Business Analysis Using Financial Statements
MIT Sloan School of Management's course teaches students to read and interpret corporate financial reports as tools for valuing and analyzing firms. Lessons connect economics, accounting, and finance concepts to real business news, examining why companies disclose certain information and how sophisticated analysts use it to assess performance and value. The course covers topics such as earnings quality, accrual accounting choices, ratio analysis, and valuation models built from balance sheet and income statement data. Materials available through MIT OpenCourseWare include lecture notes, problem sets, and case-based assignments drawn from actual corporate filings. The course is aimed at students who already have grounding in accounting and finance and want to apply that knowledge to practical firm valuation problems. No enrollment fee applies, and all materials are downloadable for self-paced study, consistent with MIT's open courseware model.