Accounting is the language of business, and as business lawyers it is essential to have an understanding of financial statements and what they say about a company. This presentation will introduce participants to the primary financial statements, with a focus on the balance sheet and income statement and related footnotes. In addition, the presentation will introduce some highly relevant financial ratios that lawyers can utilize as a part of a financial statement assessment, and find that they arise in context of financial covenants. 

This presentation includes:

• A primer on the balance sheet, its components, and what it says about the company
• A discussion of balance sheet driven financial ratios
• A primer on the income statement, its components, and what it says about the company
• A discussion of income statement driven financial ratios
• A primer on how the balance sheet and income statement fit together
• A discussion of the importance of and information that can be found in the footnotes
• An overview of the cash flows statement and statement in changes of stockholders’ equity