August 2000

Society Helps Reporters Interpret Financial Statements

By Wayne Whalen

The NYSSCPA recently sponsored two free seminars for current and aspiring business journalists on how to interpret and analyze financial statements.

Reporters from Forbes.com, The New York Post, and TheStreet.com learned how to read annual reports, analyze footnotes and management's discussion and analysis, and interpret financial ratios. The Society offers the annual two-part series each spring to foster media relations and provide a greater understanding of financial issues. The event is geared toward individuals who have been writing or broadcasting about accounting and financial matters for less than five years.

This year, participants in the Dow Jones newspaper fund, which assists students who have an active interest in financial journalism, also attended, including students from Baylor, Brown, Columbia, Princeton, Rutgers, and Yale universities.

Philip Wolitzer, a professor at Long Island University and member of the Society's General Committee on Public Relations, which organizes the seminars with the public relations department, taught the sessions.

For more information about the Society's media programs, contact Public Relations Manager Wayne Whalen at (212) 719-8342, (800) NYSSCPA (697-7272), or wwhalen@nysscpa.org.