COURSE NUMBER: MBA223.1

 

This course is cross-listed with the EWMBA Program.

 

COURSE TITLE: Corporate Financial Reporting

 

UNITS OF CREDIT: 3 units

 

INSTRUCTOR: Alastair Lawrence

 

E-MAIL ADDRESS: lawrence@haas.berkeley.edu

 

CLASS WEB PAGE LOCATION: http://bspace.berkeley.edu

 

MEETING DAY(S)/TIME: Monday, 6:00 – 9:30 PM

 

PREREQUISITE(S): MBA202

 

CLASS FORMAT: Weekly real-time cases of publicly-listed companies with related lecture.

 

REQUIRED READINGS: Current Form 10-Ks, Form 10-Qs, Form S-1s, and Form UPLOADs of publicly-listed companies used for real-time cases, and assigned professional readings. All students will receive FACTSET accounts and one week of class time will be dedicated to using and learning FACTSET. No textbook is required.

 

BASIS FOR FINAL GRADE: Class participation, presentations, term project, and open-book final exam.

 

ABSTRACT OF COURSE’S CONTENT AND OBJECTIVES:

 

Are you proficient in going through and extracting relevant information from Form 10-Ks, 10-Qs, or S-1s, or are you like most people in business who get lost in these documents? Moreover, do you understand how companies use the flexibility in accounting rules to meet earnings and revenue targets, and are you able to gleam important information from the endless pages of financial statement footnotes? If not, you should seriously consider taking Corporate Financial Reporting before you leave Haas.

 

In this course, we will use weekly real-time cases (written by the professor and the GSI) and an appreciation of relevant advanced accounting standards to develop your skills of how to effectively wade through the more complicated sections of 10-Ks, 10-Qs, S-1s and SEC comment letters (Form UPLOADs). You will learn the subjectivity inherent in applying accounting standards, and appreciate why a very strong understanding of accounting is essential when assessing financial performance. While not required or expected, as our real-time analyses often have valuation implications, an added plus of the real-time case format is that students often choose to trade on our discussions and analyses.

 

The course will benefit those who will be analyzing or preparing financial statements as they pursue careers in investment banking, investment management, business development, venture capital, as well as those in general management/consulting and those just looking to gain financial expertise for personal investments. It should be highlighted that there is little to no overlap with Financial Information Analysis (FIA), and that this course develops skills that support informed valuation. The skills developed in this class will also overlap with some of those required by the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) program.

 

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH: Prior to academics, Alastair worked for BDO and Ernst and Young LLP specializing in financial reporting for the high-tech and financial industries. His current research focuses on various corporate financial reporting issues and how investors and the markets use and price financial reporting information. Alastair encourages those who have questions about the course to stop by his office (F492) as he would be happy to answer those questions