You've just summerized better than Harvard... There's a course called "financial accounting" on HBS and you've literllay explained a balance sheet better.
I really like this article and the whole series. I had some technical difficulty with the Substack iPad app though. Apparently it cannot render the "pullquote" elements that are used a lot in the key ratios section. Maybe your team can exchange these with pictures or get in touch with Sustack to get this fixed.
Hey Richard, Substack was not able to recreate this issue on iPad. Can you share screenshots with me at bertrand@appeconomyinsights.com? It should help them investigate.
Thanks for the comprehensive explanation. What is not clear to me is the following: equity is going down from 2018. But why is this linked to share buy back? if apple buys back shares, normally cash goes out, but shares are getting in increasing the equity share = therefore more equity. Can you clarify where I am wrong?
Hi Matteo! Thank you so much for the warm feedback! Great question on the impact of share buybacks on shareholder's equity.
When a company buys back shares, it reduces both the cash account (on the asset side) and the shareholder's equity by the amount of the buyback. Everything remains balanced!
In simple terms, when a company issues new shares, shareholders' equity goes up. Conversely, when a company buys back shares, shareholders' equity goes down.
Stock buybacks reduce the number of shares outstanding, which is good for remaining shareholders. Here's a way to think about it: the size of the cake (the company) is the same, but there are less people in the room to share it with. So you get a bigger slice.
Thank you very much, but I fear I still don't get it, especially reading your last 2 paragraphs.
If a company issues new shares, value of each share is less, the company gets more cash, but the value of the company does not change, so why equity is increasing? Shareholders see their value per share diminishing and I was expecting therefore that the SH equity goes down.
On the other side I buy back shares, yes cash in, yes more value per share, therefore as a SHolder I increase my equity. But maybe I am wrong with the wording..
1) Shareholders' Equity: It's is a section of the balance sheet (the net amount of a company's total assets and liabilities). It's sometimes called Equity for short, but still refers to [Assets - Liabilities].
2) Equity: Typically refers to shares of a public company you own.
For example, the stock price has no impact on Shareholders' Equity.
Hi John! They are called Sankey diagrams. They require a lot of work (data prep, mapping, coding and design). They can be built with many tools such as Tableau or Power BI depending on what you have access to.
You've just summerized better than Harvard... There's a course called "financial accounting" on HBS and you've literllay explained a balance sheet better.
Keep it up man love your content!
Thank you so much, Ali! It means a lot.
I really like this article and the whole series. I had some technical difficulty with the Substack iPad app though. Apparently it cannot render the "pullquote" elements that are used a lot in the key ratios section. Maybe your team can exchange these with pictures or get in touch with Sustack to get this fixed.
Hey Richard, Substack was not able to recreate this issue on iPad. Can you share screenshots with me at bertrand@appeconomyinsights.com? It should help them investigate.
I just sent you the relevant screenshots.
Thank you for sharing, Richard! I'll get in touch with Substack.
Thanks for looking into this... my developer instinct tells me this is something simple, but you never know 🤞
Thanks for the comprehensive explanation. What is not clear to me is the following: equity is going down from 2018. But why is this linked to share buy back? if apple buys back shares, normally cash goes out, but shares are getting in increasing the equity share = therefore more equity. Can you clarify where I am wrong?
Hi Matteo! Thank you so much for the warm feedback! Great question on the impact of share buybacks on shareholder's equity.
When a company buys back shares, it reduces both the cash account (on the asset side) and the shareholder's equity by the amount of the buyback. Everything remains balanced!
In simple terms, when a company issues new shares, shareholders' equity goes up. Conversely, when a company buys back shares, shareholders' equity goes down.
Stock buybacks reduce the number of shares outstanding, which is good for remaining shareholders. Here's a way to think about it: the size of the cake (the company) is the same, but there are less people in the room to share it with. So you get a bigger slice.
Thank you very much, but I fear I still don't get it, especially reading your last 2 paragraphs.
If a company issues new shares, value of each share is less, the company gets more cash, but the value of the company does not change, so why equity is increasing? Shareholders see their value per share diminishing and I was expecting therefore that the SH equity goes down.
On the other side I buy back shares, yes cash in, yes more value per share, therefore as a SHolder I increase my equity. But maybe I am wrong with the wording..
No problem! It can be very confusing
There are two terms that are easy to mix up:
1) Shareholders' Equity: It's is a section of the balance sheet (the net amount of a company's total assets and liabilities). It's sometimes called Equity for short, but still refers to [Assets - Liabilities].
2) Equity: Typically refers to shares of a public company you own.
For example, the stock price has no impact on Shareholders' Equity.
Here is more reading on the distinction between the two: https://www.investopedia.com/ask/answers/020415/what-difference-between-companys-equity-and-its-shareholders-equity.asp
I hope this helps!
Thank you!
How do you make these charts?
Hi John! They are called Sankey diagrams. They require a lot of work (data prep, mapping, coding and design). They can be built with many tools such as Tableau or Power BI depending on what you have access to.
Thank you so much. So much value here for those who run a business or need to know more about financial accounting!