Synopses & Reviews
Learn to:
- Decipher the information in financial reports
- Get up-to-speed on the latest SEC and governmental regulatory changes
- Grasp the impact of corporate communications and current trends
Decipher financial reports? Easy.
Especially relevant in today's world of corporate scandals and new accounting laws, the numbers in a financial report contain vitally important information about where a company has been and where it is going. Packed with new and updated information, Reading Financial Reports For Dummies gives you a quick but clear introduction to financial reports and how to decipher the information in them.
- Get down to the nitty gritty find the lowdown about the types of business structures, the differences between public and private corporations, and the accounting basics necessary to understand financial reports
- The anatomy of annual reports discover the key elements of an annual financial report, what you can expect to find in the notes to the financial statements, and much more
- It's all in the numbers get the tools you need to analyze the numbers in financial statements and find out how to test profitability, liquidity, and cash flow
- Optimize operations find out how to use financial statements to measure how efficiently companies manage their assets and keep cash flowing
Open the book and find:
- Financial reporting basics
- Why financial reporting counts (and who's counting)
- Business types and their tax rules
- How company structure affects the books
- The scoop on income statements and cash flow
- A look at liquidity
- How reports help with basic budgeting
- Signs that a company's in trouble
- Ten financial scandals that rocked the world
Synopsis
Discover how to decipher financial reportsEspecially relevant in today's world of corporate scandals and new accounting laws, the numbers in a financial report contain vitally important information about where a company has been and where it is going.
Packed with new and updated information, Reading Financial Reports For Dummies, 3rd Edition gives you a quick but clear introduction to financial reports–and how to decipher the information in them.
- New information on the separate accounting and financial reporting standards for private/small businesses versus public/large businesses
- New content to match SEC and other governmental regulatory changes
- New information about how the analyst-corporate connection has actually changed the playing field
- The impact of corporate communications and new technologies
- New examples that reflect current trends
- Updated websites and resources
Reading Financial Reports For Dummies is for investors, traders, brokers, managers, and anyone else who is looking for a reliable, up-to-date guide to reading financial reports effectively.
Synopsis
The numbers in a financial report contain vitally important information about where a company has been and where it is going.
Reading Financial Reports For Dummies, Third Edition will contain new and updated information to help readers receive a quick but clear introduction to financial reports, and learn how to decipher the information in them. It will include:
- New information on the separate accounting and financial reporting standards for private/small businesses versus public/large businesses
- New content to match SEC and other governmental regulatory changes
- New information about how the analyst-corporate connection has actually changed the playing field
- The impact of corporate communications and new technologies
- New examples that reflect the current trends
- Updated websites and resources
About the Author
Lita Epstein, MBA, helps people develop business and personal financial and investing skills. She designs and teaches online courses on bookkeeping, accounting, and starting a business. She is the author of more than 30 books, including Bookkeeping For Dummies and Trading For Dummies.
Table of Contents
Introduction 1Part I: Getting Started with Reading Financial Reports 5
Chapter 1: Opening the Cornucopia of Reports 7
Chapter 2: Recognizing Business Types and Their Tax Rules 19
Chapter 3: Public or Private: How Company Structure Affects the Books 27
Chapter 4: Digging into Accounting Basics 41
Part II: Checking Out the Big Show: Annual Reports 57
Chapter 5: Exploring the Anatomy of an Annual Report 59
Chapter 6: Balancing Assets against Liabilities and Equity 73
Chapter 7: Using the Income Statement 89
Chapter 8: The Statement of Cash Flows 105
Chapter 9: Scouring the Notes to the Financial Statements 119
Chapter 10: Considering Consolidated Financial Statements 137
Part III: Analyzing the Numbers 149
Chapter 11: Testing the Profits and Market Value 151
Chapter 12: Looking at Liquidity 169
Chapter 13: Making Sure the Company Has Cash to Carry On 179
Part IV: Understanding How Companies Optimize Operations 191
Chapter 14: How Reports Help with Basic Budgeting 193
Chapter 15: Turning Up Clues in Turnover and Assets 203
Chapter 16: Examining Cash Inflow and Outflow 215
Chapter 17: How Companies Keep the Cash Flowing 225
Part V: The Many Ways Companies Answer to Others 233
Chapter 18: Finding Out How Companies Find Errors: The Auditing Process 235
Chapter 19: Digging into Government Regulations 245
Chapter 20: Creating a Global Financial Reporting Standard 257
Chapter 21: Checking Out the Analyst–Corporation Connection 267
Chapter 22: How Companies Communicate with Shareholders 279
Chapter 23: Keeping Score When Companies Play Games with Numbers 293
Part VI: The Part of Tens 315
Chapter 24: Ten (+1) Financial Scandals That Rocked the World 317
Chapter 25: Ten Signs That a Company’s in Trouble 327
Glossary 333
Index 341