College Accounting 2nd Edition by David Haddock, John Price,Michael Farina

Exercise 12

An officer of Carson Company recently commented that when he receives the firm's financial statements, he looks at just the bottom line of the income statement-the line that shows the net income or net loss for the period. He said that he does not bother with the rest of the income statement because "it's only the bottom line that counts." He also does not read the balance sheet. Do you think this manager is correct in the way he uses the financial statements? Why or why not?