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IL&FS Fiasco and Accounting Statements

Recently, the entire nation has been shocked to see that the institution of the…

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Recently, the entire nation has been shocked to see that the institution of the size, scale and reputation like IL&FS has defaulted on its interest obligations.

It is noteworthy that IL&FS was considered to be one of the most reputed borrowers in India and perceived to be a Government backed institution. We have to understand that what makes such a large institution fail. There may be many reasons, but in the context of this article let us look at the accounting statements only.

Following is a summarized consolidated financial statements highlights of IL&FS in recent past.

Accounting statement

Now we have to understand the items line by line. Because, at Super 20 Training Institute, our aim is to understand these items from a practical perspective. And you are aware that it is the best accounting institute in Ahmedabad. Many accounting institutes in Ahmedabad focus on teaching books. Rather S20 as an Accounting Training Institute has set a benchmark by focussing on such case study based practical approach in learning accounting, taxation, tally, GST etc.

It is apparent that the company was the anyways troubled one looking at the above numbers. The company was borrowing at a fast pace and this has resulted into the highest ever interest expenses being borne by the company. The company’s operating profits are decreasing on one side and on the other side the company’s interest expenses shot up drastically by 21%. The sole reason for this difference was that the company continued to borrow funds from the markets and mostly they were short-term borrowings. As you may be aware that in recent past the short-term interest rates are much higher compared to long-term interest rates. Company’s projects were mostly long-term in nature so they had to ideally raise funds from longer term papers. But the company did the contrary.

So, net if you see revenues of the firm were up by 9% in last one year. That looks quite rosy. Now if we look at the operating profits we have a doubt. Operating profits were down by -13%. That means something is seriously wrong. On rising revenues, the company had negative operating profits.

The company’s depreciation was also not in line with the expectations. It was up about 20%. There also somebody needs to dig deeper. And ultimately that has resulted into the company making cash losses as well as accounting losses. This is very alarming and fishy and only some drastic or magical steps can save this company that we can infer.

Friends, we will examine this case from a financial and accounting ratio analysis perspective in my next article. But as of now what we have understood is that the company was troubled operationally as well as financially. If you do not understand any of this topic discussed above you can approach team S20 for more clarity and understanding. You can also write to us at [email protected]. We provide people of any background a simple, effective and practical training in Accounting, Taxation, GST, Tally. You can know more about our courses at www.s20.in/courses

IL&FS fiasco and accounting ratios

We have a space constraint, so let us not discuss what was discusses in…

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We have a space constraint, so let us not discuss what was discusses in the previous article. But you can refer my article IL&FS fiasco and accounting statements for basic understanding.

Now let us straight away understand what are accounting ratios or financial ratios as they are famously referred to.

I have produced direct ratios as calculated by me in MS Excel. If you do not know how to calculate financial ratios or how to arrive at accounting ratios you can approach Super 20 Training Institute – Ahmedabad. We provide such case based, practical and detailed understanding of various topics in our Accounting Courses, Taxation Courses, GST Courses, Tally Courses etc. at our training institute in Ahmedabad.

Now let us look at Operating Profit Margin. In FY1617, Operating Profit Margin was 49%, whereas, in FY1718, Operating Profit Margin was 39%. Such a big erosion in margins is worrisome. That means the company has some serious operating issue which needs to be looked at. Or the figures may be misleading for the previous years.

The next important accounting ratio is EBIT margin. That is Earning Before Interest and Taxes Margin. In FY1617, EBIT Margin was 42%, whereas, in FY1718, EBIT Margin was 31%. This is the significant decline. That means the company has less amount of money to meet their interest expenses.

Finally, we are staring at Net Profit Margin. In FY1617, Net Profit Margin was 1%, whereas, in FY1718, Net Profit Margin was -10%. The company was barely profitable in the previous year. Hence, everything was not ok even in FY1617 also. It was not ignored by everyone concerned with the company. And now we are staring at a big loss in FY1718. Signals were there, but they were ignored.

How default is evident from the above analysis. It is from Interest Coverage Ratio. In FY1617, the company was barely able to meet its interest obligations. On the other side, in FY1718 the interest cover was less than 1.

That means that the company did not have sufficient funds to service their interest obligations. Still, the company kept raising funds from the markets. All these funds were short-term funds basically to see the day has gone off or passed. The management was doing time pass all these days. The regulators were sleeping. The Government thought that the investors like LIC, SBI are taking care of IL&FS. LIC, SBI and other foreign investors were thinking that the management was very much able and worthy. Credit rating agencies were giving AAA rating blindly. Lenders took money from public and loaned to IL&FS thinking it is backed by the Government and anyways AAA. But it was written on the wall that IL&FS is not functioning well. And the worst came true. The institution of this size, scale and reputation are staring at bankruptcy.

Friends, these are the easy tools to analyse the company’s accounting records. Anyone, who wants to understand such topics in detail may contact us at [email protected]. or visit our website. We are proud to be known as the best accounting training institute in Ahmedabad. All the best.