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Stage Fourteen
Reading Financial Statements
Playbook
Stage 14 · Act 6

Read the Statements.

A business has three financial statements: income, balance sheet, cash flow. Each answers a different question. None of them tells the whole story alone. Ten lessons that take you from the cascade of the income statement to the connections between all three — with fake-but-realistic statements you tap, fill in, and scan for red flags. Ends with a directory of every major regulator filing database so you can find the truth instead of the press release.

Lessons
10
Coins available
240
Badge
Statement-Fluent

Table of contents

Ten lessons. Ends with a global filing-source directory.
  1. 01

    The Three Statements at 10,000 Feet

    What each statement is for, and why no single one of them tells the whole story.

  2. 02

    Income Statement Structure

    From revenue to net income, line by line — what gets subtracted at each step, and why.

  3. 03

    Margins and What They Reveal

    Gross, operating, and net margin — three percentages that explain different parts of the business.

  4. 04

    Balance Sheet Structure

    Assets, liabilities, equity — the snapshot, organized by liquidity and time.

  5. 05

    Working Capital

    The short-term operating buffer — and what it tells you about how a business runs day-to-day.

  6. 06

    The Cash Flow Statement

    Three sections — operations, investing, financing — that together show actual cash movement.

  7. 07

    Free Cash Flow — The Number That Matters Most

    FCF = CFO − CapEx. The cash actually available to reward shareholders or pay down debt.

  8. 08

    Reading the Three Together

    The statements are connected. Items move from one to another in predictable ways.

  9. 09

    Red Flags: A/R, Inventory, FCF < Net Income

    Patterns that show up in the statements before the trouble shows up in the share price.

  10. 10

    Where to Find Financials Globally

    Every major market has a free, regulator-run filing database. You just have to know the names.

    Capstone
Ready?

Start with the map: three statements, three jobs.

Five minutes. By the end of Lesson 1 you'll know what each statement is for and why no single one of them is enough.

Start Lesson 1 →

Key terms

Plain-English definitions for every concept in this stage.