Course Catalog

Fall 2008

B7110-001: Financial Statement Analysis and Valuation

2009ABCD & Global 2009, Menu D

Instructor: stephen penman

Prerequisite(s): B6013

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This course helps students understand how firms communicate through financial statements. They learn how to

  • use financial statement analysis as an integral part of the strategic analysis of firms
  • interpret financial statements, analyze cash flows, make judgments about earnings quality and uncover hidden assets and liabilities
  • apply financial statement analysis prospectively to forecast and value firms by applying modern accounting-based technologies

Students are also exposed to the latest academic research on fundamental analysis. The course has a very practical emphasis, with a wide variety of cases, in-class exercises and a group project, all involving comprehensive analyses of publicly traded companies.

Stephen Penman

Stephen Penman

George O. May Professor of Accounting

Stephen H. Penman is the George O. May Professor and the Morgan Stanley Research Scholar in the Graduate School of Business, Columbia University. Prior to his appointment at Columbia in 1999 he was the L.H. Penney Professor in the Walter A. Haas School of Business at the University of California at Berkeley. From 1990-95 he served as Chairman of the Professional Accounting Program and Chairman of the Accounting Faculty at Berkeley where he initiated and chaired the Haas School's Annual Conference on Financial Reporting. He has served as a Visiting Professor at Columbia University and the London Business School, and as the Jan Wallander Visiting Professor at the Stockholm School of Economics.

Professor Penman received a first-class honors degree in Commerce from the University of Queensland, Australia, and M.B.A. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Chicago. His research is concerned with the valuation of equity and the role of accounting information in security analysis. He has published widely in finance and accounting journals and has conducted seminars on fundamental analysis and equity evaluation for academic and professional audiences. In 1991, he was awarded the notable Contribution to Accounting Literature Award by the American Accounting Association and the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, and in 2002 was awarded the American Accounting Association and Deloitte & Touche Wildman Medal for his book, Financial Statement Analysis and Security Valuation, published by McGraw-Hill/Irwin. He is managing editor of the Review of Accounting Studies and is on the editorial board of the Schmalenbach Business Review. In 2009, Professor Penman was awarded an Honorary Doctorate by the Stockholm School of Economics at the School centenary celebration ceremony, which took place in Stockholm Cathedral in the presence of the King and Queen of Sweden.

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