Crash Course in Accounting and Financial Statement Analysis

Seamlessly bridging academic accounting with real-life applications, Crash Course in Accounting and Financial Statement Analysis, Second Edition is the perfect guide to a complete understanding of accounting and financial statement analysis for those with no prior accounting background and those who seek a refresher.

Table of Contents:
About the Authors viii Preface x Chapter 1 Introduction to Accounting 1 What Is Accounting? 1 Why Is Accounting Important? 2 Making Corporate Decisions 2 Making Investment Decisions 2 Accounting Facilitates Corporate and Investment Decisions 2 Who Uses Accounting? 2 U.S. Accounting Regulations 2 Generally Accepted Accounting Principles 2 Overview of the Securities and Exchange Commission 3 Overview of the Financial Accounting Standards Board 4 International Accounting Regulations 4 Convergence of U.S. GAAP and IFRS 6 Summary 6 Chapter 2 Basic Accounting Principles 11 Assumptions 11 Assumption 1: Accounting Entity 12 Assumption 2: Going Concern 13 Assumption 3: Measurement and Units of Measure 13 Assumption 4: Periodicity 14 Wrap-up: Assumptions 15 Principles 18 Principle 1: Historical Cost 18 Principles 2 and 3: Accrual Basis 18 Principle 4: Full Disclosure 21 Wrap-up: Principles 21 Constraints 24 Constraint 1: Estimates and Judgments 24 Constraint 2: Materiality 24 Constraint 3: Consistency 24 Constraint 4: Conservatism 24 Summary 27 Chapter 3 Financial Reporting 29 Financial Reporting Overview 29 Finding Financial Reports 30 Form 10-K (Annual Filing) 30 Why Is the 10-K Important? 30 Form 10-Q (Quarterly Filing) 30 Other Important Filings 31 Form 8-K 31 Form S-1 31 Form 14A 31 Form 20-F 31 Summary 32 Chapter 4 Reading the Annual Report 35 Introduction 35 Letter to Stockholders 36 Financial Highlights 38 Management’s Discussion and Analysis 38 Financial Statements 40 Income Statement 40 Balance Sheet 41 Cash Flow Statement 41 Notes to Consolidated Statements 41 Report of Management’s Responsibilities 43 Certification of Financial Statements 46 Risk Factors 48 Legal Proceedings 48 Report of Independent Auditors 49 Directors and Officers 52 Summary 54 Chapter 5 Income Statement 55 What is the Income Statement? 55 Why Is It Important? 57 Revenues 57 Not All Income Is Revenue 58 Bad Debt Expense 61 What Is Bad Debt Expense? 61 Revenue Recognition: To Recognize and When? 61 Revenue Recognition: Long-Term Projects 62 Expense Recognition and Accrual Basis of Accounting 65 Basic Principles Revisited: Accrual Basis of Accounting and Matching Principle 65 Putting It All Together: The Accrual Basis of Accounting 65 Why Use Accrual Accounting? 65 Accrual versus Cash Accounting: What’s the Difference? 66 Revenue Manipulation 67 Cost of Goods Sold 70 COGS Do Not Include Administrative Costs 70 Gross Profit 73 Selling, General and Administrative 75 Research and Development 77 Stock Options Expense 77 Depreciation Expense 80 Depreciation Is a “Phantom” Noncash Expense 82 Straight-Line Depreciation Method 83 Accelerated Depreciation Methods 86 Depreciation Methods Compared 92 Amortization 92 Amortization Is a “Noncash” Expense (Like Depreciation) 93 What Is the Difference between Depreciation and Amortization? 93 Summary 96 Goodwill 96 Goodwill Not Amortized after 2001 96 Interest Expense 97 Interest Income 99 Other Nonoperating Income 99 Income Tax Expense 99 Equity Income in Affiliates 100 Minority Interest 102 Net Income 104 Shares Outstanding 104 Representation of Shares Outstanding in the Income Statement 104 Common Dividends 108 Preferred Dividends 108 Earnings per Share 108 Nonrecurring Items 110 Unusual or Infrequent Items 110 Discontinued Operations 112 Extraordinary Items 113 Accounting Changes 114 Earnings before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortization 117 EBITDA: Popular Measure of a Company’s Financial Performance 118 EBITDA Has Several Shortcomings 119 EBIT 122 Summary 123 Chapter 6 Balance Sheet 129 Introduction 129 Assets Represent the Company’s Resources 131 Liabilities and Shareholders’ Equity Represent the Company’s Sources of Funds (i.e., How It Pays for Assets) 134 Lemonade Stand and the Accounting Equation 137 Balance Sheet 137 Double-Entry Accounting 138 Why Is Double-Entry Accounting Important? 143 Income Statement Revisited: Links to Balance Sheet 143 Retained Earnings: The Link Between Balance Sheet and Income Statement 144 Impact of Revenues on the Balance Sheet 145 Impact of COGS on the Balance Sheet 145 Impact of SG&A on the Balance Sheet 146 Impact of Depreciation on the Balance Sheet 146 Impact of Interest Expense on the Balance Sheet 146 Impact of Tax Expense on the Balance Sheet 146 Total Impact of the Year on the Balance Sheet 147 Summary 148 Order of Liquidity 149 Current versus Noncurrent Assets 149 Current versus Long-Term Liabilities 149 Assets 153 Inventories 157 LIFO Reserve: The Link between FIFO and LIFO Inventory Methods 164 Writing Down Inventories 164 Deferred Taxes 164 PP&E, Net of Depreciation 169 Reconciliation of PP&E 170 Fixed Asset Impairments 175 Fixed Asset Retirement and Disposal 176 Intercompany Investments 177 Consolidation 179 Intangible Assets 179 Goodwill 181 Summary: Intangible Assets and Goodwill 184 Summary: Assets 186 Liabilities 190 Other Typical Current Liabilities 192 Debt 193 Short-Term Debt versus Long-Term Debt 193 Capital Leases 194 Operating Leases 194 Deferred Taxes 195 Summary: Deferred Taxes 197 Pensions 198 Defined Benefit Plan 202 Minority Interest 205 Summary: Liabilities 209 Shareholders’ Equity 212 Introduction 213 Common Stock 214 Additional Paid-In Capital 214 Preferred Stock 215 Treasury Stock 216 Retained Earnings 217 Summary: Shareholders’ Equity 219 Summary 222 Chapter 7 Cash Flow Statement 223 Introduction 223 Cash Flow Statement to the Rescue! 225 Cash Flow from Operations 228 Overview 228 Indirect Method 228 Getting from Net Income to Cost from Operations 229 Depreciation 231 Working Capital 233 Changes in Accounts Receivable 235 Changes in Accounts Receivable and the Lemonade Stand 235 Changes in Inventories 236 Changes in Inventories and the Lemonade Stand 237 Changes in Accounts Payable 239 Accounts Payable and the Lemonade Stand 239 Changes in Other Current Assets 240 Changes in Other Current Liabilities 241 Increases/Decreases in Deferred Taxes 241 Summary: Cash Flow from Operations 244 Cash Flow from Investing Activities 247 Overview 247 Components 247 Cash Flow from Financing Activities 251 Overview 251 Components 251 How the Cash Flow Is Linked to the Balance Sheet 255 Summary 256 Online Exercise 256 Chapter 8 Financial Ratio Analysis 259 Introduction 259 What Is Financial Ratio Analysis? 259 Liquidity Ratios 260 Current Ratio 260 Quick (Acid) Test 260 Current Cash Debt Coverage Ratio 261 Profitability Ratios 261 Gross Profit Margin 261 Profit Margin on Sales 261 Return on Assets 262 Return on Equity 262 Earnings per Share 262 Price-to-Earnings Ratio 262 Payout Ratio 262 Activity Ratios 262 Receivables Turnover 263 Days Sales Outstanding 263 Inventory Turnover 263 Days Sales of Inventory 263 Asset Turnover 263 Coverage Ratios 263 Debt to Total Assets 264 Times Interest Earned 264 Cash Debt Coverage Ratio 264 Calculations 265 Appendix 267 Stock Options 267 Stock Options Expensing 268 Then 268 . . . and Now 269 Debt 270 How Are These Two Forms of Capital Raised? 270 Who Issues Debt? 270 Long-Term Debt 271 Capital versus Operating Leases 272 Direct Method 272 Index 275

About the Author :
MATAN FELDMAN is founder and CEO of Wall Street Prep, a provider of step-by-step self-study courses and customized university and corporate training seminars in financial accounting, corporate finance, financial modeling, valuation modeling, and M&A modeling. Before Wall Street Prep, he worked as an equity research associate at JPMorgan Chase & Co. and as a financial analyst in the M&A group at Chase Manhattan Bank. He received an MA in economics with honors from Boston University. ARKADY LIBMAN is the Managing Director of Wall Street Prep. Before Wall Street Prep, he worked as an equity research associate at Friedman, Billings, Ramsey & Co., Inc., and as an investment banking analyst at JPMorgan Chase & Co. He completed coursework at the London School of Economics and graduated with honors from Bowdoin College with a BA in economics.

Review :
"I commend this book to you. It is filled with good examples, interesting information, and timely and informative mini-problems that help to coach you through the arcane subject of accounting, in an easy-to-understand way." (Graziadio Business Report, May 2007)