Start Here: Why Financial Statements Matter

Start Here — The Blizzard Breakthroughs CLARIFY Method™

Why Financial Statements Matter

Before you build a Current Profit and Loss statement, it helps to know what that statement actually is — and where it fits alongside the other two financial statements every business runs on.

The Three Financial Statements

• Income Statement (Profit and Loss, sometimes called a P and L): Revenue, expenses, and profit over a period of time. This is the statement this entire course is built around — it tells you whether the business made money.
• Balance Sheet: What the business owns and owes at a single point in time — assets, liabilities, and equity. It tells you what the business is worth.
• Cash Flow Statement: Cash actually moving in and out — operating, investing, and financing activity. It tells you whether the business can pay its bills.

Why This Course Focuses on the Income Statement

Revenue can be climbing on your Income Statement while your bank account is empty. Growth on paper and cash in hand are two different things. A business can look successful — strong revenue, a good brand, plenty of clients — and still be running check-to-check underneath, dependent on the next big sale to stay afloat.

The Income Statement is where forecasting starts because it's where you set targets for revenue, cost, and profit. Once you have a Target Profit and Loss statement, your Balance Sheet and Cash Flow Statement are worth a closer look on their own — they're outside the scope of this course, but they're the next place to build financial intelligence once your Income Statement is under control.

You'll walk away with:

A clear sense of what each financial statement tells you, and why this course starts with the Income Statement.

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