ABSTRACT
The fi nancial statements of any agribusiness provide a wealth of information for managers, owners, lending institutions, and the government. Some of this information requires little interpretation, but much of it is meaningless unless it is put into proper perspective. Many managers who look at a fi nancial statement are like the explorer who sees an iceberg for the fi rst time and fails to realize that what is seen is only the tip and that 90 percent of the iceberg is hidden under water. Highly useful information can be found in fi nancial statements, but this is not always apparent to the casual observer. Without proper analysis, fi nancial statements can be meaningless scraps of paper.
