are all companies required to prepare p l statements 
publicly traded companies are required to prepare p l statements and must file their financial statements with the u s securities and exchange commission sec so that they can be scrutinized by investors analysts and regulators companies must comply with a set of rules and guidelines known as generally accepted accounting principles gaap when they prepare these statements private companies on the other hand are not necessarily required to comply with gaap some smaller companies though may not even prepare formal financial statements at all the bottom linea p l statement summarizes the revenues costs and expenses of a company during a specific period it is one of three financial statements that public companies issue quarterly and annually the other two are a balance sheet and a cash flow statement investors and analysts use financial statements to assess the financial health of a company and its growth potential 