The Financial Statement Analysis for Investors module is designed as an introduction to financial reporting and to the complexities of financial statement analysis for students with little or no background in accounting.

The key topics covered are: How does business work? Where does a company’s money come from and where does it go? An overview of accounting and financial reporting to show how the items we have identified above appear in the company’s financial statements.
Financial ratio analysis. Analysing the financial statements to gain an understanding of the underlying business. How accountants measure and report. What values the financial statements contain. Business combinations and consolidated accounts. Creative accounting and fundamental analysis.

By the end of the module the student should be able to:

• demonstrate a conceptual knowledge and understanding of the accounting framework and the basis of financial reporting;
• demonstrate a comprehensive understanding of financial statements, accounting reports and the accounting vocabulary;
• apply and calculate suitable financial ratios using published accounting data;
• critically appraise the behaviour and limitations of financial ratios;
• critically analyse how assets, liability and earnings numbers may be affected by accounting policy choice, creative accounting and international differences in accounting.