Publisher's Synopsis
The ins and outs of financial reports, explained in plain English Want to make sense of financial reports? This easy–to–follow guide gives you a set of tools to understand these complicated statements, helping you read between the lines to determine a company′s true financial health. You′ll make informed decisions about investing, spot possible problems, and use these reports to manage your own department or company for success. Get down to reporting basics recognize different business types and how their structure affects the books, and grasp the accounting method underlying it all Analyze the annual report make sense of the balance sheet, income and cash flow statements, and the notes while spotting red flags Know your numbers keep an eye on whether a company is making a profit or suffering a loss Understand how companies optimize operations use reports to measure how efficiently management is using its resources Meet the financial watchdogs from auditors to analysts, see who certifies report accuracy and how recent scandals have changed the rules Practice makes perfect put your skills to the test by dissecting the annual reports of two similar companies throughout the book Open the book and find: The accounting basics necessary to understand financial reports New information on reporting standards for private/small versus public/large businesses Updates surrounding the 2007 law on international financial reporting standards The impact of corporate communications and new technologies New real–world examples that reflect current trends Updated Web sites and resources Tips for spotting the fluff in financial reports
