Читать книгу Investment Banking For Dummies - Matthew Krantz - Страница 32

Financial statements can sometimes be the only things investment bankers can trust. Company management has a big incentive to puff their chests and try to act like their companies are performing better than they really are. And even investors can be misleading, aggravating for change at the company even if things are going fine.

Investment bankers must be extremely comfortable diving into the financial statements. These statements, which must adhere to strict rules and be overseen by independent accountants, may be the only unbiased pieces of information that investment bankers get.

But despite the value of financial statements to investment bankers, these documents, too, need to be looked at with at least an ounce — and at times pounds — of skepticism. Although it’s not common, executives at companies sometimes attempt to fudge the numbers to mislead investors or (gasp!) investment bankers. When a company’s performance is faltering, and investors are likely to be disappointed, some dishonest executives and accountants may decide to distort the financial results through liberal interpretations of accounting or outright fraud.

Individual investors, who may not take the time to read the financials, can often fall for such accounting gimmicks. But investment bankers are held to a much higher standard and are generally considered to be above the tricks. In Chapter 16, you find out some of the ways investment bankers can look for accounting sleight of hand in the financial statements and avoid getting duped.