Ba Annual Report an Introduction Essay Example

Ba Annual Report an Introduction Essay Example Ba Annual Report an Introduction Essay Ba Annual Report an Introduction Essay An introduction to British Airways. â€Å"The UKs largest international scheduled airline, flying to over 300 destinations at convenient times, to the best located airports. † (Source: www. britishairways. com/cms/global/microsites/ba_reports/pdfs/BA_Report_2007_08. pdf) British Airways, an airline known to the nation as Britain’s largest scheduled airline. The Airline is based on the grounds of the world’s most popular international airport, London Heathrow. The ease of accessibility proves to be extremely beneficial to the business traveller working to tight schedules, and also meeting the needs of the leisure traveller, particularly those with younger children or travelling in large groups. The evidential experience and convenience of this airline are major attributes to its continued success since it first evolved in 1919. Since May 2005, the chief executive of the company is Willie Walsh, working alongside the chairman (Martin Broughton) and chief financial officer, (Keith Williams). British Airways fly world wide to more than 300 destinations and in 2007/08, it carried more than 33 million passengers. It has currently got 245 aircrafts in service, which most recently accounted to a revenue of ? 8. 7 billion. British Airways- an evaluation of the importance of an annual report. When selecting a company in which to invest shares, it is important to undertake the relevant research and be able to understand the companies accounting history. To include an analysis of the profit and loss account, balance sheet and cash flow statement. These are the key documents in which we can retrieve data and review a full breakdown of the company’s accounts. Within an organisation, these three items are often the key to failure or success. They are of huge importance and if used to their full advantage and monitored correctly a company can use the accounts to analyse which areas of their business need to be addressed and which areas can be maximised on. These accounts are useful in measuring performance history and future predictions. However sometimes by simply scanning through a list of accounts we are not receiving an accurate insight of the company’s true success. By merely monitoring these account listings it is very difficult to accurately compare past figures and also in comparing with other company’s. Therefore within larger companies in which shareholders are involved a system of ratio analysis is enforced. Ratios analysis enables us to interpret the company’s accounts, making it easy to closely study the performance of the company and compare it with that of another and of previous year’s performance. When comparing the same ratios of different financial periods, trends in company progression or failure will become apparent, allowing us to predict future performance. Ratios act as performance indicators, highlighting essential evidence to the potential investor.