Getting Under the Hood of an Annual Report

Trubook: Integrating Concepts In Biology

Winner of the 2017 eLit National Book Award

Getting Under the Hood
of an Annual Report

by Donald A. Bittar
© 2016 Trubooks: Digital Textbooks and Digital Learning Solutions

Textbook Level: Degree, Diploma & Certificate programs; Accounting, Finance, Business Management, Marketing
Audience: Business Schools, Entrepreneurs, Financial Advisers
Course Type: Project Based, 8 or 16 Week Semester

Everything you need to start teaching from day one!

✓ A complete digital learning solution.
✓ All videos, interactive learning, and course management tools are built into your textbook.
✓ At any time, you can customize and add your own content.
✓ Designed for minimal prep and easy teaching, so you can focus on what you love to do.
✓ Anywhere, anytime, on or offline.

❝ I was very impressed with the books and assignments, as were my students. Based on students’ feedback this was one of the most helpful and memorable projects from the class. ❞

Dr. Joshua Hernsberger, Asst Professor, Gordon Ford College of Business, Western Kentucky University
❝ The information provided in the instructional material makes it easy for the Instructor to prepare. ❞

Michael Winterhalter, Professor Business Management/Finance, Lanier Technical College

Used in leading business schools nationwide more »

Explore Getting Under the Hood of an Annual Report

Textbook Overview
Table of Contents
Trubooks Platform
Awards & Reviews
Meet the Author
Author Q & A

A step-by-step financial analysis coursebook

Getting Under the Hood of an Annual Report levels the playing field between the people who need to analyze a public company's annual report and the people who write annual reports. A variety of people with diverse interests read annual reports. Often, the people reading the annual report find it difficult to understand and intimidating. Generally, people reading an annual report are interested in either creating or maintaining a relationship with a public company. They might be prospective employees, creditors, vendors, or investors. They might also be people with a special interest in the company, such as stockbrokers, competitors or regulators. All of these people have a vital need to understand the past and present performance and operation of the public company. They also need a way to reasonably assess the future performance of the company.

Getting Under the Hood of an Annual Report - textbook cover

So easy to read, it engages and motivates students
This book helps people reading annual reports get the information they need to make more informed opinions about public companies. It gives them the tools to more effectively overcome the agendas of the people writing the annual reports. After reading this book, someone analyzing the annual report of a public company should better informed to buy, hold, or stay away from the public company.

Getting Under the Hood of an Annual Report comes with "The Big Calculating Tool", an Excel-based tool that walks you through the generation, analysis, and visual display of important financial ratios. Not only does The Big Calculating Tool crunch the numbers for you, it also displays the data with built-in line and bar charts. You will quickly see and identify the important financial trends.

Getting Under the Hood of an Annual Report features:

Student Learning Outcomes
Case Studies
Key Concepts
Review Questions

Your students will remember you for the powerful takeaways you gave them.



The Big Calculating Tool
an Excel-based tool that walks you through the generation, analysis, and visual display of important financial ratios. Not only does The Big Calculating Tool crunch the numbers for you, it also displays the data with built-in line and bar charts. You will quickly see and identify the important financial trends.



Trubooks can easily be tailored for a perfect fit.
Use the tools built into the Trubooks platform to customize Getting Under the Hood of an Annual Report, to meet the specific needs of your course, integrate other course curriculum, and keep it relevant to current events in the marketplace.



Sharing the good stuff...
You and your students get access to the same authoring and content management tools available to all our authors and publishing partners. The resources you create can be seamlessly integrated into your coursebook(s) as needed for the classes you teach. They can also be made available for you to share with your colleagues or to be adopted by educators around the world who are using Trubooks in their classroom.

Start small or go big. Let's get started »

(Request an evaluation copy to review the full Trubook)

Preface & Acknowledgements

Ch 1: Getting Started and Prepared
The SEC
The Annual Report to Stockholders
Choosing A Company
Reports You Will Need

Ch 2: The Basic Information
What You Want to Learn About Your Company and Why
Management Challenges and Success
Marketplace Issues

Ch 3: The Chairman and Management Speak
Analyzing the MD&A Items
Analyzing the Message to Stockholders
Corporate Transparency

Ch 4: Where are the Numbers
The Balance Sheet
Assets
Liabilities
Stockholder's Equity
Income Statement
Statement of Cash Flows
Statement of Stockholder's Equity
Notes to the Financial Statement

Ch 5: Looking Under the Hood of Your Annual Report
Industry and Competitor Ratios
How well can your company pay its bills
Is our company making money
How well is management performing
How much can your company borrow
How is the stock performing

Ch 6: Buy, Sell, Hold or Stay Away
Calculating the Altman Z-ScorePreface

Additional Resources
Print the Chapter Questions
The Big Calculating Tool (PDF Version)
Useful Links
Company Annual Reports (links to 130)
The Big Calculating Tool

Instructor's Materials (not included in student edition)

Downloadable Text Bank **NEW Material**
+ 120 fill in the blank questions and answers
+ 6 test banks of fill in the blank, T/F, and multiple choice

Power Point Presentations
+ Ch 1: Getting Started and Prepared
+ Ch 2: Basic Information
+ Ch 3: Chairman and Management Speaking
+ Ch 4a: Balance Sheet
+ Ch 4b: Income Statement
+ Ch 4c: Statement of Cash Flows
+ Ch 4d: Stockholders' Equity and Notes
+ Ch 5: Looking under the Hood of an Annual Report
+ Ch 6: Buy, Hold or Stay Away

Submission Feedback Guide for Instructors *NEW*

Pedagogical Approach and Teaching Methods

❝ I want to highly recommend you consider adopting his textbooks, 'A Good Business Plan is a Beautiful Thing' and 'Getting Under the Hood of an Annual Report.' Donald has an incredible ability to take very difficult, financial concepts and create an easy, simplistic, understandable approach to learning them. And he makes it enjoyable for the student. The information he provides in the instructional material makes it just as easy for the Instructor to prepare as well. I have used Donald’s material in the past and have found it to enhance the understanding of my students. Reviewing his material is well worth the time and effort. ❞

Paint a picture of how this textbook is used in the classroom.
(see: Center for Teaching: Pedagogies & Strategies)

Teacher Resources

+ Testbank
+ Power Point Presentations
+ Instructor Feedback Guide

Student Resources

+ Section Self-Assessments - ungraded review questions in each section
+ Useful Links
+ The Big Calculating Tool
+ Case Studies
+ Key Concepts

The flexibility of the Trubooks platform to enhance the learning experience

You and your students will have your own modern, cloud-based, easy-to-use Learning Management tools that come fully integrated with your Trubook textbook.

The Basics
+ Online access, on any browser, on any device
+ Offline access to content as needed with iPad app
+ Glossary definitions pop-up with a click
+ Highlight and annotate any text
+ Customize the textbook to your teaching needs
+ Quizzes and exams can be taken within the textbook
+ Assignments can be completed within or uploaded
+ Built-in gradebook linked to assignments & assessments
+ Self-Assessments are interactive, ungraded section review

Wherever it is possible you will have auto-grading and can set personalized auto-feedback! You will love how easy and efficient it is to manage even a class of 300 students.

Your students will appreciate getting your feedback to their assignments and assessments directly in the context of the content.

Question Pools & Assessments
+ Add to existing question pools or create your own
+ T/F, multiple choice, multiple answer, short and long answer
+ Develop new and even randomized assessments
+ Publish to class the moment you wish to make it available
+ Self-Assessments can be taken any number of times

Gradebook
+ Student profiles auto-populate on purchase/given access
+ Automatically tied to student submissions
+ Set grading weight for each assignment and assessment

You'll find it easy to adapt this book to fit your syllabus and your teaching style. Or, you can simply use it as it is.

Adapt to Fit
+ Keep everything you need in one place
+ Authoring tools allow you to create or add resources
+ Add your tried-and-true lessons and favorite assignments
+ Add content from other Trubooks, YouTube, etc.
+ Reorder/remove original textbook content segments
+ Add current event or local interest material anytime
+ all new content is automatically integrated with the LMS

Easy prep and readiness for this semester and the next.
+ Improve, modify, add to your course as you go or over time
+ Easily manage large or multiple classes of students
+ Easy management of all your teaching resources

New class, new semester
+ We clone your Trubook along with your customizations
+ You can relax

Sharing the good stuff...
+ Make resources you create available for others to adopt!

Learn more about the Trubooks platform . . .

Praise for the Book

Winner of the 2017 eLit National Book Award

FINANCE / INVESTMENT / ECONOMICS
Bronze: Getting Under the Hood of an Annual Report, Donald Bittar

❝ I want to highly recommend you consider adopting his textbooks, “A Good Business Plan is a Beautiful Thing” and “Getting Under the Hood of an Annual Report.” Donald has an incredible ability to take very difficult, financial concepts and create an easy, simplistic, understandable approach to learning them. And he makes it enjoyable for the student. The information he provides in the instructional material makes it just as easy for the Instructor to prepare as well. I have used Donald’s material in the past and have found it to enhance the understanding of my students. Reviewing his material is well worth the time and effort. ❞

Michael Winterhalter, Professor Business Management/Finance, Lanier Technical College

❝ Getting Under the Hood is an excellent handbook for being more effective making informed decisions whether to buy, sell or hold a stock. ❞

Mark Burnett, Managing Partner, Fuse Capital

❝ Donald Bittar’s book not only gets “under the hood”, but also helps the reader understand the plumbing of commerce – recommend the book to both novice and seasoned investors. ❞

Peter Stefanou, Managing Partner, RBSM LLP

❝ Lots of authors talk about financial analysis; Bittar’s book truly nails it. His book raises the bar for understanding how to get the most from a company’s annual report. ❞

John Conti, PMP, formerly at Pearson North America and McGraw Hill

❝ Donald Bittar has one mission with “A Good Business Plan is a Beautiful Thing”: to help you run a better business. By breaking the elements of business into simple sections, and systematizing the process of developing the business plan, Donald leads you to truly understand the underpinnings of the business, and find the weaknesses in your models and plans. While this book may seem to be written for students, it is well worth reading the text and exercises even if you’re an established business. It will help you identify new opportunities. ❞

R. Flynn, International and Key Accounts Sales Manager, Johnson Outdoors, Inc.

❝ I was very impressed with the books and assignments, as were my students. Based on students’ feedback this was one of the most helpful and memorable projects from the class. ❞

Dr. Joshua Hernsberger, Assistant Professor – Management, Gordon Ford College of Business, Western Kentucky University

❝ As a full time accounting consultant providing service to small mid cap companies the book has become an invaluable resource. The book takes the mystery out of an SEC annual report. It helps the reader tie accounting principles together in a way that’s easy to grasp. Bittar does a great job of explain the why’s of accounting and not just the numbers. ❞

Dean S Skupen, CPA (retired)

❝ As a nurse, taking business classes, I really liked Getting Under the Hood. The interactive glossary explained the technical terms as I was reading them. The videos and links made it easier to understand the concepts. It is better than a regular textbook. ❞

Joan VanDoren, Business School Student

❝ Getting under the Hood of an Annual Report” is an insightful and comprehensive guide that encompasses all of the fundamentals of an Annual Report. It is an essential tool for those seeking a basic understanding or a must needed refresher of the analytical information that drives the capital markets. It is delivered in simple terms, rather than jam-packed with overwhelming jargon. ❞

Richard G. Satin, Partner, Schnader Harrison Segal & Lewis LLP

❝ This well written book works to instruct stock market investors in the art of profitable investing. Donald Bittar provides scores of examples to make it easy to understand a company’s annual report. ❞

Joseph Fraumeni Jr., Entrepreneur,

Donald A. Bittar

CFO of a public company, Fortune 500 consultant and 2013 Teacher of the Year.

[email protected]
LinkedIn

For the past 30 years, Donald Bittar has helped companies as an officer, board member and consultant to prepare their annual report to shareholders. Presently he is the CFO and board member of First Choice HealthCare Solutions, a public company. He also teaches as an Adjunct Professor in the Graduate School of Business and was the online 2013 Teacher of the Year at the Bisk College of Business of Florida Institute of Technology.

Donald has continually operated DABittar and Associates, a management and technology consulting firm for public companies and banks. In previous years, Donald was also President and Chairman of Associated Mortgage of North America, Inc. and President and Chairman of Marine Telephone, Inc.

He has been a frequent speaker at the National Association of Mortgage Bankers, National Council of Savings Institutions, Council of Presidents, New England Bankers Association and the National Corporate Cash Managers Association. Mr. Bittar received an MBA from Long Island University in 1964 and is resident of Melbourne, Florida.

Q & A - discussions with the Author and Trubook Team...

Change is an opportunity, an opportunity to be outstanding. Let's get started »

x close

Trubooks FAQ

Q: Do students have to pay for the software in addition to purchasing the content?
A: No. Students pay only for content. The use of the platform by students is free.

Q: Where can I find more information about the experience for authors, teachers, and students using Trubooks?
A: An overview can be found at Why Trubooks? More in-depth tutorials for using the Trubooks platform can be found at our Support Portal http://www.trunity.net/support/.

Q: Can I embed assessments such as assignments and quizzes into my content?
A: Yes. The Trunity platform enables authors and instructors to create their own test questions, assignments, and other assessment material, and place them in the content where appropriate.

Q: I have substantial lecture notes and a lab manuals that I would like to provide for my class. Can I include it in the Trubook for my course?
A: Yes. You can include types educational content, regardless of its form This includes lecture notes, lab manuals, training manuals, and so on. You can interleave your added materials in the content sequence of the textbook

Q: Can students access content when they do not have access to the Web?
A: Yes, the Trunity Mobile app enables a student to download select content or a complete digital textbook for offline use.

Q: Can students make PDFs of articles or chapters on the Trunity platform?
A: No. Our platform does not support PDF downloads due to the inability to control the dissemination of content once such a download is made. The ability to share electronic PDFs, and to print/copy physical forms of a PDF, render it impossible to control the copyright and royalty rights of both author and publisher.

Q: I want to use material (text, images, graphs, videos, etc.) created by other parties in my content. How does that work?
A: Instructors must insure that they have permission to use all content in the work that they do not own the rights to, or that the use of copyrighted material constitutes “fair use.” The fair use doctrine in the United States allows--under certain circumstances--the use of copyrighted material without permission. Here is a concise summary of fair use: https://www.teachingcopyright.org. If you are feeling especially ambitous, you can refer directly to Title 17 of the United States Code that describes fair use in the nation’s copyright law: http://www.copyright.gov/title17/92chap1.html#107
There is a large and growing quantity of content on the Web that is rights-free, or available through other licenses that are low or zero cost. We work with authors to help identify these sources

Q: How long do students have access to the content they have purchased?
A: Higher education students have access for two calendar year from the date of purchase, while K-12 students have access for one calendar year. Longer access times can be arranged on request.

x close

Trubook FAQ

Q: Do students have to pay for the software in addition to purchasing the content?
A: No. Students pay only for content. The use of the platform by students is free

Q: Where can I find more information about the experience of authors, teachers, and students for using the Trunbooks?
A: An overview of Trubooks features and functionality can be found at Why Trubooks? For more in-depth tutorials, visit our Support Portal at http://www.trunity.net/support/

Q: Can I embed assessments such as assignments and quizzes into my content?
A: Yes. The Trunity platform enables authors and instructors to create their own test questions, assignments, and other assessment material, and place them in the content where they are most appropriate

Q: I have substantial lecture notes and a lab manuals that I would like to provide for my class. Can I include it in the Trubook for my course?
A: Yes. You can include types educational content, regardless of its form This includes lecture notes, lab manuals, training manuals, and so on. You can interleave your added materials in the content sequence of the textbook

Q: Can students access content when they do not have access to the Web?
A: Yes, the Trunity Mobile app enables a student to download select content or a complete digital textbook for offline use.

Q: Can students make PDFs of articles or chapters on the Trunity platform?
A: No. Our platform does not support PDF downloads due to the inability to control the dissemination of content once such a download is made. The ability to share electronic PDFs, and to print/copy physical forms of a PDF, render it impossible to control the copyright and royalty rights of both author and publisher.

Q: I want to use material (text, images, graphs, videos, etc.) created by other parties in my content. How does that work?
A: Instructors must insure that they have permission to use all content in the work that they do not own the rights to, or that the use of copyrighted material constitutes “fair use.” The fair use doctrine in the United States allows--under certain circumstances--the use of copyrighted material without permission. Here is a concise summary of fair use: https://www.teachingcopyright.org. If you are feeling especially ambitous, you can refer directly to Title 17 of the United States Code that describes fair use in the nation’s copyright law: http://www.copyright.gov/title17/92chap1.html#107
There is a large and growing quantity of content on the Web that is rights-free, or available through other licenses that are low or zero cost. We work with authors to help identify these sources

Q: How long do students have access to the content they have purchased?
A: In higher education students have access for one calendar year from the date of purchase. In the K-12, business, and other markets, access is variable and is determined on a case-by-case basis

Getting Under the Hood of an Annual Report
Originally published: 2013
Last updated: 2013
ISBN: 978-1-63097-006-2
Publisher: Trunity

Price per student*:
Higher Ed: $45
Bookstores: 5% discount
K12/AP: $29

*Price includes:
✓ all listed resources
✓ built-in LMS functionality
✓ powerful customization tools
✓ free instructor & TA access

This Trubook can be customized to fit your needs. You may select desired chapters and even combine with chapters from other Trubooks. The price is pro-rated based on content included in customized version. For more info, see our Trubook FAQ, or go straight to our Adoption Form.

Still have questions? Fill out the form below, or call us at 866-723-4114

Free digital evaluation copy

If you've received a pre-approval code, click here for instant access.

To request your free digital evaluation copy...

⒈ Simply fill out the form below. Evaluation copies are for educators only and are manually verified. To expedite the process, please use your .edu email.

⒉ We manually verify.

⒊ All set -- Look for email from [email protected]. We will send you a link to the evaluation copy with your username and password.

Note: This is an all digital textbook. All content can be taken offline with our mobile apps for tablets. The textbook offers highlighting and note-taking, as well as other learning management and social features.

Adopt for Your Class

Get up and running in 3 easy steps:

⒈ Fill out the form below with information about your course.

⒉ We will set up a custom instance of this book, specifically for our course. The book will contain the title of your course. It may take us a couple of business days.

⒊ All set -- Look for email from [email protected]. We will send you a link that you give to your students so they can buy their own personal access online. (If you have students that need to purchase from your school bookstore, we will provide the bookstore with student access codes. Please ask your bookstore to contact [email protected]).

evaluate adopt

Price

Eval Copy

Adopt