KCQs on Annual report of Abano Healthcare

I did a lot of reading understanding the annual reports of Abano Healthcare and honestly I had to read it several times before it made any sense to me. First of all, as I read the history of the company, I got to know that when Abano Healthcare was formed in 1999, it focused on the development of retirement village properties and aged care services but in 2000, the company repositioned its strategy and moved away from property development and stepped into the field of medical and healthcare service. How could a company possibly do so? How can it move from completely different business in one year? Well as I did the research, I got to know that this is not an uncommon practice and businesses can reposition their strategies and move into different lines. The next key question that I sought answer to was what is Abano Healthcare about and what it offers to its customers. I got to know by studying the financial statements that Abano operates successful businesses in four sectors of the healthcare market. The company co-invests with clinical leaders and founders in businesses which have growth and profit enhancement opportunities and the four sectors of the business comprise of Abano Audiology, Abano dental, Abano Diagnostics and Abano Rehabilitation. The operations of the business are quite different from what other students have got and I got to know about the unique aspects of my company as I read the bogs of others.

As I read the financial statements again and again, I got confused about which figures I should be using as I saw the figures for the company and the group. Well, I got the answer of this question by reading the blogs and posts of others. Another question that confused me was whether I should use the income statement or statement of comprehensive income. From my understanding from the material and interacting with others, I have used the income statement figures. I saw that in the annual reports, a number of figures were given and I got confused about which ones are relevant for me as it seemed too much information to digest. I got the answer as I read chapter three, I gained knowledge about what are the different types of financial statements and I need to focus majorly on the income statement, statement of changes in equity and balance sheet. As I entered the figures in the spread sheet, I was confused about the various items listed in the income statement, balance sheet and statement of changes in equity. One particular question that struck me was what retained earnings are. As I discussed with my peers, I understood that retained earnings are profits which are not taken by the owner but are kept invested in the business. As far as my company is concerned, I got interested in knowing what the income statement tells about the profits of the company. As i went through the statements and entered the figures, I analysed that the profits of the company are going down and from a figure of $78,948,000 in 2010; it went down to $4,055,000 in 2013 which is a huge fall. I am interested in knowing what the reasons are for this. I also saw that owner’s equity is decreasing and I am confused about why it is decreasing? It is not due to losses as the company is profitable. So, what can be the possible reason? As I discussed with others, I understood that possibly the equity is reduced as owner’s withdrew the capital from the company.

Well, the above are my KCQs related to the company and I look forward to working on other aspects of this course in future.