Английский язык: Аннотирование и реферирование текста

124 documents, such as the invoices, credit notes and receipts. They are then summarized in day books before being fed into the ledger where their full effect is recorded. The ledger is made up of individual ac- counts -one for each item under which information is required. From the ledger, the balances of some accounts are transferred to the trading and profit and loss account , which shows the profit for the year (that is, the second requirement above), or are summarized in the balance sheet to show the financial position at a given date (the third requirement above). There is no simple document, which directly gives the answer to the fourth requirement. This demands an intelligent interpretation of the whole accounting system (particularly of the ratios we considered ear- lier in this chapter), coupled with a good understanding of such factors as economic trends, possible changes in the law, and statistics generally. The balance sheet Managers will be primarily concerned with two accounting documents – the balance sheet and the profit and loss account . The balance sheet is a summary of the firm’s assets, liabilities and capital as at a given date. There are a number of ways in which it can be set out. The conventional way is to list the assets on the right- hand side of the documents, and the liabilities and capital on the left. Bear in mind that assets less the liabilities will always give the capital (that is ‘capital invested’ using the definition above). This means that assets equal liabilities plus capital. However, this old practice is changing and an increasing number of firms are showing the sides reversed. Companies normally present the data in ‘statement’ form showing liabilities as a deduction from as- sets, to give the capital. Profit and loss account The profit and loss account (usually abbreviated to P&L) shows how the profit (or loss) was made. It covers a period, and this is re- flected in the title for the document. Notice the different nature of the