A Visual Guide to Financial Statements: Overview for Non-Financial Managers and Investors

A primer on the “numbers” of business. A “picture book” for non-financial managers and investors. Presents the structure of a company's three key financial statements in a unique visual tutorial: (1) the Income Statement as a stack of Oreo Cookies, (2) the Balance Sheet as an apple pie, and (3) the Cash Flow Statement as a stack of quarters. An overview with no confusing gobbledygook details and confusing jargon. All necessary numeric structure explained, and essential vocabulary defined. No prior accounting knowledge required. If you can read a nutrition label or a baseball box score, you can learn to read financial statements. If you can follow a recipe or apply for a loan, you can learn accounting. The basics are not difficult, and they are not rocket science. Just as a CPR class teaches you how to perform cardiac pulmonary resuscitation, this short book will explain how to read a financial statement. It will not train you to be an accountant (just as a CPR course will not make you a cardiac doctor), but it should give you the confidence to be able to look at a set of financial statements and make sense of them.