Financial Statement Analysis: A Practitioner's Guide

✍ Scribed by Martin Fridson, Fernando Alvarez

• Publisher: Wiley
• Year: 2002
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 413
• Edition: 3
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

This is without doubt the best book on financial statements I've ever read.
Every chapter of the book is a joy to read and clarifies a lot of advanced accounting ideas. However Chapter 8 "Applications and Limitations of EBITDA" I particularly enjoyed.
As a value oriented investor I prefer Free Cash Flow (rather than net income) as a measure of a companies true earnings.
Almost every accounting definition of FCF, praises the figure for how it demystifies net income. And yet most of these places define FCF as simply Net Income + Depreciation.
It is obvious simply adding back depreciation doesn't get rid of all GAAP manipulation.
This book is the first to thoroughly explain how changes in working capital must be monitored, since the bloating of working capital etc is a warning of GAAP chicanery.
(As the authors recommend, you do need an average level of accounting knowledge to follow this book. Absolute beginners will need to learn the basics first.)