The updated new edition of the comprehensive guide to reading and understanding financial reports

Financial reports are used to provide a range of vital information, including an organization’s cash flow, financial condition, and profit performance (aka The Big Three Financial Statements). Financial statements are often complex and extremely difficult to understand for anyone other than accounting and finance professionals. How to Read a Financial Report enablesinvestors, lenders, business leaders, analysts, and managers to read, analyze, and interpret financial accounting reports. Designed specifically for non-specialists, this reader-friendly resource covers the fundamentals of financial reporting in jargon-free English. Topics such as sales revenue & recognition, costs of goods sold, sources & uses of capital/cash, non-cash expenses (e.g., depreciation expense), income tax obligations, understanding profits & financial stability, and financial statement ratios & analysis are covered throughout the book.

Now in its ninth edition, this bestselling guide has been thoroughly revised to reflect changes in accounting and financial reporting rules, current practices, and recent trends. New and expanded content explains managing cash flow, illustrates the deceitful misrepresentation of profits in some financial reports (aka Financial Engineering), and more. Further, end-of-chapter activities help readers learn the intricacies of the balance sheet and cash flow statement, while updated sections address shifts in regulatory standards. Written by two highly experienced experts in financial accounting, this resource: 

• Enables readers to cut through the noise and focus on what financial reports and financial statements are really saying about a company
• Clarifies commonly misunderstood aspects of financial reporting and how companies can “financially engineer” operating results
• Offers comprehensive, step-by-step guidance on analyzing financial reports
• Provides numerous examples and explanations of various types of financial reports and analysis tools

Few skills are as useful as a basic understanding of accounting language. And with the right resources, learning the language of business can be intuitive, empowering, and fun.

Accounting For Dummies is the perfect place to start, whether you're operating a small business, just need help managing the family budget, or you're a rising star in corporate America. It's a financial blueprint for the everyday person, easy-to-understand, and full of practical advice.

You'll learn the basic ABC's of accounting, how to read and understand financial statements, create best in class budgets & forecasts, craft profitable business plans, take control of your own finances, gain insight on how companies get money from investors and banks, and avoid common money mistakes that trip up even the best of us. You'll also find out how to:

• Diagnose the financial health of your business and make a realistic plan to grow your company
• Improve your own or your family's money situation with sound financial planning and understanding
• Understand each of the three basic financial statements and what they say about a company's past, present, and future
• Enhance your knowledge of how accounting functions and operates in today's digital age and cloud-based world

As a useful tool for business or as a guide to your personal finances, nothing compares to accounting mastery. And once you've nailed the basics, you'll wonder how you ever lived without this universal and beautiful language.

Financial reports provide vital information to investors, lenders, and managers. Yet, the financial statements in a financial report seem to be written in a foreign language that only accountants can understand. This comprehensive version of How to Read a Financial Report breaks through that language barrier, clears away the fog, and offers a plain-English user's guide to financial reports. The book features new information on the move toward separate financial and accounting reporting standards for private companies, the emergence of websites offering financial information, pending changes in the auditor's report language and what this means to investors, and requirements for XBRL tagging in reporting to the SEC, among other topics.

• Makes it easy to understand what financial reports really say
• Updated to include the latest information financial reporting standards and regulatory changes
• Written by an author team with a combined 50-plus years of experience in financial accounting
• This comprehensive edition includes an ancillary website containing valuable additional resources

With this comprehensive version of How to Read a Financial Report, investors will find everything they need to fully understand the profit, cash flow, and financial condition of any business.

• External income statements
• Comparing Equal Percent changes
• Reporting operating expenses
• Analyzing a management profit report
• Making changes in the profit equation
• Determining the breakeven point

The book will show you how to evaluate profit margins, establish budgets, control profit and cash flow, stem losses, manage inventory, make wise financial decisions, survive an audit, and use the latest computer technology to help you manage the bottom line.

This updated edition also includes the latest information on International Financial Reporting Standards, capital budgeting, and break even, plus new advice on how to find financial facts and read company accounts.  New sections include links to a number of key business spreadsheets and a new chapter on financing your business.

Accounting Workbook For Dummies, UK Edition covers:

Part I: Business Accounting Basics 
Chapter 1: Elements of Business Accounting 
Chapter 2: Financial Effects of Transactions 
Chapter 3: Getting Started in the Bookkeeping Cycle 
Chapter 4: The Bookkeeping Cycle: Adjusting and Closing Entries 

Part II: Preparing Financial Statements 
Chapter 5: The Effects and Reporting of Profit 
Chapter 6: Reporting Financial Condition in the Balance Sheet 
Chapter 7: Coupling the Profit & Loss Statement and Balance Sheet 
Chapter 8: Reporting Cash Flows and Changes in Owners' Equity 
Chapter 9: Choosing Accounting Methods 

Part III: Managerial, Manufacturing, and Capital Accounting 
Chapter 10: Analysing Profit Behavior 
Chapter 11: Manufacturing Cost Accounting 
Chapter 12: Figuring Out Interest and Return on Investment 

Part IV: The Part of Tens 
Chapter 13: Ten Things You Should Know About Business Financial Statements 
Chapter 14: A Ten-Point Checklist for Management Accountants 

Main changes in the UK edition include:

• UK Accounting practice
• Currency
• UK institutions - Inland Revenue and Customs and Excise etc
• National Insurance, PAYE
• UK taxation and VAT
• Partnerships and Limited company information
• UK legal practice
• UK specific forms
• UK specific case studies