"The corporate annual report provides the key to understanding how a company's performance has improved or declined, how its strategic initiatives match its financial condition, and whether or not it has the resources to move forward and be successful. Yet many students, investors, and even professional analysts lack the necessary tools to decipher corporate reports and accurately interpret a company's fiscal outlook. Understanding Corporate Annual Reports teaches report readers how to make sense of the fine print, empowering investors and those who advise them to make informed and effective investment decisions. Authors Brian Stanko and Thomas Zeller discuss not only what appears in a typical corporate annual report but also explain its significance, analyze its substance in the context of the company's strategic initiatives, and then consider how this company is performing relative to its competition. They approach the subject from both a user's and preparer's perspective.

Readers will gain a strategic framework for first understanding how the annual report serves as a tool for analyzing past performance and second, for critically examining the connection between corporate strategy and financial resources." "The book begins by explaining the importance of corporate annual reports and dissecting the crisis of confidence in corporate reporting that has recently emerged. The authors then introduce the annual report structure and discuss the significance of each component. Chapters 3 to 5 discuss the balance sheet, statement of earnings, and statement of cash flows, while chapter 6 is devoted to the statement of change in stockholders' equity and notes accompanying the financial statements. The remaining two chapters are devoted to financial statement analysis and emerging issues in financial reporting. The authors take The Home Depot's annual report as an instructive case study, providing readers with a detailed look at their methods of analysis in action.

Understanding Corporate Annual Reports provides managers and investors the tools they need to effectively gauge corporate performance. Book jacket."--Jacket.