How to Read a Financial Report: Wringing Cash Flow and Other Vital Signs Out of the Numbers - Softcover

Tracy, John A.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0471507466 ISBN 13: 9780471507468

Publisher: Wiley, 1989

Synopsis

This updated and revised edition of the best-selling guide shows how to interpret the numbers (and read between the lines) of a financial report. Explains how to cut through the maze of numbers and distill the tangible implications for managing and investing in business. The Third Edition covers changes in the tax laws and depreciation rates and the latest FAS pronouncements on cash flow statements and features an updated treatment of the auditor's standard report. Includes more information on spreadsheets, references, and examples, plus 100 diagrams and charts.

About this title

From the Back Cover

Lurking somewhere amidst all the figures in a financial report is vitally important information about where a company has been and where it is headed. But without a guide to isolate and interpret those numbers, the dizzying array of columns and rows doesn't add up to a hill of beans. That's why thousands of professionals and savvy individuals have referred to this bestselling resource that shows anyone how to make sense of all those numbers. Updated throughout, this edition features new information on tax reform, depreciation methods, spotting fraudulent reporting, and recent FASB rulings. Also, all exhibits have been made easier to follow.

"If you would like to have a minimal understanding of the numbers that make up a balance sheet, income, and cash flow statement . . . then How to Read a Financial Report might be just what you are looking for. Mr. Tracy's book explains in plain English the meaning of the major terms used in financial statements."
—The Wall Street Journal

"What distinguishes Tracy's efforts from other manuals is an innovative structure that visually ties together elements of the balance sheet and income statement by tracing where and how a line item in one affects an entry in another."
—Inc. magazine

"An excellent job of showing how to separate the wheat from the chaff without choking in the process."
—Miami Herald

"A wonderful book—organized logically and written clearly. For a Fool to be an effective investor, she has to know her way around a financial statement. This book will help you develop that skill. It's the clearest presentation of many accounting concepts that this Fool has seen."
—Selena Maranjian, The Motley Fool

From the Inside Flap

How to Read a Financial Report

Lurking somewhere amidst all the figures in a financial report is vitally important information about where a company has been and where it is headed. But without a guide to isolate and interpret those numbers, the dizzying array of columns and rows doesn’t add up to a hill of beans. That’s why thousands of professionals and savvy individuals have referred to this bestselling resource that shows anyone how to make sense of all those numbers.

If you’re someone who works with financial reports or needs to understand them—but have neither the time nor the need for an indepth knowledge of accounting—this book will help you cut through the maze of accounting information to find out what those numbers really mean. It steers you quickly and painlessly through the basic accounting concepts and line-by-line explanations of the basic financial statement. Complete with a visual guide that leads you through the intricacies of financial reporting, How to Read a Financial Report shows you how the three essential parts of every financial report—the balance sheet, the income statement, and the cash flow statement—fit together and what it all means to you and your company.

Updated throughout, this new edition addresses the many changes in the financial world in the past few years, including new pronouncements of the Financial Accounting Standards Board, new income tax laws, and emerging financial reporting problems. Also, all exhibits have been made easier to follow. Features updates on:

• Tax reform
• Recent FASB rulings
• Depreciation methods
• Spotting fraudulent reporting

Edition details

• Publisher: Wiley
• Publication date: 1989
• ISBN 10: 0471507466
• ISBN 13: 9780471507468
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Edition number: 3
• Number of pages: 164