Modern Financial Statement Analysis

Course details

In this course, we will learn how to use basic analysis tools (called ratios) to conduct a fundamental analysis of a company's financial statements. This analysis will provide insights into a company's performance and will help identify areas of concern.

We will introduce you to some of the more common financial ratios and their uses.  We will also introduce you to the DuPont framework, which is one useful way to structure the analysis of financial ratios. Finally, we will explain the use of common-size financial statements, which are easy to prepare, easy to use, and should be the first step in any comprehensive financial statement analysis. 

Keep in mind that this is merely an introduction to financial statement analysis — there are entire textbooks devoted to this topic. Our objective is simply to expose you to some of the basic tools to help you start to understand what financial statements can tell us about the operations of a business.