Figures compiled under rules for meeting one need may be inadequate to meet other needs. Merchandise inventories shown in a balance sheet at a very low cost figure of the distant past will not tell a banker how valuable they are currently for paying debts. Regulatory bodies when dealing with a financial institution like a bank may look with favour on an understatement of asset values that increases the margin of safety of that institution in a crisis. A stockholder, however, who wishes to determine share price, would prefer fuller information on current values. Income tax regulations may specify certain maximum allowances for depreciation expense, but business management may find that rapid technological change justifies larger allowances. Or, management may elect the highest permissible depreciation rates for income tax purposes when less would appear adequate, lest possible tax savings for shareholders be lost. Considerable changes in the price level create many problems for all classes who use conventionally prepared statements. Radical accounting adjustments were suggested by German accountants in the price inflation after World War I and by some accountants in the U.S. after World War II.

The conditions prerequisite to the interpretation of financial statements are an understanding (1) of the information required by the particular user, (2) of the terminology, and (3) of the rules or conventions employed by accountants in their preparation of financial statements. The needs of the various groups who use statements have been suggested. As for terminology, the two areas baffling for the ordinary reader but essential to the understanding of the balance sheet are the items that state the ownership interest and the reserves.

The ownership interest of a proprietorship or partnership may be stated in amounts belonging to the one or several owners or merely as the net worth. The total amount is the excess of the assets over the debts of the concern. When added to the debts, the sum equals the assets by definition. Custom places the ownership interest on the side of the balance sheet headed liabilities or, more correctly, liabilities and owners’ capital. The latter heading recognizes the legal difference between the creditors, who have claims to fixed sums of money as of certain dates, and the owners, who are the residual claimants to assets and income.

In a corporation’s balance sheet, the interest of the owner-stockholders should be broken down as between paid-in investment and subsequent accretions from earnings left in the business. The former appear as so much capital stock, often at an arbitrary par or stated value, and any excess as excess paid in by stockholders, paid-in surplus, or capital surplus. The other portion of the ownership equity may appear as earnings retained in the business, profit and loss, or earned surplus. Recognition that this amount is merely a balance of value and represents the residual claim of the owners, which may be invested in nonliquid assets, should prevent the not unusual misconception that surplus is a pot of money readily available for dividends or debt payment.

Instead of merely showing such an asset as plant and machinery at its net book value, it is customary to show its original cost with a separately stated amount of allowances for depreciation or, more confusingly, a reserve for depreciation. Similarly, allowances for losses on customers’ debts to the business may show as a deduction either for allowances for bad debt losses or a reserve for bad debts. In the late 20th century accountants began using the term “allowance” rather than “reserve” to make clear that these amounts are estimates of loss of value and not cash or funds.

Occasionally a liability, especially where the amount is uncertain, appears as a “reserve.” Thus, income tax liability may be called reserve for income taxes, although better practice is to label the item “estimated liability for” or “accrued” income taxes.

Some accountants who wish to show that retained earnings are not available for dividend distributions transfer a portion of such surplus to a “surplus reserve,” such as a reserve for contingencies, a sinking fund reserve, or merely general reserves. Others prefer to show this point by merely stating these amounts as appropriated surplus: for contingencies, for bond retirements, or for plant expansion. Still others regard both forms as likely to mislead by implying that all of the remainder of the retained earnings account is available for dividend payments. Actual availability can be determined only by examining (1) the remainder of the balance sheet to see whether cash or other liquid funds exist in excess of what is required to satisfy creditors; (2) reported plans for the future that will use up existing cash; and (3) earnings prospects that will provide cash necessary to pay dividends. Originally, these “reserves” were sometimes grouped in the balance sheet between the liabilities and the ownership equity. As time passed, they were more commonly placed with the asset, liability, or ownership accounts to which they were more closely related. An even later tendency was to abandon the term “reserve” for more accurately descriptive account titles.