Financial Statements: A Step-by-Step Guide to Understanding and Creating Financial Reports

With more than 100,000 copies in print, Financial Statements is a perfect introduction to financial accounting for non-financial managers, stock-market investors, undergraduate business and MBA students, lawyers, lenders, entrepreneurs, and more. Most introductory finance and accounting books fail either because they are written "by accountants for accountants" or the authors "dumb down" the concepts until they are virtually useless. Financial Statements deftly shows that all this accounting and financial-reporting stuff is not rocket science and that you can understand it!

Ittelson empowers non-financial managers by clearly and simply demonstrating how the balance sheet, income statement and cash flow statement work together to offer a "snapshot" of any company's financial health. Every term is defined in simple, understandable language. Every concept is explained with a basic, straightforward transaction example. And with the book's uniquely visual approach, you'll be able to see exactly how each transaction affects the three key financial statement of the enterprise. Two new major sections with nine new chapters were added to this revised second edition of Financial Statements, simply the clearest and most comprehensive introduction to financial reporting available.

Ittelson has a gift that few experts have. He anticipates all my newbie/beginner stupid questions. Here I am on page 169 wondering why paying payroll taxes doesn't show up on the Income Statement. Sure enough, right after I've wondered to myself why there is no transaction on the Income Statement, I see his note explaining that these payroll tax expenses were put on the Income Statement when the goods were shipped, "not when the actual payment is made."

As soon as the little voice in my head asks, "But why did they do it *this* way?" Ittelson gives me the answer.

I give Ittelson a lot of credit for this. After you've studied something for years, as he clearly has, it's often almost impossible to see the subject with the eyes of a beginner. Believe me, I'm a teacher, I know how difficult it can be.

The first part of the book examines the three basic statements line-by-line: Income Statement, Cash Flow Statement, and Balance Sheet.

The largest part of the book sounds incredibly dry and dull. Each even-numbered page displays all three financial statements: Income Statement, Cash Flow Statement, and Balance Sheet. The odd-numbered page explains a business transation: paying payroll taxes, for example. The transaction's impact on the three financial statements is displayed on the even-numbered page.

Believe it or not, Ittelson makes it interesting to read about these business transactions. He creates a narrative about starting a business and running it. Along the way, he offers a few humorous pearls of business wisdom. This is dry, technical stuff but he makes it entertaining without ever sacrificing explanatory precision.

This is a great book for anyone who feels they need to sharpen their skills with financial statements. I've read short descriptions of financial statements before but it never sank in. What's great about Ittelson's book is that first he gives very clear definitions of key terms and then he takes you step-by-step through each business transaction and how it is reflected on the financial statements.

I wish I had read this book more than 10 years ago when I first started in the business world. I assume that you learn this stuff if you have an MBA. But I didn't. This gives one a solid grounding in the brass tacks of the business world.

This book has been of enormous value to me. It is an essential reference for anyone who needs to understand what business finances are about.


The Best Book on Financial Statements, Period!   November 23, 2003
Robert I. Hedges
61 out of 64 found this review helpful

Wow, what a great book! I am a technical professional enrolled in a graduate business degree program, and until now the plethora of financial and accounting terminology and rules has been bewildering for me. That is no longer true after buying this book. I have primarily used it as a reference book, and without fail any explanation I have needed has been easy to find, clear and concise.

I am no longer in the financially confused majority, largely thanks to this book. The author's education is in biochemistry (as is my undergraduate education), and because he originally came from the hard sciences where clarity and accuracy are valued above all else he was better able to be clear and easy to understand in comparison to many business school authors who seem to thrive on jargon and platitudes.

This is a great book to have on the reference shelf. If you are involved with business finance or investment analysis it is simply the best book available on the subject and should be considered indispensable!


A very useful book   January 19, 2005
R. Chonchol (Florida)
27 out of 29 found this review helpful

As I have had the occassion to prepare financial statements and reports on spreadsheet, I frequently found that when I had a basic (i.e., elementary) question about how to prepare the accounting entries, the chances were good that I would find the answer in this book. The last time I had such an accounting question, I promised myself that if this book would have the answer that I would write a review on Amazon. Sure enough it did!

While the book gets only skin deep on accounting concepts, it does an excellent job in deconstructing how the Income Statement, Statement of Cash Flows, and Balance Sheet are changed. It literally shows the statements before the change, the individual line item changes, and the statements after the change. It does this case by case for about thirty or so, commonly occuring accounting entries during the regular business cycle.

Very few accounting related books make explicit what happens the way this book does. While the book skips a lot of details, it has proven very useful and is well worth the price. I highly recommend it.

Incidently, another book which covers practical presents techniques that can be used in accounting and financial related spreadsheets is "Excel Best Practices for Business".


Perfect book when first learning how to read a 10-Q   December 19, 1999
Jason Fossen (Dallas, Tx)
22 out of 23 found this review helpful

This is a wonderfully clear and concise introduction to the interpretation of financial statements such as 10-Qs. Read this if you are not a CPA or MBA, but must "get a handle" on Balance Sheets, Income Statements and Cash Flow Statements. This should be the first book you buy for this purpose-- print out your company's 10-Q and have it in hand.