nce sheet, profit and loss, and funds position statements for PRACTICAL IP AND TELECOM FOR BROADCAST ENGINEERING AND OPERATIONS current-year forecast and 5 years into the future. The details in these summaries provide insight and information about the sources of revenue and gross margin in the product and/or service mix, cost to maintain, design, and develop new products, and capital invest- ment. If there is significant debt in the balance sheet, then there may be additional detail showing the amount and payment schedule for each bond or loan. Examples of each of these statements, sometimes labeled pro-forma, meaning not real, futuristic, or representative of what will or is hoped will be, as opposed to actual, or historic. The examples appearing here are representative of an ongoing enter- prise typical of many that have either gone public or may be about to go public (i.e., sell equity in the business to a large number of owners or shareholders through a public offering of common stock). Details about the structure of the stock-number of shares and their ownership-are intentionally left out because it's not germane to the subjects at hand, which are revenue, gross margin, net income, prod- uct and service design, development, and capital investment. A com- plete explanation and tutorial on financial statements is beyond the scope of this book; however, consider this an introduction. If you want more insight into the world of financial statements check out Professor Robert West's homepage at: www.homepage.villano va.edu/robert.west. For still more enlightenment and a handy desk reference, see Finance and Accounting for Non-Financial Managers by Stephen Finkler. For now, here's what you need to know to get started: The income statement is the key operational tool on a month-to-month basis. It is a measure of the financial performance of the organization over a given time, say a month, quarter, 6 months, three quarters, or a full year. The balance sheet is a snapshot of the financial status or health of the busin