats posed by future scenarios.

Social implications

The ability to assess the financial condition of a firm and to assess its strengths and weaknesses in key to making sound financial decisions. In addition, the consistency imposed on coordinated financial statements makes it an effective tool for discovering errors in its data.

Originality/value

The authors know of no similar work.

中文翻译：

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协调财务报表：是什么、假设和多少问题

目的

本文旨在利用包括外生和内生变量在内的协调财务报表的系统属性来回答重要问题。这些问题包括： 公司的财务状况如何？如果公司的外生变量发生变化——公司的财务状况将如何变化？并且，公司实现其财务目标需要公司的外生变量发生多少变化？

设计/方法/方法

本文使用协调财务报表来构建偿付能力、盈利能力、效率、流动性和杠杆 (SPELL) 比率来回答以下问题：公司的财务状况如何？它通过更改外生变量和重新计算 SPELL 比率来回答假设问题。它通过使用 Excel 的 Goal Seek 算法来找到外生变量所需的变化以达到公司的目标，从而回答了多少问题。

发现

作者发现，协调财务报表的系统属性可用于回答有关公司的重要问题、假设问题和数量问题。

研究限制/影响

协调财务报表的系统属性在回答有关公司的“是什么”、“假设”和“多少”问题方面的有用性取决于——主要取决于用于代表公司外部财务环境的外生数据的准确性。此外，假设分析和多少分析的有用性取决于用于表示替代方案的外生变量的变化有多合适。

实际影响

使用协调财务报表的系统属性来回答“是什么”、“假设”和“多少”问题，为公司的财务经理提供了工具，不仅可以评估公司当前的财务状况，还可以评估其应对机遇和威胁的能力通过未来的情景。

社会影响

评估公司财务状况并评估其优势和劣势的能力，这是做出合理财务决策的关键。此外，协调财务报表的一致性使其成为发现数据错误的有效工具。

原创性/价值

作者不知道有类似的工作。