Higgs
CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY, FULLERTON
COLLEGE OF BUSINESS AND ECONOMICS
DEPARTMENT OF FINANCE
Finance 335 FINANCIAL ANALYSIS FOR INVESTORS AND LENDERS
Spring 2008
Instructor: Laura Yue Liu
Office:
College Park Suite 1060-18
Office Hrs: Mon/Wed 1:20-2:20pm
Class Meets: Mon/Wed 2:30-3:45pm, CP120
Phone:
(714) 278-8426
E-mail:
yueliu@fullerton.edu
Course Description
This is a lecture-discussion course on the interpretation and use of financial statements for decision-making by equity investors and lenders. It emphasizes the role of financial accounting data in providing information about the underlying economic performance of the firm. It illustrates how the discretion provided by the Generally Accepted Accounting
Principles (GAAP) allows managers to manipulate financial data in order to report the firm’s performance in a way that is different from its true performance.
Course Objective
To provide the student with an understanding of what the firm’s financial statement accounts mean, and how managers can use GAAP to mislead investors and lenders about the firm’s current and future performance. Financial statements are constructed using estimates and assumptions that are typically not understood by those using them to better determine how well the firm is performing. This course will help the student understand what these assumptions are and how the flexibility provided by GAAP can affect the interpretation of financial statement accounts and make financial ratios meaningless. The goal is to help the student grasp how to interpret financial statements so that their economic significance can be separated from the accounting policies and the accounting tricks used by managers that hide the economic meaning of financial statement accounts.
Required Materials:
1. Understanding Financial Statements, Eighth Edition, by Fraser and Ormiston. Pearson
Prentice Hall (2006).
2. Access to Blackboard and a valid email account
All class
COLLEGE OF BUSINESS AND ECONOMICS
DEPARTMENT OF FINANCE
Finance 335 FINANCIAL ANALYSIS FOR INVESTORS AND LENDERS
Spring 2008
Instructor: Laura Yue Liu
Office:
College Park Suite 1060-18
Office Hrs: Mon/Wed 1:20-2:20pm
Class Meets: Mon/Wed 2:30-3:45pm, CP120
Phone:
(714) 278-8426
E-mail:
yueliu@fullerton.edu
Course Description
This is a lecture-discussion course on the interpretation and use of financial statements for decision-making by equity investors and lenders. It emphasizes the role of financial accounting data in providing information about the underlying economic performance of the firm. It illustrates how the discretion provided by the Generally Accepted Accounting
Principles (GAAP) allows managers to manipulate financial data in order to report the firm’s performance in a way that is different from its true performance.
Course Objective
To provide the student with an understanding of what the firm’s financial statement accounts mean, and how managers can use GAAP to mislead investors and lenders about the firm’s current and future performance. Financial statements are constructed using estimates and assumptions that are typically not understood by those using them to better determine how well the firm is performing. This course will help the student understand what these assumptions are and how the flexibility provided by GAAP can affect the interpretation of financial statement accounts and make financial ratios meaningless. The goal is to help the student grasp how to interpret financial statements so that their economic significance can be separated from the accounting policies and the accounting tricks used by managers that hide the economic meaning of financial statement accounts.
Required Materials:
1. Understanding Financial Statements, Eighth Edition, by Fraser and Ormiston. Pearson
Prentice Hall (2006).
2. Access to Blackboard and a valid email account
All class