Accounting Basics
(Senior Monkey, 70
Points)
on 1/2/13 at 10:48pm
For a Junior at a top target with no banking experience and high GPA, what's the best way to prep for the accounting portion of the interviews? I have a decent understanding of valuation ( read Rosenbaum cover to cover), but know nothing about accounting, how financial statements relate, etc.
Standard accounting books don't look at things from an IBD perspective. Is there a good guide out there to clearly and succinctly teach this?





how do you understand
how do you understand valuation if you don't understand accounting? valuation is based on the financial statements..
Yeah... I can really only
Yeah... I can really only answer this by telling you to take introductory accounting courses. What is your major that allowed you to get so far without knowing something this basic? I'm seriously curious, sorry if I sound condescending.
If I had to guess, it would
If I had to guess, it would be because OP isn't in an econ(ish) major. Given the fact that he's at a top target (Harvard/Princeton etc), his/her school probably doesn't even offer many accounting courses (if at all). I'm in the same position - I've taken zero accounting/valuation/corp. finance courses. If you're at a top target, BB's don't really care if you've never done accounting/finance as long as you know your basic technicals, demonstrate interest in banking, and have a good GPA.
dollas
kidflash: how do you
how do you understand valuation if you don't understand accounting? valuation is based on the financial statements..
Thought so as well. You already should have some basic accounting knowledge if you read Rosenbaum from cover to cover. With this knowledge it should be easy to read the accounting part on macabacus.
BicBicBicBoi: I can multiply
I can multiply and divide, but I have no knowledge of what numbers are. Is there a good guide out there to clearly and succinctly teach this?
What?