Читать книгу Investment Banking For Dummies - Matthew Krantz - Страница 33

Accountants don’t like surprises. Some accountants may be startled if a pen they thought had blue ink turns out to be black. But although the predictability of accountants may be subject for good-natured ribbing at cocktail parties, that uniformity is essential in financial analysis.

To accurately compare and contrast companies in different industries — something investment bankers have to do frequently — the companies’ financials must be subject to the same ground rules. Accounting rules usually do a pretty good job aligning the financials of different companies. Generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) are a set of accounting standards that attempt to create a measure of performance that is somewhat comparable across industries.

But despite the value of GAAP, it’s up to investment bankers to take greater efforts to make sure that the financial results of companies are truly apples-to-apples comparisons.

In Chapter 17, you find out ways that investment bankers are able to modify and adjust the financial results of companies to make their results comparable. These techniques, as well as everything you read about in this book, all come into play when you try your hand at an investment banking analysis case study in Chapter 18.