Financial reporting and analysis is of high significance in company running for its ability to describe the whole picture of the financial status, business performance and cash flow of companies. Its purpose is to evaluate operating performance in the past, measure current financial status and predict the trend in the future.
Professor Jacob Cohen, senior associate dean in MIT Sloan School of Management, just delivered a series of wonderful lectures on financial reporting and analysis this week. He combined theoretical principles and practical cases in his teaching, which made it easier for students to understand the role, the method, and the meaning of financial accounting. Professor Jacob Cohen highlighted four aspects: the corporate finance model of the firm; the financial accounting model of the firm; what is risk; and fundamental financial principles. He drew the framework of how to learn financial reporting and analysis, and illustrated how financial reporting and analysis worked in real companies. In the case of “THE RED-BEARED BARON”, he showed students how to calculate items in balance sheets, etc.
Students are deeply impressed by this lecture, for it really further their understanding on the methodology of financial reporting and analysis, as well as the way it were used in practice. The lecture also aroused students’ interests in learning accounting and financial analysis. Everyone believed that Professor Jacob Cohen’s teaching did provide invaluable insights for future study and career.
