CPAs Teach Reporters to Interpret Financial Statements

December 1998 Issue

CPAs Teach Reporters to Interpret Financial Statements

The NYSSCPA Cooperation with Financial Media Committee, chaired by Julie Floch, has created a series of customized seminars for Reuters America, a leading financial news service, to help reporters better interpret financial statements. The committee, which conducts both beginning and advanced sessions, recently presented "Understanding Financial Statements," a basic program for Reuters reporters new to the financial beat.

Led by committee member Francine Mellors, the session covered such topics as how to spot red flags in financial statements, interpreting annual report data, and making sense out of technical information in company news releases. Reuters provided samples of complicated financial information they receive, and Mellors taught journalists to interpret the data to improve their reporting.

The seminars are just one of several activities the Cooperation with Financial Media Committee conducts to improve the image of CPAs and strengthen relations between the accounting profession and the business press. The committee also presents the NYSSCPA Excellence in Financial Journalism Awards to print, broadcast, electronic, and wire service media. In addition, committee members serve as sources who respond to reporters' inquiries to the Society on a wide array of business and financial issues. *