Read a company report: a checklist with a fictional review exercise

Read the report card before its numbers

The fictional card covers the first half-year and states amounts in thousands of kronor. Revenue is 800, net profit 64, operating cash flow −20 and cash at the period end 90. In kronor these are SEK 800,000, SEK 64,000, SEK −20,000 and SEK 90,000. Write the unit beside each amount.

Revenue, profit and operating cash flow refer to that half-year. Ending cash is a balance at the final date. The card gives no investing or financing cash flows, no following-half revenue and no payment dates for liabilities. Keep those gaps visible when reviewing the statements below; a correct conversion of units does not supply the missing evidence.

If the table does not fit, scroll it sideways.

Correct four sentences using the same evidence

Claim one says the company sold only SEK 800. It drops the thousands unit; the card states SEK 800,000. Claim two says profit proves the bank balance increased by SEK 64,000. That confuses profit with payments. The card even gives negative operating cash flow, while the full change in cash remains unknown.

Claim three says full-year revenue is exactly SEK 1,600,000. It doubles the half-year without information about the following half. Claim four says ending cash of SEK 90,000 proves every debt can be paid tomorrow. Debt amounts, due dates and other terms are missing. Point to the particular missing unit, period or detail in each correction.

Use the checklist even when the calculation is correct

Write six checking fields: company identity, source, period or balance date, unit and currency, definition of the measure, and unanswered question. Mark which are actually supplied by the card. The source here is our constructed teaching card; it must not be presented as a public report from a real company.

Net margin can be calculated as 64 / 800 = 8 percent because both amounts share the same thousands unit and period. A correct percentage does not make the four mistaken sentences true. Keep the calculation and the conclusion on different lines, checking both rather than treating arithmetic as proof of every interpretation.

Choose a follow-up question and the right evidence

To understand why profit differs from payments, you need more cash-flow evidence. To assess a payment date, you need the debt’s terms and cash available at the relevant time. To compare two full years, you need comparable full-year evidence. None of these questions is answered by calculating the margin once again.

Investiq’s company-search guide helps start with the correct identity, currency and observation time. Read the company’s own report separately, then continue with the cash-flow lesson if the profit-versus-cash distinction was difficult. This checklist is independent teaching material; it describes neither an automatic report checker nor report import in the app.