Interpreting Company Reports and Accounts

Preface 1 Company reports and accounts -- An Introduction 2 Financial reporting standards and principles 3 Forming a company 4 Admission to listing 5 Share capital and reserves 6 Loan capital 7 Intangible fixed assets 8 Tangible fixed assets 9 Fixed asset investments 10 Stocks and work in progress 11 Debtors 12 Current asset investments, cash at bank and in hand 13 Bank loans and overdrafts 14 Derivatives and other financial instruments 15 Creditors, provisions, contingent liabilities and contingent assets 16 Profit and loss account 17 Taxation 18 Profit after tax, dividends and earnings per share 19 Cash flow statements 20 Subsidiaries and group accounts 21 Acquisitions and mergers 22 Associates, joint ventures and related parties 23 Foreign exchange 24 Historical summaries, ratios and trends 25 Chairman's statement, operating and financial reviews and directors' report 26 Corporate governance and the auditors' report 27 Interim reports 28 Other sources of information 29 Inflation 30 Accounting practices -- cause for concern? 31 International accounting comparisons 32 Putting it all together 33 Developments in accounting Appendix 1 -- Current Financial Reporting Standards and Exposure Drafts Appendix 2 -- Present value Appendix 3 -- Retail Price Indices since 1950 Appendix 4 -- Problems and solutions Appendix 5 -- International Accounting Standards (IAS) and International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) Index