CFA Institute members must act with integrity, competence, diligence, and respect and in an ethical manner with the public, clients, prospective clients, employers, employees, colleagues in the investment profession, and other participants in the global capital markets.
The Statement of Changes in Equity
The statement of changes in equity records changes in owners’ investments in a company over time. The main components are paid-in capital and retained earnings. Paid-in capital is the amount raised from issuing new shares. Retained earnings are any income earned by the company that is reinvested in the business.
The CFA Institute Professional Conduct Program
The CFA Institute Professional Conduct Program administers the disciplinary process for CFA Institute. It investigates allegations, determines violations, imposes sanctions, conducts disciplinary proceedings, and discloses violations.
Tobin’s q
Tobin’s q is a valuation measure closely related to Price-to-book (P/B) and residual income models. It expresses the ratio between the market value of the firm (debt and equity) and the replacement value of its assets.
Cash Flow Statement – The Direct Method
The cash flow statement summarizes all activity in the cash accounts of the corporation. The statement user can imagine that, if one had access to the bank statements for the year, the cash flow statement could be created by sorting all transactions and summarizing them into categories.
The 52/53 Week Fiscal Year
Some companies choose to end their fiscal year on the same day of the week (for example, the Friday closest to the end of January). Companies that have weekday business hours may thus be able to take inventory and close the books over the weekend. Companies choosing this method report on what is known as a 52-53 week fiscal year-end since there will always be either 52 or 53 full weeks in each fiscal year.
Cash Flow Statement – The Indirect Method
While expressing the preference for the direct method, U.S. GAAP and IFRS also include the requirement that when the direct method is presented on the face of the cash flow statement, the notes to the statement must include a reconciliation of accrual accounting net income to cash from operating activities. This reconciliation constitutes the indirect method format.
The Cash Flow Statement
The cash flow statement classifies a company’s cash flow into three categories: operating, investing, and financing. It can be used to help an analyst evaluate the company’s liquidity, solvency, and financial flexibility. It can be presented in either of two formats: direct or indirect.
The Income Statement
An income statement may also be called a statement of operations or a profit and loss statement. It provides information about a company’s business activities over a certain period of time. This includes the revenue and other income the company produced during that time, as well as the expenses required to generate that revenue.
The Balance Sheet
The balance sheet lists the firm’s assets (or resources) and claims against those assets. The two basic types of claims are liabilities (to creditors) and equity (of owners).