Course Description

This course focuses on an analysis of the corporate annual report. It helps you interpret and understand its components, including the financial statements, footnotes, review of operations, auditor's report, supplementary schedules, management discussion and analysis (MD&A), and Management’s Report On Internal Control Over Financial Reporting. It touches upon how the Sarbanes-Oxley 404 reporting differs from traditional reporting. The course also teaches you how to perform financial ratios and cash flow analyses.

Learning objectives

• Identify the basic financial statements of the annual report and their purpose: the balance sheet, income statement, and statement of cash flows.
• Recognize the elements of the balance sheet.
• Recognize how the income statement reveals the entity's operating performance.
• Identify a company's cash inflows and cash outflows.
• Identify the types of accounts that may exist in the financial statements.
• Identify the other sections and items of the annual report.
• Recognize auditing standards for internal control over financial reporting, including the Sarbanes-Oxley Act.
• Identify important factors for financial statement analysis.
• Recognize techniques of horizontal analysis and vertical analysis.
• Calculate different types of ratio analysis.
• Identify types of ratio analysis.
• Recognize some of the limitations of different ratio analysis.
• Apply financial ratios calculations.

Final examination expiration date:

The program participant will have one year from the date of purchase to complete the course and final examination.