Understanding Financial Statements

Course details

It is fundamental for managers and executives in the non-finance related positions to understand and apply fundamental finance management tools and techniques in the decision making process of an organisation.

This programme is designed with two sessions to discuss the main features of the financial statements prepared by a business enterprise. In the first session, participants will understand the meaning and fundamental structure of the financial statements and the inter-relationship of the items in the statements. At the second session, participants will learn to apply key management ratios to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of the business operations.

Programme Objectives

As the focus is on decision making process, participants would not be required to understand the book-keeping process and preparation of financial statements. Instead, after the completion of the course, they are required to know how to apply various analytical techniques to examine the performance of the business operations.

Published accounts of public-listed companies and corporate development, both local and overseas will be used to provide “real-life” examples. Participants may bring financial statements and annual reports of corporations to the workshop for discussion and analysis.

Programme Outline

1. What you want to know about financial statements
2. Three basic financial statements
3. Interpretation of auditors’ reports
4. Predicting business failure
5. Liquidity ratios
6. Profitability ratios
7. Solvency ratios
8. Asset management ratios
9. 9. Stock market ratios