A series of recent business failures and corporate scandals where employees, investors, and other stakeholders suffered tremendous loss have made the world aware of the importance of proper recording of transactions and transaction analysis. If a company's financial statements provide important insights into its financial health, such as financial position, growth potential, and profitability, the transactions must be analyzed and recorded in the accounts following generally accepted accounting principles.
Analysis and Uses of Financial Statements is designed for interested parties who must understand how to read, interpret, and analyze financial statements. This course describes in clear, concise, and understandable language the intricacies of financial statements, and their use by investors, creditors, analysts, and other interested parties. This course can enhance your chance for success in business and investing; by enabling you to profit from the knowledge, insights, and perceptions of professionals who use financial statement analysis tools and techniques on a day-to-day basis. Realistic examples, real-life cases, and illustrations of financial statement analysis are widely used in this course to make the subject matter crystal clear. That is the major objective of this course.
Learning Objectives
Upon successful completion of this course, participants will be able to:
Chapter 1
Identify the underlying assumptions or concepts of accounting
Recognize the major principles of accounting
Identify key components of the FASB Conceptual Framework
Recognize the importance of internal control over financial reporting
Identify the objective of financial statements
Recognize the use of interim financial statements
Chapter 2
Identify the balance sheet accounts portraying a company's financial position
Recognize the components of stockholders' equity
Identify the elements of the income statement
Recognize the purpose of the statement of comprehensive income
Identify the most important items on the statement of cash flows
Recognize the importance of notes to financial statements
Identify the annual report components
Recognize common techniques used to manipulate financial statements
Chapter 3
Identify methods used in comparative analysis
Recognize the basic components of ratio analysis
Chapter 4
Recognize and apply different liquidity ratios used to determine the ability to pay off current debt obligations
Identify events that could affect a company's liquidity
Chapter 5
Identify and apply ratios used to analyze a company's capital structure
Recognize key concepts of operating leverage
Chapter 6
Recognizes ways to evaluate a company's quality of earnings
Identify and apply key ratios related to profitability
Identify and apply the major ratios used to evaluate the cash flow of a company
Chapter 7
Recognize the importance of earnings per share
Identify and apply ratios used to measure market strength of a company
Major Topics
Accounting Theory and Practice
Structures of Financial Statements
