The Comprehensive Guide on How to Read a Financial Report, + Website Wringing Vital Signs Out of the Numbers

by Tracy, John A.; Tracy, Tage C.

• ISBN13: 9781118735718
• ISBN10: 1118735714
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2014-01-28
• Publisher: Wiley

Summary

A comprehensive guide to reading and understanding financial reports

Financial reports provide vital information to investors, lenders, and managers. Yet, the financial statements in a financial report seem to be written in a foreign language that only accountants can understand. This comprehensive version of How to Read a Financial Report breaks through that language barrier, clears away the fog, and offers a plain-English user's guide to financial reports. The book features new information on the move toward separate financial and accounting reporting standards for private companies, the emergence of websites offering financial information, pending changes in the auditor's report language and what this means to investors, and requirements for XBRL tagging in reporting to the SEC, among other topics.

• Makes it easy to understand what financial reports really say
• Updated to include the latest information financial reporting standards and regulatory changes
• Written by an author team with a combined 50-plus years of experience in financial accounting
• This comprehensive edition includes an ancillary website containing valuable additional resources

With this comprehensive version of How to Read a Financial Report, investors will find everything they need to fully understand the profit, cash flow, and financial condition of any business.

Author Biography

JOHN A. TRACY is a successful financial accounting author. In addition to all eight editions of this book, he is the author of a number of books including the best-selling Accounting For Dummies.

TAGE C. TRACY heads a consulting firm specializing in providing executive-level financial and accounting management resources on a project and/or interim basis. He has worked with companies in an array of industries ranging from web-based technology/solutions to manufacturing to retail to professional service organizations and finance. In addition, Tage has co-authored Cash Flow For Dummies and Small Business Financial Management Kit For Dummies with his father.

Table of Contents

Preface

Part I: Financial Report Fundamentals

Chapter 1: Financial Report Basics:  The Real Meat and Potatoes of Financial Reports

Chapter 2: Starting With Cash Flows

Chapter 3: Mastering the Balance Sheet

Chapter 4: Understanding Profit

Chapter 5: Profit isn’t Everything and All Things

Part II: Working Capital Connections

Chapter 6: Our Case Study – Company Introductions

Chapter 7: Sales Revenue and Trade Accounts Receivable

Chapter 8: Cost(s) of Goods Sold Expense and Inventory

Chapter 9: Inventory and Accounts Payable

Chapter 10: Operating Expenses and Accounts Payable

Chapter 11: Accruing Liabilities for Incurred but Unpaid Expenses

Chapter 12: Income Tax Expense – A Liability & Asset?

Part III: Financial Capital Connections & Cash Flows

Chapter 13: Our Case Study – Company Updates & Assessments

Chapter 14: Long-Term Assets and Depreciation, Amortization, & Other Expenses

Chapter 15: Long-Term Liabilities, Interest, & Other Expenses

Chapter 16: Net Income, Retained Earnings, Equity, & Earnings per Share (EPS)

Chapter 17: Cash Flow From Operating (Profit-Making) Activities

Personal Note From Tage:

Chapter 18: Cash Flows From Investing and Financing Activities

Part IV: Financial Report Analysis

Chapter 19: Expansion and Contraction Impacts on Cash Flow

Chapter 20: What is EBITDA and Why is it Important

Chapter 21: Financial Statement Footnotes – The Devil’s in the Detail

Chapter 22: Financial Statement Ratios – Calculating & Understanding

Chapter 23: Profit Analysis for Business Managers

Chapter 24: Our Case Study & The Moral of the Story – The Good, the Bad, & The Ugly

Part V: Financial Report Truthfulness

Chapter 25: Choosing Accounting Methods and Massaging the Numbers

Chapter 26: Audits of Financial Reports

Chapter 27: Small Business Financial Reporting

Chapter 28: Basic Questions; Basic Answers, No BS

About the Companion Website

Index