FT Guide to Using and Interpreting Company Accounts, 4th Edition

Product Author Bios

Wendy McKenzie is the founder and manager of McKenzie Training Associates. She’s worked both in the City and in a range of other companies and financial organisations.

The Financial Times Guide to Using and Interpreting Company Accounts is designed for the non-accountant manager, investor or entrepreneur who is expected to have financial knowledge but may not have accounting training.  

Wendy McKenzie approaches the project via three key points: What information will I find in these accounts?; How do I analyse the accounts?; How can I use my analysis?

Using publicly available actual accounts, the book begins by covering the ‘numbers’ from company accounts then moves on to information such as the financial review and then explains the logic of the accounts. To help with the interpreting of the numbers Wendy shows the reader how to understand issues such as cash flow, what this will tell you about a company, how to consider a competitor’s accounts and how to perform ratio calculations to help with company analysis.

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

Preface
PART 1 WHAT INFORMATION WILL I FIND IN THE ACCOUNTS?

1 An introduction to the accounts
2 The profit and loss account
3 The balance sheet
4 The cash flow statement
5 The statement of total recognised gains and losses
6 The note of historical cost profits and losses
7 Other information found in the accounts
8 International conventions – local GAPP, IFRS, emerging nations

PART 2 HOW DO I ANALYSE THE ACCOUNTS?
9 How do I analyse the accounts?
10 Solvency
11 Profitability
12 Cash management
13 The investor’s perspective
14 Johnson Matthey

PART 3 HOW CAN I USE MY ANALYSIS?

15 How can I use my analysis?
16 Suppliers’ accounts
17 Customers’ accounts
18 Competitors’ accounts
19 Identifying a company’s acquisition potential
20 The availability of accounts

Weblinks

Index