How to Read an Annual Report – For Beginners (Case Study)

How to read an annual report? It sounds like a daunting task for many, especially if you have little or no experience with financial vocabulary and financial analysis. This course encourages you to pick up an annual report, of the company you work for, a company you have invested in, or any other company that you would like to learn more about. We go through an approach to reading the annual report, how to balance your focus between the numbers and the narrative, what each of the financial statements (income statement, balance sheet, and cash flow statement) is telling you, what the key financial acronyms mean and why they are important, how to analyze the information in the annual report, and how to dig in deeper and deeper to uncover what you are looking for in the annual report.

This course provides you with the concepts and context to get started on your journey of reading and understanding an annual report, and shows you in detail (through an insightful case study of the financial statements of Alphabet Inc (Google’s parent company)) what the key financial terms mean and how to analyze them.

Upon finishing this foundational course on how to read an annual report, you can expand your financial analysis skills by taking the related comprehensive courses by the same instructor: “Preparing and Understanding a Cash Flow Statement” and “Balance Sheet Tour”.