ETFs are different to companies. They are basically a listed managed fund. While they do have their own balance sheets, its basically a function of the investors money they hold backed by the assets they have invested in. If you think about a basic ETF like STW, all it does is hold all the stocks in the ASX200 Index. So, if they have $50m in assets, the balance sheet is basically $50m worth of ASX200 stocks.
In the case of the BEAR ETFs, its a bit different. The balance sheet is basically cash, they sell futures to get the exposure they need to create an inverse of the market.
In any case, these products are not guaranteed. And you cannot analyse an ETF based on its annual reports. You need to look at the ETFs objective, how meeting that objective is being facilitated, and by who.
