How to Read a Financial Report: Wringing Vital Signs Out of the Numbers / Edition 8

by John A. Tracy, Tage Tracy

Overview

An updated new edition of the 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 new Eighth Edition 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. This updated edition 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

With this new edition 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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781118735848
Publisher:	Wiley
Publication date:	01/28/2014
Edition description:	8th ed.
Pages:	240
Product dimensions:	6.60(w) x 9.80(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

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.

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Table of Contents

List of Exhibits ix

Preface to the Eighth Edition xiii

Part One—Fundamentals

1 Starting with Cash Flows 3

2 Three Financial Statements 11

3 Profit Accounting 23

4 Profit Isn’t Everything 33

Part Two—Connections

5 Sales Revenue and Accounts Receivable 43

6 Cost of Goods Sold Expense and Inventory 49

7 Inventory and Accounts Payable 55

8 Operating Expenses and Accounts Payable 61

9 Operating Expenses and Prepaid Expenses 67

10 Depreciation Expense and Property, Plant, and Equipment; Intangible Assets 73

11 Accruing the Liability for Unpaid Expenses 83

12 Income Tax Expense and Its Liability 89

13 Net Income and Retained Earnings; Earnings per Share (EPS) 95

Part Three—Cash Flow

14 Cash Flow from Operating (Profi t-Making) Activities 103

15 Cash Flows from Investing and Financing Activities 111

16 Growth and Decline Impacts on Cash Flow 119

Part Four—Analysis

17 Footnotes to Financial Statements 133

18 Financial Statement Ratios 143

19 Profit Analysis for Business Managers 157

Part Five—Truthfulness

20 Choosing Accounting Methods and Massaging the Numbers 171

21 Audits of Financial Reports 181

22 Basic Questions, Basic Answers 193

23 Small Business Financial Reporting 209

About the Authors 215

Index 217