Financial Statements: A Step-by-Step Guide to Understanding and Creating Financial Reports Paperback – August 15, 2009

I used this book for a business course in college, and it was a huge help. It breaks down financial concepts in a clear and straightforward way, making it easy to understand even for beginners. Whether you’re a student or just looking to improve your financial literacy, this is a solid choice.The product arrived in perfect condition with fast shipping. I’d recommend this textbook for anyone needing a foundation in financial statements.

Everyone I believe needs to awaken to other things around them, even if they do not become experts. Financing is critical to all, and this book is a great starter.

I use this book for coaching my clients in financial fundamentals to help them scale their companies.

Good for me to read, recommend it

Financial Statements by Thomas Ittelson is - as says on the front cover of the book - "a step-by-step guide to understanding and creating financial reports", and does just that brilliantly. The author manages to make rather difficult business concepts palpable to the laymen reader. The book is also well suited for those with a higher business acumen because the author attacks many financial statement and business fundamentals in a feasible way that serves as good reiteration and study. I feel that my recent statements portrayed accurate objectivity about what many consider a top tier book of its kind. Personally, i love how the text was very flexible (financial statements and number nuances weren't jammed in like they could have been), it flowed very well page-to-page and chapter-to-chapter, and though surprising it was pleasantly conversational.What the book was about:Throughout the first 5 chapters the author goes over the accounting principals, the financial statements (balance sheet, income statement, cash flow statement) and draws the connection within them. Through the next chapters (6-11) the author goes over transactions of a hypothetical start-up company (named AppleSeed Enterprises) with the intent for the reader to understand how transactions affect the financial statements, which is very good practical application. In chapters 12 through 15 the author goes on about accounting policies, ratio analysis, fraud, and so forth. The last chapters (16-22) the author examines business expansion (risk, strategy, sources of capital, decisions, etc) and how to make good investment decisions by helping the reader better understand the time value of money (PV, FV, interest rates, discount rates,etc.) and keen forecasting.This text would be most suitable for those with some knowledge of financial statements or at least finance itself but can benefit just about anyone - even pundits.

Bought this book for my younger brother. Good book.

Thomas Ittelson has done what most authors fail to do: explain something to beginners in an understandable way. I cannot say enough good things about this book. It is aimed at beginners in business and finance.Reading, writing and understanding financial statements is essential to business and investing. If you own your own company, and it is growing, you will have to produce financial statemtns of your own. Unless you are a pure momentum investor, one who follows stock prices without a care for the actual company that this price represents, you will need to look at and understand financial data. This is the basis of most investing strategies.If you look at a financial statement as a series of unintelligible tables full of meaningless numbers, accompanied by mind numbing prose, this book will help you out immensely. It offers definitions of the financial terms and explanations of financial tables, using plain language that a non financial person can understand. The book starts with simple examples, and gradually adds on complexity. If you read the entire book, you will not be an accountant, but you will be able to understand the basic concepts of a company's financial reports. This may only represent the beginning of your investing education, or the high point of your knowledge, but it belongs in every beginning investor's library. I have been investing for over twenty years, and I keep my dog-eared copy in a place where I can easily find it.

I don't typically write book reviews, but felt the need given how effective and useful this book is, especially given its very small financial investment. I have taken several courses related to this topic, and this book really helps to tie all concepts together related to financial statements. It is very simple to follow and understand. It is completely comprehensive covering any and all concepts related to the topic. I have found it to be very useful and a great resource that I will refer to in the future. I highly recommend this to anyone looking to learn more about the topic, use as a handy reference, or as an intro to any related courses they might be taking. It covers everything you need to know broken down in simple steps, in a very simple manner. Highly recommend to anyone, I cannot say that enough. I have high regard to anyone who can break down and explain a pretty difficult concept and explain it in simple terms. Kudos to Ittelson for his ability to do so.