Sound investing : uncover fraud and protect your portfolio. Chapter 1, The financial pressure

Are there dangerous red flags in the financial statements you've been receiving? Do you know how to spot signs of trouble in the financial statements of firms you've invested your hard earned dollars in? Do you know what to look for? How to find it? What to do about it? This valuable knowledge could mean the difference between retiring with a healthy portfolio and suffering the devastating fallout of a scandal such as the Enron debacle. Sound Investing is your insurance policy against fraudulent financial reporting. Financial accounting expert Kate Mooney gives you clear, easy-to-follow direction on finding red flags in financial statements, as well as the steps to take to act on these warning signs and build a solid wall of protection around your investments. You'll discover how to: • Interpret the financial disclosures of public corporations • Uncover clues to fiddling on the balance sheet • Detect truth on the income statement and statement of stockholder's equity • Identify the ruse in notes to the financial statements • Evaluate evidence in the annual report and SEC filings This chapter comes from a book written by financial accounting expert Kate Mooney. Sound Investing provides you with the expertise to recognize signs of trouble or fraudulent reporting in a company’s financial statements. Using recent scandals as examples, it offers clear direction on locating specifics in financial statements as well as the notes, SEC filings, and the annual report that signal possible trouble and presents action steps to take when warning signs appear. Offers the expertise to recognize signs of trouble or fraudulent reporting in a company's financial statements. This guide to spotting red flags in financial statements uses scandals as examples. It offers direction on locating specifics in financial statements as well as the notes, SEC filings, and the annual report that signal possible trouble.