Financial Statements & Analysis: How Analysts Read Numbers is a structured track of 13 lessons that build a complete, interview-ready understanding of the topic. Work through them in order, then use the quiz and flashcards in each lesson to revise.
What this course covers
- How to Read an Income Statement, Line by Line - Every profit and loss line explained, and what each says about the business.
- How to Read a Balance Sheet, Line by Line - Assets, liabilities and equity decoded, with the analyst's first-pass checklist.
- The Cash Flow Statement: Operating, Investing & Financing Flows - The three cash flow sections, and why cash is harder to manipulate than profit.
- How the Three Statements Link: The Flow You Must Be Able to Draw - The classic question: change one line and trace it through all three statements.
- Reconciling Profit to Cash: Why the Two Almost Never Match - Walking from net profit to operating cash flow, adjustment by adjustment.
- Common-Size, Trend & Peer Analysis - Common-size statements, trend lines and peer benchmarking as a first pass.
- Notes to Accounts: The Disclosures Analysts Read First - Which notes to open first, and what each one commonly hides.
- The Annual Report Reading Order: Management Commentary & Auditor's Report - Reading a 300-page annual report in the order that surfaces problems fastest.
- Segment Reporting & Understanding a Multi-Business Company - Using segment disclosures to find which business actually earns the money.
- Consolidation, Subsidiaries, Associates & Minority Interest - Consolidated versus standalone, the equity method, and where minority interest sits.
- Quality of Earnings: The Red Flags That Precede Most Blow-Ups - Receivable build-ups, related-party sales, capitalised costs and other warnings.
- Reading an Annual Report with AI: A NotebookLM Workflow - A tested AI workflow for annual reports, with prompts and a verification step.
- Case Study: A Full Statement Teardown of a Listed Indian Company - One listed Indian company taken apart statement by statement, with real figures.