The Secret Language of Financial Reports: The Back Stories That Can Enhance Your Investment Decisions

by Mark E. Haskins

Wise investors uncover a company's real story. The Secret Language of Financial Reports helps you read a company's annual report like a good book so you can make informed investment decisions. From reading the fine print to interpreting what isn't accounted for, this authoritative guide provides a road map for seeing past the complexity and jargon in company reports in order to understand what is and is not communicated there. Through numerous diagrams, insightful analogies, and real-world based examples, it deconstructs and explains the critical aspects of an annual report by revealing 14 underlying “secrets.” In The Secret Language of Financial Reports , Mark E. Haskins demystifies the process of creating annual reports in order for you to fully understand the main purposes, fundamental premises, basic content, embedded compromises, and inherent shortcomings of these documents. He offers detailed coverage

304 pages, Paperback

First published December 6, 2007

Reviews

[Cyril · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am a novice investor, and I was looking for just such a book to help decipher company financial reports. This book is very informative and allows one to interpret financial reports with some knowledge. It is not difficult to read, but, despite the author's best intentions, it is a dry subject. However, I believe that the intelligent investor would do well to go through a book like this prior to investing in the stocks of public companies - investing directly in stocks without understanding the financial status of a company is like throwing darts blindfolded.

[Francesca DB]

Grad school prerec #3

Nothing like an 8 hour Amtrak to expedite your reading about financial accounting! Though mostly new, not-necessarily-my-thing topics (if I HAD to choose, yea, I’d read a book about spider facts or a fiery novel instead of this), I appreciated all the places I’m starting to identify this could be useful to apply to social impact/nonprofits/educating others. Now it’s a somewhat outdated textbook (much has changed!), but it helped get me the basics. It is a little bonkers how much discretion determines financial statements with big impacts — FIFO or LIFO or depreciation or how you present your business to tax officials vs your potential investors…. Had a few thoughts related to Matthew Desmond’s Poverty, By America book, too. Good intro to these topics— We’ll see how it goes from here!

[Ron · Rating 3 out of 5]

Easier to read than a huge majority of corporate finance books with largely relevant information.