ACFI1001 – Individual Project
Financial Statement Analysis and Report

Base company – BHP Billiton Ltd.
Comparison company – Orica Ltd.

The 2012 annual reports for BHP Billiton Ltd and Orica Ltd were sourced and analysed with the relevant sections presented in Appendix A. The main featuresof the statement of financial performance for BHP Billiton that were focused on are profit after taxation, revenue from production and the dividends per ordinary share.

The profit after taxation is an important figure for an investor as it represents the money made by the company taking into account its expenses. In the year ended 30th June 2012, BHP Billiton had a profit after taxation of $15,532 (US$M), which was a 35% decrease from the year prior, and a 19% increase from the year ended 2010. This clearly shows that BHP Billiton’s performance related to profit after taxation has significantly deteriorated from 2011 to 2012. The revenue from production is another important value for investors as it explains in more detail why the profit after taxation changes from year to year. For BHP Billiton, the revenue from production increased from 71,739 (US$M) in the year ending 2011 to 72,226 (US$M) in 2012, which is a slight improvement in performance. However by looking at the revenue from production and profit after taxation together, it can be seen that even though the revenue increased slightly, the increase in expenses was relatively much higher resulting in the profit after taxation to decrease substantially. An exceedingly important accounting ratio for an investor is the dividends per share as it tells the investor the exact amount of money they will receive through dividends per share they own. It can also usually be a good indication of how well the company is operating and its future prosperity. The dividends per ordinary share for BHP Billiton have been increasing