Financial Statement Analysis
Course Summary
3 Days | Core Concepts
The aim of this course is to introduce corporate financial statements and use them to calibrate company performance. Ideal for recent hires or people with non-financial backgrounds.
Participants are introduced to the various sources of financial information, Income, Balance Sheet, and Cash Flow Statements. Followed by a step-by-step review of the structure and use of these statements. While not a course on financial accounting, basic principles of statement construction are discussed to lay a firm foundation for subsequent analysis.
The course concludes with the development of appropriate ratios and analytical methods for a structured review of a company’s performance, in relation to its peers, as well as equity returns.
Throughout the sessions live relevant cases/exercises are used to reinforce learnings and maintain participant engagement.
Learning Objectives
- Apply financial statement analysis skills to compare organizational performance, forecast future financial outcomes, and make informed decisions.
- Learn how financial statements are shaped by legal structures, and core accounting principles.
- Understand the purpose, structure, and interconnectivity of the main financial statements.
- Analyse how assets and liabilities are classified, support business cycles, and how reported across industries.
- Interpret revenues, operating costs, earnings metrics like EBITDA and normalized earnings for performance evaluation.
- Assess a company’s liquidity and funding by analysing cash flows using both direct and indirect methods.
- Evaluate financial health through trend and ratio analysis, and apply value-based metrics.
Who Should Attend
This course is open to all.
Learning Topics
- Introduction to Financial Statements covers legal entity types, levels of financial reporting assurance, and key accounting principles such as accruals, historical cost, going concern, consolidation, and the differences between GAAP and IFRS.
- The Four Financial Statements provides a detailed overview of the balance sheet, income statement, statement of changes in equity, and cash flow statement, including their structure, purpose, and how they interconnect.
- Balance Sheet explores the classification of assets and liabilities into short- and long-term categories, industry-specific asset requirements, treatment of investments, and the impact of consolidation.
- Statement of Comprehensive Income breaks down revenue recognition, cost categories, non-recurring items, and introduces key earnings measures including EBIT, EBITDA, adjusted EBITDA, and other comprehensive income.
- Statement of Cash Flows explains the structure and methods of cash flow preparation, distinguishes between operating, investing, and financing activities, and includes free cash flow analysis.
- Performance Analysis examines how to link financial statements through operational cycles, conduct ratio and trend analysis, and assess company