KCQ – Chapter 4

Analysing Financial Statements

I felt a little bit overwhelmed looking at the number of pages on this chapter. I still don’t really know if I write my KCQs right and sometimes when I read the chapters I forget to write down my questions. I feel like Martin writes so fluently and clearly; I sometimes feel like I can’t even think of a question to ask. I found this with Chapter 4 as well, it was very easy to digest and although initially the chapter was very confronting with the number of pages in it, I felt at ease when I started reading.

This unit has been one of the first units where I have been able to read text and not second guess myself and re-read it multiple times. I guess that’s the perks of having this study guide and not a textbook or journal article full of sophisticated language. I find with peer reviewed journal articles and textbooks in other units I’m constantly searching what certain words mean or rereading a piece of text multiple times and fully understand it, but Martin writes in such a way that is almost like reading a story. The way Martin explained analysing financial statements I feel more confident doing it in my assignment.

What I found quite interesting in this chapter was how equity investments are essentially created to be able to predict the future. I also found this segment of the chapter easy to read as well as I initially thought it would be a difficult thing to wrap my head around. I often times read the title and think… what the hell is that? But the way that it was put together since it made the information easier to digest.

Reading further along the chapter I came across “how firms add value” and this is where I got really confused. I saw a lot of terms in brackets and symbols that I am unfamiliar with. I done the basic “Math A” in high school. It was still OP math, but it was certainly not the top tier scientific math that all the smart kids done at school. So, I immediately felt a little bit pressured and anxious about how well I will do in the unit if I am required to know stuff from high school that I actually never done. Thankfully though, these new terms I found were not as hard as what I assumed, they would be to wrap my head around.

When reading about 4.1 View of a firm: operating and financial activities I was really impressed as I picked it up really easily. I find I am more of a visual learner than I am verbal or in writing. The table I found was easier to understand then others and the text was really straight forward.

Another thing I really appreciated was Martin using the Ryman Health Care financial statements in the chapter since it will come in super handy when I go to do my restated financial statements in my assignments. I have been told by some friends that I work with who have completed this unit before that it is not an overly complicated step but the Ryman Health Care financials will still be very valuable for me as it is something I can refer to.

I felt joyed to be at the end of this chapter as it was quite a long one, but I can say that I am really glad that I read it all the way through because I am feeling way more confident going into the next step of my assignment as it has given me so much more of an understanding on analysing my firms financial statements. There was a lot of information to absorb but by the end of the chapter I did not find it as confronting and overwhelmed as I thought I would at the start of the chapter.