How to Write a Financial Report: Communicating Critical Financial Signs From the Numbers

Complete guide to understanding and writing financial reports with clear communication Accompanying the hugely successful How to Read a Financial Report, How to Write a Financial Report is your non-specialist and jargon-simplified guide to the art of writing a financial report and effectively communicating critical financial information and operating results to your target audience. This book also covers utilizing different KPIs and types of reports and statements to convey a cohesive quantitative story to everyone reading your report, even if they aren't experts in accounting and finance. This book pays special attention to the “big three” financial statements, the differences between internal and external financial information/reports, and confidentiality factors, disclosure levels, and risk elements when deciding which information to include. This book also discusses important elements in financial reports, including: Providing an expanded understanding of the big three financial statements and how these act as the base food which feeds the financial reporting beast. Producing financial reports that keep the audience engaged, focused, and educated. Learning how to speak the base language of accounting and finance. Diving deeper into financial stability and operating results by using ratios, trends, and variance analyzes to improve financial reporting. Offering examples of real financial reports for hands on reference and use in the real world. With everything readers need to write, analyze, and communicate financial accounting reports, How to Write a Financial Report earns a well-deserved spot on the bookshelves of investors, lenders, business leaders, analysts, and managers seeking to improve their writing and comprehension skills, along with investors seeking to better understand where financial information comes from and how it is presented.

Table of Contents:
List of Exhibits vii Preface xi Part One—Financial Report Writing Basics – What You Absolutely Must Know! 1 1 Communicate or Die! 3 2 Target Audience “E” – External Users 15 3 Target Audience “I” – Internal Consumers 27 4 Introducing CART – To Start, the Big “C,” Completeness 37 5 Embracing CART – Accuracy, Reliability, and Timeliness, the Best of Friends 49 Part Two—Financial Statements – The Economic Heartbeat of a Company 61 6 Understanding the Income Statement 63 7 Trusting the Balance Sheet 73 8 Relying on the Statement of Cash Flows 85 9 Connecting the Financial Statement Dots 97 10 The Significance of Financial Forecasts 107 Part Three—The Types and Targets of Financial Reports 123 11 The Role of Accounting 125 12 Preparing Financial Reports from Company Financial Statements – External Users 137 13 Preparing Financial Reports from Company Financial Statements – Internal Consumers 151 14 Preparing Financial Reports from Company Financial Information 165 15 Revisiting Our Example Company with a Slight Twist 179 About the Author 197 Index 199

About the Author :
Over the past 30+ years, Tage C. Tracy has operated a financial consulting firm focused on offering CFO/executive-level support and planning services to private companies on a fractional basis, working primarily with startups, rapid growth companies, strategic exits and acquisitions, and turnarounds and challenged environments.