Understanding Financial Statements

Read and interpret balance sheets, income statements, and cash flow statements. Analyze the current financial situation and identify areas for improvement.

Description

In order for organizations to succeed, leaders and managers must be able to accurately interpret and utilize financial reports. They must also be able to assess the overall financial performance of the organization, a particular department, or the competition, and then convey the organization's financial condition to its constituents.

In this course, participants will learn how to read and interpret income statements, balance sheets, and cash flow statements. By understanding the information contained in each of these key reports, participants will have a solid foundation upon which to base more advanced analysis of their firm's financial performance.

Who Should Take This Course?

This course is necessary for all professionals who deal with financial reports and need to understand how to accurately interpret and use the data to improve efficiency and productivity for their department and organization.

Course Format

eCornell takes a problem-based approach to learning, and builds each course around realistic case studies and scenarios. All courses are self-paced, and are facilitated by an eCornell instructor, who leads the online discussions and is available to answer any questions about the course content.

This course contains the following modules:

• Reading the Income Statement
  • Understanding the purpose of the income statement and its overall structure
  • Interpreting the income statement line by line
  • Using the income statement
• Reading the Balance Sheet
  • Understanding the purpose of the balance sheet and its overall structure
  • Interpreting the balance sheet line by line
  • Using the balance sheet
• Reading the Cash Flow Statement
  • Understanding the purpose of the cash flow statement and its overall structure
  • Interpreting the cash flow statement at a detailed level
  • Using the cash flow statement
• Other Elements of Financial Reporting
  • The purpose of an annual report
  • Online sources of financial information
  • GAAP and FASB, and their influence on the structure and use of these financial statements

Benefits to the Learner

After completing this course, participants will be able to:

• Understand and interpret the information found in the three principle financial statements
• Understand how the three reports relate to one another and how they are combined (with additional information) to serve as an annual report
• Work with online sources of financial information to conduct research on other publicly-traded firms and industries

Authoring Faculty

Steven Carvell, Ph.D., Associate Professor and Associate Dean for Academic Affairs

Scott Gibson, Ph.D., Assistant Professor

Sponsoring School

Cornell University's School of Hotel Administration

Total Learning Time

Approximately five to six hours over a period of two weeks.

Certificate Information

This course can be applied toward the following certificates:

• Business Leadership Skills
• Financial Management

Other Requirements

Participants in this course need one of the following financial calculators:

• Hewlett-Packard 12C
• Texas Instruments BA II Plus

Both are available for purchase directly from Amazon.com.

HRCI Recertification

This course been approved for six (6) Strategic Management recertification credit hours toward SPHR and GPHR recertification and six (6) recertification credit hours toward PHR, SPHR, and GPHR recertification through the Human Resource Certification Institute. Please contact the Human Resource Certificate Institute (HRCI) for further information about certification or recertification.

This course qualifies for 6.50 Professional Development Units (PDUs) from the Project Management Institute (PMI) for Professional Project Managers (PMPs) seeking ongoing education and professional development for continuing certification. eCornell is a Global Registered Education Provider of PMI. PDUs are designated as Category 3.

Project Management Institute Professional Development Units