Capitalizing on the success of all online seminars conducted in 2021 with a total participant count of three hundred and seven (307) across five (5) public seminars and two (2) workshops, the Development Center for Finance kickstarted its online public seminar offerings for 2022 with the Financial Statement Analysis webinar series. The Financial Statement Analysis seminar was attended by fifty-three (53) participants and was held on March 5, 12, 19, and 26 of the year 2022.

Prof. Diogenes Dy facilitated Day 1. Participants were given a roadmap on the entire Financial Statement Analysis seminar. The session proceeded to setting expectations and focused on understanding the asset and liability components of the statement of financial position. Theoretical concepts were further reinforced through illustrative examples and discussions of real-life applications.

Day 2 picked up on Day 1’s discussion of understanding the statement of financial position by covering the equity section of the aforementioned financial statement. After capping off the discussion on balance sheet, Sir Kevin Dela Cruz proceeded to explain the income statement with emphasis on quality of earnings, and finally culminating the session with a discussion on statement of cash flows. Illustrative exercises and corporate highlights were used to demonstrate how the various financial statements are prepared and how they are related to one another.

Financial statement analysis techniques were taught by Sir Lester Aratea on Day 3. Calculations of financial ratios such as profitability, efficiency, liquidity, solvency, and cash flow ratios were discussed and how such ratios are best used in the analysis of financial statements of companies. The theoretical concepts on ratio analysis were then applied to a real-life setting by calculating and interpreting the financial ratios of a subject company using its audited financial statements. Aside from quantitative analysis, qualitative analysis of financial statements was also covered.

On Day 4, Dr. Arthur Cayanan provided a comprehensive review of the three (3) previous sessions prior to the discussion of common-size and trend analyses, break-even analysis, and limitations of financial statement analysis. Dr. Arthur Cayanan guided participants through discussions of cases on three (3) listed corporations in the Philippines emphasizing on the use of financial statement analysis techniques, both qualitative and quantitative, in understanding financial statements and making inferences from analyses results.

Some of the feedback from the participants about the 4-day seminar were as follows:

“I learned a lot from the lecture as a non-accountant and the explanations were balanced for non-accountants and accountants alike. The teacher exhibited great knowledge of the subject matter. The whole day lecture did not bore me and did not make me sleep. It was interesting and interactive. Thank you.”

“I appreciate the level of discussion done. It’s friendly enough for beginners like me but we were still able to tackle some items at a deeper level. Looking forward to attending more seminars like this :)”

“The speaker did a great job of using real-life examples in contextualizing the analysis process and how that translates to influencing business decisions – knowing how to compute for figures is one thing but being able to interpret what the numbers suggest is what I expected to get from this webinar series. So far so good, pacing is just right, and all questions are answered completely. The team responded adequately and made us participants feel like our comments/questions were not stupid nor abstract nor easy enough already to be answered with common sense which I appreciate.”

“The professor conveys his message direct to the point. He is knowledgeable about the topic and can relate it to real life experiences. I like his style of lecturing. I enjoyed the cases I’ve learned a lot.”