Build it.
Layer by layer.
Start with high-school math. Finish by defending a financial teardown.
72 lessons
Start with the business
The language of a business
Separate money, value, profit and cash. Make percentages work for you.
Every transaction has two sides
Build a balance sheet and learn why debits are not bad news.
Cash is a different clock
Recognize economic activity even when the payment happens later.
One business, three statements
Trace a transaction through profit, financial position and cash flow.
Follow the transactions
When does a sale become revenue?
Work through contracts, delivery, subscriptions and gross versus net.
The cost of making a sale
Follow inventory into cost of sales and distinguish cost from expense.
Pay now, use for years
Explore capex, depreciation, impairment and the economics of replacement.
The assets you cannot touch
Separate purchased technology, a brand and acquisition goodwill.
Read the performance
Borrowed money has a price
Connect interest, principal, leases, liquidity and refinancing risk.
Who owns the earnings?
Understand share capital, dilution, EPS, buybacks and comprehensive income.
Find the cash inside the profit
Reconcile accrual earnings to cash and unpack working capital.
EBIT, EBITDA and what gets left out
Build the earnings bridge and test the case for every adjustment.
Understand the reporting
One business, two rulebooks
Separate financial reporting from taxable income without conflating either with cash.
Taxes across time
Make deferred tax assets and liabilities intuitive, then test recoverability.
Read a public company
Navigate filings, notes, management commentary and the auditor’s report.
Compare like with like
Normalize periods, units, definitions and accounting frameworks before drawing conclusions.
Think like an analyst
From numbers to diagnosis
Connect margins, turnover, leverage and return on invested capital.
What makes growth profitable?
Explore contribution margin, break-even, operating leverage and customer economics.
Build a business forecast
Turn operating assumptions into a linked forecast with cash needs and downside cases.
Value is a claim on the future
Connect present value, enterprise value, cash flows and multiples.
Put it all together
When businesses combine
Understand control, consolidation, acquisition accounting and deal economics.
Take a business apart
Define a perimeter, allocate shared costs and build a credible standalone view.
Ask whether the earnings hold up
Challenge adjustments, cash conversion, estimates and the sustainability of performance.
The analyst’s desk
Investigate a complete fictional business and defend your conclusions.