The EDGAR Online Guide to Decoding Financial Statements: Tips, Tools, and Techniques for Becoming a Savvy Investor

If you are an accounting major, this is a must read! I also believe some professor will actually add to their curriculum requirement as an extra Text Book. Even for the everyday person, it is easy enough to read, and well worth the effort.

I bought the book after reading the other 5 star reviews.The author describes various items about financial statements. What's really missing is good comprehensive test cases - where he can walk us through applying what was being explained.It was way too much money for what is being offered. I learned much more from MorningStar Classic "The five rules of successful stock investing" for a fraction of price.

Great guide quick read

Straight forward explanation of financial ratios and warning signs to look for when investing. I liked the reality checks in Chapter 13, which is supported by a checklist that can be downloaded. While geared toward Edgar Online, a paid service, it can be used with other stock screeners, many of which were not even available when the book was written. Most of the book is still evergreen and useful even though it's 18 years old.

Decoding Financial Statements has a rare combination of wisdom, pertinent, interesting, real world examples, and tips/tricks that are not normally available to the retail investor. Any analyst, portfolio manager and individual investor will learn about a tremendous wealth of current and historical case study examples that illustrate how financial information (reports and press releases) drive stock market prices and valuations.The big bonus is that this book is NOT written by a CPA, but has a humorous, tongue-in-cheek tone. This makes it entertaining and informative, regardless of your level of knowledge or interest in financial statements, per se.

I am a corporate securities attorney in Los Angeles and a former CPA. I found this book to be the perfect guide for any business attorney, accountant or anyone involved in running a public company. The book is easy to read and understand and is well organized as a go to reference guide.