Interpreting Company Reports
& Accounts, 9th edition

By Geoffrey Holmes & Alan Sugden
Financial Times / Pearson Education Limited
December 2004
ISBN: 0273695460
328 Pages, Illustrated
$99.50 paper original

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Called "The Analysts' Bible" by the Investors Chronicle Interpreting Company Accounts and Reports guides the reader through the complexities of company accounts to show them how to spot undue risk taking and "cosmetic accounting". Packed with interesting real world examples and accounts its highly practical approach clearly demonstrates how to assess the financial and trading position of a company from year to year and look for clues on the quality of management.

Previous editions have predicted the collapse of Polly Peck and the Robert Maxwell's empire. Suitable for advanced undergraduate and MBA courses. It is also relevant for professionals taking the IIMR, stock exchange and accountancy exams as well as practitioners such as institutional analysts, brokers and any private investors.

Contents
Preface
1 Company reports and accounts - An Introduction
2 Financial reporting standards and principles
3 Forming a company
4 Admission to listing
5 Share capital and reserves
6 Loan capital
7 Intangible fixed assets
8 Tangible fixed assets
9 Fixed asset investments
10 Stocks and work in progress
11 Debtors
12 Current asset investments, cash at bank and in hand
13 Bank loans and overdrafts
14 Derivatives and other financial instruments
15 Creditors, provisions, contingent liabilities and contingent assets
16 Profit and loss account
17 Taxation
18 Profit after tax, dividends and earnings per share
19 Cash flow statements
20 Subsidiaries and group accounts
21 Acquisitions and mergers
22 Associates, joint ventures and related parties
23 Foreign exchange
24 Historical summaries, ratios and trends
25 Chairman's statement, operating and financial reviews and directors' report
26 Corporate governance and the auditors' report
27 Interim reports
28 Other sources of information
29 Inflation
30 Accounting practices - cause for concern?
31 International accounting comparisons
32 Putting it all together
33 Developments in accounting
Appendix 1 - Current Financial Reporting Standards and Exposure Drafts
Appendix 2 - Present value
Appendix 3 - Retail Price Indices since 1950
Appendix 4 - Problems and solutions
Appendix 5 - International Accounting Standards (IAS) and International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) Index

Features
" Chapter 31: Together takes readers step-by-step through the report and accounts of a listed company, so that they understand why each stage is important.
" Works systematically through company accounts explaining and illustrating each item, so students understand the importance of each item and the overall account.
" Key terms highlighted in the text, so that students understand the terminology as they go along.
" Set of problems provided at the end of the text, together with solutions, so that students can check their learning.



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