Mode of access: World Wide Web.

System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader.

Part of: Synthesis digital library of engineering and computer science.

Series from website.

Includes index.

The balance sheet -- The fundamental accounting equation -- A statement of financial position -- Structure of the balance sheet -- Assets -- Liabilities -- Once again: what is owners' equity -- How is the equality of the balance sheet maintained -- Single-entry vs. double-entry bookkeeping -- Accounting periods -- Debits and credits -- Could the balance sheet suffice as the only financial statement -- Example: Federated Department Store balance sheet -- A balance sheet reflects the nature of the business -- New terms -- The income statement -- Structure of the income statement -- An income statement reflects the nature of the business -- Why aren't dividend payments considered an expense -- Debits and credits -- General ledger and chart of accounts -- Example: Federated Department Stores income statement -- Footnotes to financial statements -- New terms -- Valuation -- Definition of accounting -- Valuation: cost, market or time-adjusted -- Valuation at cost -- Valuation at market -- Understanding the financial score -- Time-adjusted valuation -- Estimating and approximating values -- Accounting for currency fluctuations -- Some valuation rules -- New terms -- Timing -- Matching, accrual and deferral -- Materiality -- Allowances; contra accounts -- Accounting for fixed assets -- Depreciation and income taxes -- Accounting for cash discounts on purchases and sales -- FIFO/LIFO inventory valuation -- Recurring and non-recurring adjusting entries -- Again, Federated Department Stores -- Challenging timing issues in certain industries -- Book publishing -- Motion picture studios -- Software -- Industries offering generous product warranties -- More accounting rules -- New terms -- Capital structure -- Sources of debt -- Trade credit -- Other short-term borrowing -- Long-term borrowing -- Leasing -- Public-borrowing -- High-yield (junk) bonds -- Equity -- Stock markets -- When is a stock a good candidate for purchase or sale -- Stock dividends and stock splits -- Stock options and warrants -- Earnings-per-share (EPS) and price/earnings (P/E) ratios -- Going public -- Share repurchase -- The role of regulators -- Preferred stock -- Hybrid securities -- When is borrowing more attractive than selling additional equity -- Debt leverage -- Equity dilution -- Designing a corporate capital structure -- Corporate mergers and acquisitions -- Once again: Federated Department Stores -- New terms -- Cash flow -- Three key sections of the cash flow statement -- Federated's cash flow statement -- Cash flow from operations -- Cash flow from investing activities -- Cash flow from financing -- Cash flows in other industries -- Growth -- Profitability -- Asset intensity -- New terms -- Evaluating with ratios -- Ratio analysis -- Categories of ratios -- Liquidity ratios -- Current ratio -- Quick or acid-test ratio -- Utilization of working capital ratios -- Accounts receivable collection period -- Inventory turnover -- Accounts payable payment period -- Capital structure ratios -- Profitability ratios -- Cash adequacy ratios -- Interpreting ratios -- Trends -- Comparisons within the department store industry -- Sustainable growth rate -- Another example: analysis of a manufacturing company -- New terms -- Cost accounting -- Cost accounting in manufacturing -- Accounting for overhead -- Example: DJM Manufacturing -- Example: Ware and Foster, a law firm -- Understanding and interpreting overhead -- Pricing based on cost accounting information -- Analyzing subcontracting opportunities -- Full costs are not incremental costs -- Interpreting overhead variances -- Standard costing -- Summary -- New terms -- Budgeting and forecasting -- Operating budgets -- Pro forma financial statements -- Example: Wellstock Corporation -- Cash budgeting -- New terms -- Rules and integrity -- Ethics, values, and culture -- Accounting rules -- Audits and auditors -- Regulators -- Cooking the books -- Overstating assets -- Understating liabilities -- Overstate or accelerate revenues -- Understate or defer expenses -- Summary -- New terms -- Appendix: Scorekeeping at not-for-profits -- How are not-for-profits different -- Gifts -- Endowment -- Revenues and expenses -- Assets and liabilities -- Example: Avenidas -- Another example: Stanford University -- Unrealized business income -- Accounting principles for not-for-profits -- Summary -- New terms.

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Financial statements and information drawn from them confront us daily: in the media, in corporate annual reports, in the treasurer's reports for clubs or religious groups, in documents provided to employees and managers, as one considers alternative investments, in documents provided by homeowners' association and government agencies. Various readers of a company's "financial score" make decisions based on financial information: the company's managers devise actions to improve operations; investors buy or sell the corporation's securities; creditors decide how much to lend; customers judge the reliability of this supplier; potential employees decide whether to invest their careers in the company. If you are training to be an accountant, find another book. This book's objective is to increase your ability to draw useful information from financial statements, and thus to make better decisions, in both your personal life and your professional life. Studying this book should help you be a better manager. That is both its objective and its perspective. The book starts at square one; it assumes no prior knowledge on your part. To increase your financial literacy, you will learn the common nomenclature (but not esoteric jargon) used by accountants and financial experts. You will be equipped to ask insightful questions of experts, to engage them and your colleagues in thoughtful debates about financial and accounting issues, and to make better decisions.

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Title from PDF t.p. (viewed on October 15, 2008).