Forget the details, the giant squids and the editorial rants of a ping-pong champion. The best way for investors to get their heads around banks such as Goldman Sachs is to go back in time. As the US broker announced its results yesterday, its share price was the same as it was at the end of 2005. How does today’s Goldman compare with Goldman six years ago and what do the similarities and differences reveal?

Incredibly, the earnings power of the past and present banks are pretty much identical. Revenues in the first quarter of 2006 were $10.3bn; last quarter they were $9.9bn. Operating expenses were $6.6bn and $6.8bn respectively. Taxes are a little different, but in the end Goldman delivered $2.1bn of net earnings to shareholders last quarter – not far below the $2.4bn earned back when James Blunt’s You’re Beautiful was all over the airwaves.

Spookily, it is as if nothing has changed for six long years. But a financial crisis has come and gone since then and regulators are now throwing everything at banks. Of course, there is one huge difference between the two periods, but it is not to be found in the profit and loss account. Flip to the balance sheet and be astounded to remember that in 2006 Goldman was running on just $27bn of common shareholders’ equity. With exactly the same earnings today, that number is now two and a half times higher.