Overview
Reading Financial Statements course
Learn how to read financial statements. In this 2-part free course, we use a company’s financial statements and annual report to understand the financial strength of a company and help us make informed decisions.
Reading & Understanding the Balance Sheet
In this first module, we learn how to read the balance sheet and its related notes using a company case study, Espresso Software. This will help us understand the financial strength of the company and help us make informed decisions. By the end of this module, you will have a solid understanding of the specific accounts in a typical balance sheet and the related notes to the financial statements.
- Navigate successfully through the notes to the financial statements.
- Read and interpret the various items in a published balance sheet.
- Understand complex balance sheet concepts (e.g. deferred taxes, goodwill, investments, etc.)
Reading & understanding the income statement and cash flow
In this second module of this free course, we continue reading Espresso Software’s financial statements. We look at the company’s income statement and statement of cash flows and conclude by covering the key contents of an annual report. By the end of this module, you will have a solid understanding of a typical income statement, statement of cash flows and annual report.
- Understand the different ways to present an income statement and cash flow statement.
- Read and interpret the various items in a published income statement.
- Identify the operating, financing, and investing activities of a company.
- Determine what is contained in an annual report and where to find it.
More about this free Financial Statements course
This accounting course is highly interactive with many different applied exercises and case studies. Sophisticated search and navigation tools allow you to go at your own pace while pop quizzes test what you have learned. The reading financial statements course also includes two PDF reference guides – a financial statements glossary and an accounting factsheet. These can be used while taking the course and downloaded to your computer for future reference.
Reading Financial Statements
Get Started Enroll For FreeLevel 2
Approx 1.5h to complete
100% online and self-paced
What you'll learn
Become a certified Financial Modeling & Valuation Analyst (FMVA)® Certification
Reading Financial Statements is part of the Financial Modeling & Valuation Analyst (FMVA)® certification, which includes 29 courses.
- Skills learned Financial modeling and valuation, sensitivity analysis, strategy
- Career prep Investment banking and equity research, FP&A, corporate development
Path to certification
Prerequisite courses
7 courses from beginner to intermediate level.
01 OptionalCore courses
11 courses from beginner to intermediate level.
02 RequiredElective courses
11 courses at an advanced level.
03 RequiredGet Certified
Submit your FMVA® checklist and order your certificate.
04 Required Join our community
Get access to the Global Corporate Finance Society.
05 Optional How the certification works
What our students say
I enjoyed every bit of doing this course. Explanations are very simple yet very rich in content.
Boago Victor Ratshoswane
It's a great course to get enrolled in to improve your financial knowledge. This course provides all the fundamentals related to the understanding of a financial statement. I think this will truly help me to improve my finance-related knowledge and information.
Naman Agarwal
Thank you, CFI, for this opportunity. It helped me to be more confident in Reading financial information. All the best to you, and keep helping people like me who want to improve their knowledge
Dercio dos Santos António Luís Saide
One of the best courses that I've ever had because of the huge amount of knowledge that I've gained from it.
