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Description of  Financial Statements, Third Edition: A Step-by-Step Guide to Understanding and Creating Financial Reports

Thomas R. Ittelsons master work for entrepreneurs, non-financial managers, business students, lawyers, lenders, and investorsthe bestselling book of its kind, with over 200,000 copies in printhas gotten even better with this 20th anniversary edition. Ittelson is an expert at translating complicated financial topics in an accessible way for non-financial audiences. In this book, he empowers readers by clearly and simply demonstrating how the three major accounting statements interact to offer a snapshot of a company's financial health. This book teaches readers how to use specialized accounting vocabulary and makes accessible the structure and purpose of the three major numeric statements that describe a companys financial condition. Each statement paints a different and essential picturethe three-legged stool of company reporting: The income statement shows the manufacturing (or service offerings) and selling actions of the company that result in profit or loss during a period. It gives a very important perspective on the companys performance, its profitability. The cash flow statement details cash into and out of the company for a period. You need money to make money. Running out of cash is bad. Duh. The balance sheet records at the end of a period, an instant in time, what the company owns and what it owes, including the owners stake, called shareholders equity. With two new major topic sections (nonprofit organization accounting and pricing theory for profitability) and spot color reformatting to improve comprehension, this third edition of Financial Statements is simply the clearest and most comprehensive introduction to financial reporting available. No accounting background is required.