How to Prepare a Statement of Retained Earnings | Retained earnings income statement

The statement of retained earnings is a financial statement that reports the business's net income or profit after dividends are paid out to shareholders.BusinessFinanceSmallBusinessHowtoPrepareaStatementofRetainedEarnings•••ExtremeMedia/GettyImagesTableofContentsExpandTableofContentsWhyYouNeedaStatementofRetainedEarningsPreparingaStatementofRetainedEarningsAdditionalInformationFrequentlyAskedQuestionsByRosemaryCarlsonUpdatedApril15,2021Thestatementofretainedearningsisafinancialstatementthatreportsthebusiness'snetincomeorprofitafterdividendsarepaidouttoshareholders.Theseearningscanberetainedandreinvestedintothebusiness.Thisstatementisprimarilyfortheuseofoutsidepartiessuchasinvestorsinthefirmorthefirm'screditors.Thestatementofretainedearningsisasub-sectionofabroaderstatementofstockholder'sequity,whichshowschangesfromyeartoyearofallequityaccounts.WhyYouNeedaStatementofRetainedEarningsBusinessesneedtoprepareastatementofretainedearningsforbothinternaldecisionmakingandforthedisseminationofinformationtoexternalinterestedparties.InternalDecision-MakingAstatementofretainedearningsisnecessaryforbusinessownerstokeeptrackoftheiraccumulatedretainedearningsortheportionofnetincomeallocatedtoretainedearningssincethebeginningofthelifeofthebusiness.Netincomethatisnotincludedinaccumulatedretainedearningshasbeenpaidouttoshareholdersasdividends.Ifabusinessisnotpubliclytraded,thenitsdividendswouldbepaidtotheownerofthefirm.Thestatementofretainedearningsisalsoimportantforbusinessmanagementasitallowsthefirmtodetermineitsretentionratio.Theretentionratioisthepercentageofnetincomethatisretained.Forexample,if60%ofnetincomeispaidoutasdividends,thatmeans40%ofnetincomeisretained.Thedividendpayoutratioistheoppositeoftheretentionratio.ForCreditorsIfyouhaveuseddebtfinancing,youhavecreditorsorinstitutionsthathaveloanedyoumoney.Astatementofretainedearningsshowscreditorsthatthefirmhasbeenprosperousenoughtohavemoneyavailabletorepayyourdebts.ForInvestorsMoneythatisfunneledbackintothebusinessforgrowthisag


常見投資理財問答


延伸文章資訊