Reading Financial Reports For Dummies

The second edition includes over 25 percent new and updated information including:

• New information on the separate accounting and financial reporting standards for private/small businesses versus public/large businesses
• Updated information that reflects the 2007 law on international financial reporting standards
• New content to match SEC and other governmental regulatory changes over the past three years
• 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

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

Lita Epstein, MBA, is a seasoned financial writer who focuses on helping people understand the complex worlds of money and finance. She was a financial manager for a medical clinic and content director for a financial services Web site, MostChoice.com. She also writes for AOL's Blogging Stocks and WalletPop.