Over the course of a year, corporations produce a number of important reports that include quarterly reports and the annual report . According to Financial Language Translation workers, there is a verbal section, often presented as a letter from the president that describes the firms operating results during the past year and then discusses new developments that will affect future operations. The written section is usually followed by a set of standard financial documents like the statement of retained earnings, statement of cash flows, statement of income and balance sheet. The compilation of these financial summaries provide investors with data that can be evaluated about the company’s finances and operations. Annual reports generally include key financial metrics and summaries of operational and financial data for each of the firms most recent years.
The quantitative and verbal information are equally important. While the verbal statements from the CEO usually explain why the company performed the way it did, a leading Arabic Language Translation worker in the investment industry explains that the financial statements report what has actually happened to earnings and dividends over the past few years. For sake of illustration, let’s imagine that a large company has locations in several countries and reported a significant variance in profitability for the year ending Dec. 31, 2009. Management reported that the drop resulted from losses associated with the global financial crisis and from increased costs due to an increase in energy prices. However, management then went on to paint a more optimistic picture for the future, stating that the economy is in recovery that several less profitable businesses had been eliminated, and that 2010 profits were expected to rise sharply.
Regardless of the verbiage contained in the company report, there is no way to tell how the future will look. Consequently, an analyst should always look at past statement from the company in order to form any opinion. But regardless of the accuracy of these statements, the information contained in the report helps investors develop trade strategies based on future stock value, dividends and earnings and therefore it has substantial value.Financial documents, including filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, copies of annual reports, proxy statements and news releases are available through a number of online databases. According to Japanese Language Translation workers, these filings help potential investors and existing investors evaluate future buy, hold and trade decisions. In addition, a review of a company’s annual report gives good insights about a company’s strategic decision making; including future plans, missed opportunities, and strategic positioning. For the untrained, learning how to read a financial report properly can take considerable time and that’s why most individual investors leave this task to their personal finance managers and brokers.
Financial Translation workers learn early on that multinational corporations (corporations with business operations in multiple countries) play vital roles in their careers. For example, the typical multinational corporation normally has its headquarters based in one country, while other facilities are based in locations in other countries. In some circles, a multinational corporation is referred to as a multinational enterprise or a transnational corporation. The key here is that multinational corporations usually have business operations, investors and government regulations to satisfy in non-English speaking countries. Because business must operate in non-English speaking markets they often require the translation of their financial documents and annual reports.One should realize that the task of financial translation should only be delegated to those with the correct set of skills. Although annual reports must be carefully worded in financial and legal language, they must also resemble a stylish piece of sales or marketing collateral. For example, nearly all annual reports are printed on heavy paper with a glossy coating. In addition, they feature well planned graphics and photos. As a result, it is preferred that financial translators have some professional graphic design experience that includes experience with layout programs like Microsoft Publisher or Quarkxpress and more preferably Adobe Indesign.