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Is it Possible to See a Decline or Improvement from the Annual Report?
Tracking Losses and Gains

In some cases, it is possible to track a decline in the corporation's financial position. We will use the Bering Straits Regional Corporation as a case study.

Tracking Losses
In the 1980's, Bering Straits had difficulties which are evident in the annual reports. The balance sheet holds the first clue. Between 1983 and 1985, "total assets" dropped abruptly from $21,448,000 to $19,792,000 to $8,138,170. While a drop in assets does not always reflect poor activity, this drop did indicate problems. The corporation borrowed money from its village corporations which then sued when the regional corporation did not pay it back. The balance sheets can be via the links below.


During these years, the Consolidated Statement of Operations and Retained Earnings was titled "Consolidated Statement of Operations and Deficit". This is an immediate red flag that the corporation is losing money. The statement shows Bering Straits operating expenses growing increasingly higher than operating revenues. Net loss per share went from negative $5.38 to negative $6.43, and is unreported in 1985. Near the bottom of the page, the "accumulated deficit" climbed from $42,865,000 to $46,272,000 to $50,342,000 to $50,193,156 between 1982 and 1985.

Tracking Gains
In recent years, the Bering Straits Corporation has been doing well. Their assets have grown and continued to climb from $28,007,413 in 1999 to $30,123,087 in 2000. Net Income per share also increased from $1.33 to $2.51. While the 1980's annual reports did not include a Statement of Shareholders' Equity and income, the 1990's reports show that the total shareholders' equity increased from $23,868,797 to $24,142,388 to $25,284,550 between 1998 and 2000. These consistent statistics show an upward climb for the corporation.

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