Bankers, investors and competitors find out the financial health of a company by calculating 'ratios' and comparing various numbers in its income statement and balance sheet.

Banker: if a company wants to borrow money, the bank will check the accounts first to find out about its debt, how much interest it already pays, how much profit it makes and how much cash it has.

Investor: an investor will look at a company's profit growth over the years, if the profitability (how much profit is made for one dollar of sales) is high or low compared to similar companies, if it distributes dividends to shareholders, its debt and cash situation, and how much money one dollar of sales generates.