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2025/2026  KAN-CGMAI3001U  Financial Statement Analysis

English Title
Financial Statement Analysis

Course information
Language English
Course ECTS 7.5 ECTS
Type Elective
Level Full Degree Master
Duration Summer
Start time of the course Summer
Timetable Course schedule will be posted at calendar.cbs.dk
Min. participants 30
Max. participants 60
Study board
Study Board for Governance, Law, Accounting & Management Analytics
Programme Master of Science (MSc) in Economics and Business Administration - General Management and Analytics (GMA)
Course coordinator
  • Morten Seitz - Department of Accounting (AA)
For academic questions related to the course, please contact course responsible Morten Seitz (mse.acc@cbs.dk).
Main academic disciplines
  • Finance
  • Accounting
Teaching methods
  • Face-to-face teaching
Last updated on 03/11/2025

Relevant links
Learning objectives
To achieve the grade 12, students should meet the following learning objectives with no or only minor mistakes or errors:
  • Understand the accounting mechanics behind financial reporting
  • Analyse a firm's profitability and growth
  • Prepare a budget as a basis for company valuation, and evaluate the realism of the budget
  • Estimate a company’s cost of capital
  • Be able to implement valuation of a company using techniques and tools covered during the course
  • Understand the benefits and limitations of those models and differentiate between them
  • Understand financial reporting incentives and accounting quality
Course prerequisites
Completed Bachelor degree or equivalent.
Previous classes in Accounting and/or Finance at the bachelor level is a plus.
Examination
Financial Statement Analysis:
Exam ECTS 7.5
Examination form Written sit-in exam on CBS' computers
Individual or group exam Individual exam
Assignment type Written assignment
Duration 4 hours
Grading scale 7-point grading scale
Examiner(s) One internal examiner
Exam period Summer, Exam schedules available on https:/​/​www.cbs.dk/​uddannelse/​international-summer-university-programme-isup/​courses-and-exams
Aids Limited aids, see the list below:
The student is allowed to bring
  • USB key for uploading of notes, books and compendiums in a non-executable format (no applications, application fragments, IT tools etc.)
  • Any calculator
  • In Paper format: Books (including translation dictionaries), compendiums and notes
The student will have access to
  • Advanced IT application package
  • The personal drive (S-drive) on CBS´ network
Make-up exam/re-exam
Same examination form as the ordinary exam
The number of registered candidates for the make-up examination/re-take examination may warrant that it most appropriately be held as an oral examination. The programme office will inform the students if the make-up examination/re-take examination instead is held as an oral examination including a second examiner or external examiner.
n/a
Description of the exam procedure

The final exam will consist of a mix of different types of questions, which may include case questions, open questions and true/false questions.
Course content, structure and pedagogical approach
Course content:
This course will provide students with the skills to successfully evaluate firm's financial statements and determine its value. Students will learn about various aspects of constructing and analyzing financial statements. The aim is to provide students with fundamentals of effective financial analysis and firm valuation.
 
Course structure: 
Precourse activity: The precourse activity will feature a reading package and a quiz designed to refresh the students' basic understanding of financial statements. 
 
 
Research-based teaching
CBS’ programmes and teaching are research-based. The following types of research-based knowledge and research-like activities are included in this course:
Research-based knowledge
  • Classic and basic theory
  • Teacher’s own research
  • Models
  • Recent insights from empirical research
Research-like activities
  • Analysis
  • Discussion, critical reflection, modelling
Description of the teaching methods
Teaching is done as a blend of lectures and exercises. Part of the lectures will be characterized as active dialogue with students.
A case company will be used througout the course to give students the opportunity to apply the material covered in lectures.
Feedback during the teaching period
The dialogue-based teaching format ensures feedback during class.
Students will have access to Canvas quizzes providing immediate feedback.
Students will also have the opportunity to receive ongoing feedback on assignments they have solved at home (in plenary).

A previous exam and discussion of answers will be covered in class.
Student workload
Precourse activity 20 hours
Classroom attendance 30 hours
Preparation 129 hours
Feedback activity 7 hours
Examination 20 hours
Further Information

3-week course cannot be combined with any other course.

 

Precourse activity: 

About end of May, before the start of the course, students will receive concrete information about the pre-course activity, which requires students to start reading the following pre-term textbook:
Tracy and Tracy. 2024. How to Read a Financial Report: Wringing Vital Signs Out of the Numbers. Wiley (8. Edition or more recent editions only authored by Tage Tracy).

 

In addition, students will solve an ungraded Canvas quizz based on this material. Students are expected to spend about 20 hours on this pre-course activity. The material covered in this pre-course activity will be relevant for the final exam.
Expected literature

Newest version of:

Thomas Plenborg and Finn Kinsedal. Financial Statement Analysis. Fagbokforlaget.

 
Last updated on 03/11/2025