Retained Earnings Formula: Definition, Formula, and Example

The statement of retained earnings therefore tells you whether your business has made a profit or loss over the period. But not all of the shareholder’s equity is made up of profits that haven’t been distributed. There is also money that investors paid for their stake in the first place. But the company may buy-back some of those shares, which reduces the value of paid-in capital.

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Benefits of a statement of retained earnings

The third line should present the schedule’s preparation date as “For the Year Ended XXXXX.” For the word “year,” any accounting time period can be entered, such as month, quarter, or year. A statement of retained earnings should have a three-line header to identify it. A statement of retained earnings consists of a few components and takes a series of steps to prepare. As an investor, you would be keen to know more about the retained earnings figure. For instance, you would be interested to know the returns company has been able to generate from the retained earnings and if reinvesting profits are attractive over other investment opportunities.

There can be cases where a company may have a negative retained earnings balance. This is the case where the company has incurred more net losses than profits to date or has paid out more dividends than what it had in the retained earnings account. In financial modeling, it’s necessary to have a separate schedule for modeling retained earnings. Bookkeeping 101: Everything You Need to Know The schedule uses a corkscrew type calculation, where the current period opening balance is equal to the prior period closing balance. In between the opening and closing balances, the current period net income/loss is added and any dividends are deducted. Finally, the closing balance of the schedule links to the balance sheet.

How to Prepare a Statement of Retained Earnings

This means that the money is placed into a ledger account until it is used for reinvestment into the company or to pay future Dividends. Understanding your company’s Retained Earnings is important because it enables you to understand how much money is available for activities like expansion or asset acquisition. If you look at the bank statement for your savings account, it explains how your balance changed during the month. It shows all of the deposits (net income) and withdraws (dividends) that occurred during the month.