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PART III: TOOLS OF FINANCIAL ANALYSIS AND PLANNING

Link-sets

Altman Z-Score

IFRS and Convergence

• Accounting Coach. Excellent (FREE) online accounting resource. Learn accounting principles, debits and credits, financial ratios, breakeven point, improving profits, and more. Site's resources go a long way toward helping you become more financially literate.
  http://www.accountingcoach.com/
• AccountingSTUDY.com. Comprehensive source of study materials for accounting students.
  http://accountingstudy.com/
• Advanced Financial Statement Analysis. Very nice, multi-part tutorial provides a succinct -- yet advanced -- overview of financial statement analysis.
  http://www.investopedia.com/university/financialstatements/
• Altman Z-Score Web Sites
  1. The Insolvency Predictor Z-Score Page. Altman Z-Score calculator uses statistical techniques to predict a company's probability of failure.
     http://www.creditguru.com/CalcAltZ.shtml
  2. Z-Score Financial Analysis Tool. Courtesy of Wikipedia.
     http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Z-Score_Financial_Analysis_Tool
• AnnualReports.Com. Instant access to annual reports in their actual format.
  http://www.annualreports.com/
• Bean Counter. Accounting and bookkeeping tutorials plus learning sites.
  http://www.dwmbeancounter.com/ http://www.dwmbeancounter.com/
• Bean Counting 101: A Course in Accounting for Non-Accountants. A free accounting course consisting of five tutorial movies.
  http://www.a-systems.net/accounting.htm
• BizStats.com. Instant access to useful financial ratios, business statistics & benchmarks, effective and understandable online analysis of businesses & industries.
  http://www.bizstats.com/
• Corporate Information. Links to other sites that offer information about companies -- organized by country.
  http://www.corporateinformation.com/
• The DuPont Model. Nice article from CFO Magazine discusses the DuPont approach to ratio analysis to evaluate a firm's overall effectiveness.
  http://web.archive.org/web/20130904082948/http://www.cfo.com/article.cfm/2990236
• EBITDA: the Good, The Bad, and The Ugly. Nice article, courtesy of Investopedia.com, that defines EBITDA and discusses how it can be useful but also misleading. And, for more on EBITDA visit another Investopedia.com page.
  http://www.investopedia.com/articles/analyst/020602.asp
• "Even Without Fraud, Financial Statements Can Be Misleading." The Enron scandal may be viewed as "the neutron bomb of accounting," but even without fraud, financial statements can be misleading, says Professor James Van Horne. Pro forma earnings, abuses of revenue recognition, and even playing games with the calendar can make it difficult to get a true picture.
  http://www.gsb.stanford.edu/news/headlines/vanhorne.shtml
• Financial Accounting Standards Board.
  http://www.fasb.org
• Financial Shenanigans. Dr. Howard Schilit's excellent PowerPoint presentation of Seven Financial Shenanigans and how to detect them. Also, check out his testimony before the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), September 20, 2000 -- well before the Enron scandal.
  http://shookrun.com/documents/shenanigans_schilit.ppt
• FT.com -- Markets Data. Extensive markets and individual company data information service.
  http://markets.ft.com/markets/overview.asp
• Globeinvestor.com. Stocks, investing and financial news from a Canadian perspective.
  http://www.globeinvestor.com/
• Guide to Writing a Business Plan -- Tools, Examples, and Resources. Courtesy of "Discover Business" and written by Prof. Dennis Masino and Jackie Giuliano, Ph.D.
  http://www.discoverbusiness.us/business-plans/
• IAS Plus. Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu web site provides comprehensive information about international accounting standards.
  http://www.iasplus.com/index.htm
• IFAC - Global International Federation of Accountants (IFAC). Portal to Global Accountancy Knowledge, Resources, and News.
  https://www.ifac.org/knowledge-gateway
• IFRS and Convergence
  1. AICPA: IFRS Resources. Developed by the American Institute of CPAs, IFRS.com provides comprehensive resources for accounting professionals, auditors, financial managers and other users of financial statements.
     http://www.ifrs.com/
  2. Knowledge Guide to IAS/IFRS. Knowledge guide to International Accounting Standards (IAS) and International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS).
     http://www.icaew.com/en/library/subject-gateways/accounting-standards/knowledge-guide-to-international-accounting-standards
  3. Spotlight On: International Financial Reporting Standards Roadmap.
     http://www.sec.gov/spotlight/ifrsroadmap.htm
• IFACnet -- A KnowledgeNet for Accountants in Business. Search engine that yields results from more than a dozen Websites of accountancy organizations. Includes good practice guidance, explanatory articles, tools and techniques, and continuing professional development information.
  http://www.ifacnet.com/
• Investopedia.com: Footnotes. Nice article explaining how to pull out important nuggets of financial information from the footnotes to financial statements.
  http://www.investopedia.com/articles/02/050102.asp
• Investopedia.com: Fundamental Analysis Tutorial on Fundamental Analysis and Valuing a Company plus detailed explanations of key accounting terms. http://www.investopedia.com/university/fundamentalanalysis/
• Investodedia.com: Industry Handbook. Takes an in-depth look at different valuation techniques used in particular industries, various buzz words, does a 5-forces analysis on the state of the market, and points you in the direction of industry specific resources.
  http://www.investopedia.com/features/industryhandbook/
• Investopedia.com: Ratio Analysis. Tutorial on ratio analysis plus detailed descriptions of key ratios.
  http://www.investopedia.com/university/ratios/
• Liberated Stock Trader. Stock Market Education Website, specializing in Economic, Fundamental & Technical Analysis.
  http://www.liberatedstocktrader.com/
• PlanWare -- The Business Planning Site. Free business plan software, cash flow plans, and business planner.
  http://www.planware.org/
• Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB). Official web site of the PCAOB, which was created to establish and enforce auditing, independence, quality control and ethics standards for audits of public companies.
  http://www.pcaobus.org/
• Reuters: Business & Finance News. A rich source of business news and financial information. Go to their "Stocks" section and enter a company ticker symbol and you will find an estimate of a company's beta. A host of other information is available.
  http://www.reuters.com/finance
• SEC EDGAR Database. Corporate SEC filings from the Electronic Data Gathering, Analysis, and Retrieval database.
  https://www.sec.gov/edgar/searchedgar/webusers.htm
• SEC: Interactive Data Viewers. These viewers allow you use financial information that companies have provided to the SEC as interactive data in eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL).
  http://www.sec.gov/xbrl
• SEC Staff Accounting Bulletin: No. 101 -- Revenue Recognition in Financial Statements. Since a very large number of recent financial reporting frauds in the U.S. (and elswhere) involve overstating revenue, this SEC Bulletin seems especially relevant.
  http://www.sec.gov/interps/account/sab101.htm
• SEDAR Home Page. System for Electronic Document Analysis and Retrieval (SEDAR) makes Canadian public securities filings (and other company information) easily accessible to all. (Français)
  http://www.sedar.com/homepage_en.htm
  http://www.sedar.com/homepage_fr.htm
• Sources and Uses of Funds -- An Article About Excel. A nice article about how to create a Sources and Uses Statement in Excel.
  http://www.exceluser.com/solutions/sourcesuses1a.htm
• studyfinance.com. Visit this site's Overviews (Tutorials) related to Tools of Financial Analysis and Planning.
  http://www.studyfinance.com/
• Warren Buffett's Letters To Berkshire Hathaway Shareholders. The entire collection of Buffet's famously instructive letters to shareholders of his holding company.
  http://www.berkshirehathaway.com/letters/letters.html
• YCharts -- 500,000 Stock Charts, Stock Ratings and Economic Indicators. Visualize financial data through simple charts, which include free access to over 40,000 economic indicators, as well as 90+ metrics on all US Public stocks.
  http://ycharts.com/
• Zacks Investment Research. Find company information using their pull-down menu with company ticker symbol. Requesting a "PDF Snapshot" will get you a company's beta too.
  http://www.zacks.com/

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