For the past four Saturdays (July 29, August 5, 12 and 19), the Development Center for Finance successfully conducted its Financial Statement Analysis public seminar at the Cesar E.A. Virata School of Business, UP Diliman, Quezon City.

Day 1 was handled by Dr. Arthur Cayanan. The participants were given a roadmap on Financial Statement Analysis. This session focused on understanding the balance sheet and its elements: accounts receivable, inventories, investments in marketable securities, intangible assets, investment properties, property, plant and equipment and liabilities. A case was used to emphasize the topics discussed.

The foundations of Financial Statement Analysis were solidified on Day 2, where Professor Pamela Lloren discussed the equity portion of the balance sheet. She also discussed the income statement and the cash flow statement, with emphasis on the quality of earnings. Several exercises were given to illustrate the topics discussed and how financial statements are done.

On Day 3, Professor Diogenes Dy talked about the meat of the seminar, Financial Statement Analysis techniques. Common-size, trend and financial ratio analysis were covered with each technique being applied to a real company. Qualitative aspects and limitations of analyzing financial statements were also presented.

Finally on Day 4, Dr. Arthur Cayanan facilitated case workshops on four actual companies in the Philippines. The workshops helped the participants apply and appreciate what they learned throughout the seminar.

There were 21 participants and some of the feedback were as follows:

“I really appreciate the actual examples to further explain the topics.”

“Excellent session as this is precisely what I signed up for.”

“Pacing was excellent and the lecture was very insightful.”

“Great seminar! Learned a lot from it. Now I’m more confident in analyzing financial statements.”