This book provides a digestible step-by-step guide to reading corporate financial reports, drawing upon real-life case studies and examples of corporate collapses and accounting scandals, and applying practical tools to financial statement analysis. Appealing to a range of practitioners within corporate finance including investors, managers, and business analysts, this book is the first to specifically address the challenges facing those who are not professional accountants and auditors when examining corporate financial reports.

Corporate financial reports are used widely by managers, investors, creditors, and government agencies to examine company performance and evaluate potential risks. However, although seemingly an invaluable source of information for managerial decision-making, financial reports are often based on rough simplifications of a very complex reality. With no way of avoiding deliberate manipulations and fraudulent activity, these statements cannot be relied on completely when selecting stocks or evaluating credit risk, and therefore poor analysis can lead to potentially disastrous investment decisions.
The author suggests that in order to effectively interpret corporate financial reports, we must 'read between the lines' to accurately assess a company's economic performance and predict its long-term viability.

Chapter 1. Most common distortions in a financial statement analysis caused by objective weaknesses of accounting and analytical methods

Chapter 2. Other "noise" in a financial statement analysis caused by objective weaknesses of accounting and analytical methods
Chapter 3. Deliberate accounting manipulations: introduction and revenue-oriented accounting gimmicks
Chapter 4. Deliberate accounting manipulations: expense-oriented accounting gimmicks and intentional profit understatements
Chapter 5. Evaluation of financial statement reliability and comparability based on Auditor's opinion, narrative disclosures and cash flow data
Chapter 6. Problems of comparability and reliability of reported cash flows
Chapter 7. Evaluation of financial statement reliability and comparability based on quantitative tools other than cash flows: primary warning signals
Chapter 8. Evaluation of financial statement reliability and comparability based on quantitative toolsother than cash flows: additional warning signals
Chapter 9. Techniques of increasing comparability and reliability of reported accounting numbers: selected simple tools
Chapter 10. Techniques of increasing comparability and reliability of reported accounting numbers: some more advanced tools