CFA Level 1: Analyzing Balance Sheets for Financial Analysts

Study Notes

The text is a detailed explanation of analyzing balance sheets in the context of the CFA program Level One, focusing on liquidity, profitability, and intangible assets.
It emphasizes the importance of understanding intangible assets like copyrights and Goodwill in evaluating a company's financial health and their impact on ratios.
Intangible assets like patents, licenses, and trademarks have no physical substance and must be identified for proper financial analysis.
There is a distinction between US GAAP and international accounting standards regarding the treatment of intangible assets, particularly in the research and development phases.
Intangible assets are capitalized on the balance sheet, similar to physical assets, and can be finite or indefinite life, impacting the calculation of operating cash flows.
Goodwill represents the excess purchase price of a company over its fair value and can be economic or accounting goodwill, requiring impairment assessment if necessary.
Financial instruments like equity securities, debt securities, and derivatives are essential for corporations, with different measurement methods like fair value or amortized cost.
Non-current liabilities, such as bank loans or bond issues, are recognized at fair value initially and amortized over time, impacting financial statements.
Differences in financial reporting for tax purposes, like accelerated depreciation for tax breaks, can lead to deferred tax liabilities that need to be accounted for in financial statements.
Understanding how to treat intangible assets, goodwill, financial instruments, and tax liabilities is crucial for financial analysts and test preparation in the CFA program.- Common size balance sheet is used for analytical purposes, not as an accounting requirement, to compare companies by turning their financial numbers into ratios.
Common size balance sheet helps evaluate liquidity by looking at percentages of assets like cash and cash equivalents.
Trend analysis on common size balance sheet ratios over years can show how companies are performing compared to each other.
Financial ratios like liquidity ratios (current ratio, cash ratio, quick ratio) measure a company's ability to meet short-term obligations such as accounts payable.
Solvency ratios, also known as leverage ratios, measure how quickly a company can turn its assets into cash to meet long-term obligations.
Total debt ratio, long-term debt to equity ratio, and financial leverage ratio are examples of solvency ratios that indicate a firm's debt levels in relative terms.
Analyzing specific financial ratios like the current ratio and total debt ratio over time can provide insights into a company's financial health, such as liquidity and debt financing reliance.

Description

Explore the importance of analyzing balance sheets in the CFA Level One program, focusing on liquidity, profitability, intangible assets like copyrights and Goodwill, financial instruments, and tax liabilities. Learn how to interpret common size balance sheets, evaluate liquidity through ratios, and analyze trends in financial ratios over time.