a complete set of accounts required by law to be produced by all companies and most other business and administrative organizations, showing the results of trading and other operations during the accounting period, usually of a year, and the state of affairs at the end of that period (cf. "consolidated accounts"), financial statements of an organization published annually to comply with a statutory obligation to do so. They include a balance sheet, profit and loss account (or income and expenditure account), and possibly a statement of sources and applications of funds., the set of accounts comprising the balance sheet as at a specified date, together with the profit and loss or other revenue account relating to the year which ended on the date of the balance sheet, and related notes which, in the case of companies, include the directors' report