Introduction: B8009 Financial Statement Analysis and Valuation

B8009 Financial Statement Analysis and Valuation is an elective offering for MBA and EMBA students at Columbia Business School. B6001 Financial Accounting is a prerequisite to B8009 Financial Statement Analysis and Valuation because this course draws upon a lot of the financial accounting concepts taught in B6001. In addition to B6001 this course also draws upon various concepts from corporate finance and strategy students have encountered in their core courses.

B8009 Financial Statement Analysis and Valuation is offered by the accounting department of Columbia Business School. This accounting course introduces students to the tools, theoretical concepts, and practical valuation issues of financial statement analysis.

Our graduate level accounting tutors and finance tutors can provide you one on one online tutoring for B8009 Financial Statement Analysis and Valuation and other similar courses at the Columbia Business School.

Target Audience B8009 Financial Statement Analysis and Valuation

B8009 Financial Statement Analysis and Valuation is highly recommended for anyone who is interested in investment banking, private equity, corporate finance, and management consulting. Anyone who may use financial statements to understand a business’s performance or valuation will benefit from taking B8009 Financial Statement Analysis and Valuation

B8009 Financial Statement Analysis and Valuation Course Objectives

The B8009 Financial Statement Analysis and Valuation course aims to give Columbia MBAs a graduate-level introduction to accounting as investors, owners, and operators of businesses. B8009 Financial Statement Analysis and Valuation covers vital accounting concepts and the accounting process involved in preparing financial statements. B8009 Financial Statement Analysis and Valuation focuses only on the three financial statements: balance sheet, income statement, and cash flow statement along with how they are produced and used.

Professor Kalash Jain who teaches B8009 Financial Statement Analysis and Valuation says that “by the end of the course, students should be comfortable using firms’ financial statements (along with other information) to assess firm performance and make reasonable valuation estimates”.

On the other hand, Prof. Valentin Dimitrov’s stated objective for this course is to teach students how to: 

  • use financial ratios to judge company performance,
  • evaluate the accounting quality of the company’s financial reports,
  • identify value relevant information in financial statements,
  • develop proper forecasts of the company’s financial statements and 
  • estimate the company’s fundamental value using peer multiples, the free cash flow model, and the residual income valuation model.

Remember that all professors have the freedom to meld the course to a large extent. 

B8009 Financial Statement Analysis and Valuation Course Structure

When Professor Kalash Jain teaches B8009 Financial Statement Analysis and Valuation, he first introduces a valuation framework that first identifies the firm’s strategy and then defines the firm’s value proposition and key value drivers and risks. Only after that do students delve into the accounting analysis which focuses on capturing the industry and business conditions. The accounting analysis is followed by financial analysis including evaluation of current accounting performance and financial ratio analysis. The last step is prospective analysis or forecasting of the firm’s business performance and valuation. This is what a typical investor or banker does in the real world.

Columbia Business School MBAs and EMBAs apply the above financial statement analysis process to different real world valuation settings such as Mergers, IPOs, and equity analyses.

B8009 Financial Statement Analysis and Valuation Teaching Format

The B8009 Financial Statement Analysis and Valuation course teaching format is mostly HBR case study-based. Some lectures are added in the early part of the course to teach foundational financial statement analysis frameworks and valuation concepts.

Learning for the bulk of the course is done through application assignments real-world case studies and publicly listed company’s 10ks. The final project designed to apply and practice the skills taught in the B8009 Financial Statement Analysis and Valuation course is a big part and accounts for 50% of the grade.

B8009 Financial Statement Analysis and Valuation Course Plan

A typical course plan looks like the following in the B8009 Financial Statement Analysis and Valuation course and Columbia Business School: Please note that every professor has the discretion to change the course plan.

  • Introduction Course Overview Accounting Lecture
  • Accounting Analysis Revenue Recognition Bausch & Lomb, Inc. (A)
  • Accounting Analysis Expensing versus Capitalizing PolyMedica Corporation Case 
  • Accounting Analysis Consolidation Boston Chicken, Inc.
  • Accounting Analysis Fair Value versus Historical Cost Land Securities Group Case 
  • Financial Analysis Financial Ratios Target Corporation: Ackman versus the Board
  • Financial Analysis Debt Covenants Home Depot, Inc. Case 
  • Financial Analysis Credit Rating Lecture
  • Prospective Analysis Forecasting (Stores) Krispy Kreme Doughnuts Case
  • Prospective Analysis Forecasting (mean reversion) Lecture – Dupont – Forecasting
  • Prospective Analysis Forecasting (commodities) Kevin McCarthy and Westlake – Forecasting Chemical Corp (A) – Forecasting
  • Prospective Analysis Forecasting (capacity) Kevin McCarthy and Westlake Chemical Corp (A) Case – Forecasting
  • Prospective Analysis Residual Income (RI) Model Lecture – RI/DCF – Valuation
  • Prospective Analysis Review Class and Project Lecture – Review – Valuation
  • Prospective Analysis Application of RI, PB, PE and Valuation Ratios – Restaurant Industry
  • Applications Plain Vanilla Valuation Ryanair Holdings plc
  • Applications Equity Analysis Pre-Paid Legal Service, Inc.
  • Applications M&A Schneider & Square D
  • Applications LBO Dollar General Case 
  • Applications Short Selling Lecture
  • Applications IPO & Tech Accounting for Virtual Goods at Zynga
  • Applications Unit Economics and Customer Lifetime Valuation
  • Summary Wrap-up Summary/Debrief
  • Final Project Company TBA Discussion and Presentations Final Project

B8009 Financial Statement Analysis and Valuation Faculty At Columbia Business School

B8009 Financial Statement Analysis and Valuation has been taught by several Columbia faculty members, including Thomas BourveauKalash JainBenjamin SegalSusan YoungValentin DimitrovValentin Dimitrov etc., in recent years.

Textbook for B8009 Financial Statement Analysis and Valuation

Some professors of the course B8009 Financial Statement Analysis and Valuation course use the textbook Financial Reporting, Financial Statement Analysis, and Valuation by Wahlen, J., S. Baginski, and M. Bradshaw. Others use no textbook for the B8009 Financial Statement Analysis and Valuation course. All professors have additional material posted on the course website, such as slides, articles, annual reports, etc.

If students want a text to dig deeper, students can use Valuation: Measuring and Managing the Value of Companies, by Tim Koller, Marc Goedhart and David Wessels

HBS case studies covered in class include Kevin McCarthy and Westlake – Forecasting Chemical Corp (A), Boston Chicken, Inc., Virtual Goods at Zynga, Ryanair Holdings plc, etc.

B8009 Financial Statement Analysis and Valuation Evaluation

The final exam in B8009 Financial Statement Analysis and Valuation tests your ability to read financial statements. You will be given an extract from the 10K that has the balance sheets, income statements, and cash flow statements as well as extracts from the Notes to the financial statements and asked a series of questions that tests your ability to read, understand and interpret the information given in an annual report/10K.

The final grades in B8009 Financial Statement Analysis and Valuation reflects the teaching goals with case write-ups accounting for 30%, final assignment 50% and class participation 20% of the final grade.

Tutoring for B8009 Financial Statement Analysis and Valuation at Columbia Business School

There are several tutoring options provided by the Columbia Business School administration that we have listed here. If you don’t find the assistance you are looking for our graduate level financial accounting tutors can assist you with tutoring for Financial Accounting B6001 at Columbia Business School or other accounting courses including managerial accounting. Email or call us, and we will happily set up a tutoring session.