Thursday, May 7, 2015

The details of reading a financial report for Marketers



Why is this Subject Important to Us?  Before we jump into the details of the financial reporting world, let’s pause for a second to think about why financial reporting would be an important subject for us, as marketers, to understand.

Companies use these types of financial statements to show their owners and shareholders how well the company is being managed.  These are primary print and online communication vehicles to ensure the regulators (most importantly for the SEC documents), shareholders and analysts understand the performance of the company

Secondly, by understanding the performance of your company/client’s company you are better prepared to participate in meaningful business generation discussions.  Using this approach, it is not uncommon to actually know more about partner’s financial performance that they do!  As you can imagine, this takes tact and discretion in applying to avoid alienating your client.


This ability to discuss the financial performance of a company aids in your getting a “seat at the table.”  By demonstrating either internally to your leadership, or externally to your client base, that you have a solid foundational understand of the basic of the language of finance, you will become a welcome invitee and participant at the management table.

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