ACCT 640 - Financial Statement Analysis

3 credits.
This course investigates financial reporting from a user perspective in interpreting and analyzing financial reports for investments and other decision making. The course begins with a review of accounting systems and then emphasizes analysis of financial statements and the implications for various user groups. Emphasis will be on use of the reports to judge company performance, to assess creditworthiness, to predict future financial performance, and to analyze possible acquisitions and take-overs. Users of financial statements must be able to meaningfully interpret financial reports, construct measures of financial performance and analyze the reporting choices made by companies. Also, since company managers choose accounting techniques when making their reports, users must learn to undo the effects of these accounting choices. The purpose of this course is to give the foundation for such analysis.

Prerequisite(s): ACCT 540.