For courses in Financial Accounting, Financial Reporting, Financial Statement Analysis, Introduction to Business, or MBA finance courses. Understanding the Corporate Annual Report: Nuts, Bolts, and A Few Loose Screws provides a clearly written, step-by-step guide to understanding corporate annual reports. Authors Fraser and Ormiston instruct readers on how to ignore the PR letters from the corporate management team, engaging graphics, and other "garnishes" that typically accompany current annual reports in order to focus on what really counts--a company's performance and financial health! Throughout the text, the authors examine management's attempts to manipulate earnings and other performance measures, and they explain what the numbers in the report really mean.

Annual corporate reports provide a window into a company?s strategy for future growth; however, many financial managers as well as the investing public focus exclusively on corporate earnings and fail to understand all the factors that comprise the earnings computation. Understanding Corporate Annual Reports explains the regulatory environment surrounding annual reports, providing a detailed review of how to read reports correctly. Using Home Depot?s annual report as the primary example, Brian Stanko and Thomas Zeller?s easy-to-use guide examines a variety of types of financial reports, addressing both SEC and FASB regulations. Understanding Corporate Annual Reports allows readers to appreciate the complete implications of a corporate annual report.