UNDERSTANDING FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

Prof. Suhas M. Avabruth

Suhas M Avabruth is an Assistant Professor in the area of Finance and Accounting at XIM, Bhubaneswar. He completed his Fellow Programme in Management (FPM) from Indian Institute of Management, Shillong and he has an overall experience of 8 years in teaching and research (including FPM) and 1 year of Industry experience.

His research interests are Earnings Management in Family business, Accounting Quality and Tax Planning and Corporate Governance.

He has several publications in journals of national and international repute.

  1. Course Description

History of accounting dates back to the Mesopotamian civilization and the earliest records on accounting can be traced to the Roman Empire. Accounting is the language of business and financial statements are its output. It translates the complex transaction information into concise records which can be easily understood by the reader of these records. Understanding and interpreting the financial statements are imperative for any business manager as it has information on all aspects of the business.

The Course is intended to familiarize the participants with the fundamental understanding of the financial statements namely the Balance Sheet, Income Statement and Cashflow Statement, and it will also impart knowledge on analyzing these financial statements to draw conclusion about the health of the company and performance.

By the end of the course the participants should be in a position to read, analyze and draw meaningful conclusions on the company using various financial statements for the purpose of decision making.

2. Student Learning Outcomes

  • At the successful completion of the course, the participants of the course should be

  • Familiar with various financial statements, its preparation, limitations and informativeness for decision making

  • Analyzing the financial statements for performance and to understand the health of the organization

  • Integrate the various financial statements to get a holistic view of the organization.

  • Raising red flags on the company with the help of financial statements

3. Organization and Delivery of the Course

Course themes

The course is divided into three themes.

  • Understanding the Financial Statements

o Fundamentals of Accounting

o Preparation of Financial statements

o Balance Sheet

o Income Statement

o Cash Flow Statement

o Statement of Changes in Equity

      • Analyzing the Financial Statements

o Analyzing the Health of the organization

o Analyzing the performance of the organization

o Integrating various financial statements

  • Raising the red flags

o Introduction to Earnings Management

o Raising red flags

The course will have 15 hours of online engagements and 5 hours of offline engagement. The online engagements are aligned with the chapter reading and cases. The offline engagement will consist of short videos, discussion forums and live projects. Participants are expected to come prepared with the pre-assigned materials for online engagements and they are expected to be active participants in the offline engagement.

4. Course Resources

Text Book :

Accounting: Text and Cases, Robert N Anthony, David F. Hawkins, Kenneth A. Merchant and Prakash Singh, 13th Edition, McGraw Hill

Other Readings :

Note on Financial Accounting: Financial Accounting Term Sheet

Basic Accounting Concepts and Assumptions, David F. Hawkins

Financial Accounting: Analyzing Financial Statements, V G Narayanan and Suraj Srinivasan