Understanding Financial Statements

This classic volume presents the conceptual background and analytical tools necessary to understand and interpret financial statements. The emphasis throughout is on the evaluation of financial statements and their usefulness for business decision-making—rather than on how the financial statements are constructed. Straightforward, understandable, and accessible--regardless of readers' background--it orients them toward what they will actually encounter in practice. By emphasizing how to solve unstructured problems and how to use accounting information for decision-making, it helps them learn how to think and reason through complex, real-world situations. Includes mini-cases using the financial statements of actual companies. The Balance Sheet; The Income Statement and Statement of Stockholders' Equity; Statement of Cash Flows; The Analysis of Financial Statements; A Guide to Earnings Quality; The Analysis of Segmental Data; Understanding Bank Financial Statements. For investors and others who make decisions based on the analysis of financial statements.