Practical Oriented Analysis of Financial Statements

--- ### Course Overview The online course on Financial Statements has received an overall rating of 4.27 from recent reviews. The course appears to successfully cover the fundamental aspects of financial analysis, particularly for beginners, and is praised for its straightforward and comprehensive content. Here's a synthesized review of the course, broken down into its key strengths and areas for improvement. ### Pros: - **Comprehensive Coverage:** The course effectively covers all the essential details that beginners would hope to understand about financial statements, as noted by multiple reviewers. - **Good Examples:** The content is considered to provide a good overview, with examples that help learners grasp complex concepts better. - **Clear Explanations:** Reviewers appreciate the simple explanations and the way complex ideas are explained in a clear manner, making it easy to understand. - **Interest Building:** A few reviewers mention that the course creator did an excellent job of building interest throughout the course. - **Real-World Application:** The course helps learners understand why certain expenses are placed in profit and loss statements, liabilities and assets in balance sheets, and how depreciation impacts financial statements. - **Understanding Relationships:** Learners report a significant takeaway from understanding how different financial statements relate to one another and their importance. - **Eye Opener:** For some users, the course was an eye-opener regarding the interrelation of financial statements and the overall financial health of a company. - **Valuable Learning Resource:** The course is recommended by users who were not familiar with analyzing financial statements but found it to be a valuable learning resource after completing it. ### Cons: - **Delivery and Confidence Issues:** Some reviewers point out that the speaker's delivery lacks confidence, which can affect the overall effectiveness of the course. Notes seem to be read rather than spoken with authority, making the content less engaging. - **Pronunciation Concerns:** The pronunciation by the videomaker is flagged as unprofessional and may cause distraction or confusion for learners. - **Technical Issues:** Intermittent stopping of videos during playback was reported, which disrupts the learning experience. - **Need for More Real Scenarios:** There is a suggestion to incorporate more real-life scenarios, especially in areas such as depreciation, inventory, and cost of goods sold, to enhance the practical understanding of the concepts. - **Complex Concepts Elaboration:** Some users feel that certain complex concepts like cash flow could be made clearer with additional elaboration. - **Room for Improvement in Examples:** The example given in the CashFlow exercise is not fully understood and requires more detailed explanation, as one reviewer got lost after the third month. - **Accruals, Matching, and Prudence Concepts:** Some users recommend incorporating accounting principles such as accruals, matching, and prudence to give a deeper understanding of the financial statements. ### Final Thoughts In summary, this online course on Financial Statements is generally well-received for its educational content and clarity of explanation. It has been particularly beneficial for beginners and those seeking a basic overview of financial analysis. However, there are significant areas where improvement in delivery, technical issues, and the practical application of concepts would enhance the learning experience. With these improvements, the course has the potential to be an even more effective tool for those looking to understand the intricacies of financial statements and their implications.