Simplifying and Enhancing Financial Analysis in Cases and Simulations

In 20 years of teaching business policy courses and using total enterprise simulations, i have been continuously unimpressed with the ability of many business students to intelligently discuss and use financial data as contained in formal financial statements. Except for accounting and some finance majors, accounting and corporate finance courses seem to have been “take, endure, and forget” courses. While many of these students may have some knowledge of standard financial ratios, their use and interpretation of these measures seems alchemical. In requiring students to analyze and discuss financial data, i became frustrated to the point of deciding to take action. However, rather than rehash standard approaches to financial analysis, i have tried to develop a more common sense approach focusing on essentials but not getting buried in technical issues. This paper presents my approach to reviewing those essentials