Accounting Question - Interviewing for entry level security analysis position

Very few people understand them intuitively and the 3 statements are not as standardized as people think. Heck even professional accountants chose to the terms "generally accepted" to describe the most standardized parts of their work in GAAP.

I don't think there is a shortcut. Everyone's brain learns differently and you may be able to make connections to other things you already know. I think the best answer is you're going to have to put in the hours to learn the advanced stuff step by step. One thing many ppl find helpful is to try building their own 3 statements in Excel a few times. Getting increasingly more complex.

Economics is a good foundation for accounting. In particular because "opportunity cost" comes from economics. If you understand that concept, and not many people get it, the idea that a cost is not only just something one actually pays cash money for but that costs can be more intangible too, then you are already familiar with the major reason the 3 statements exist....(economic costs and accounting costs! and how both types of costs change assets owned and taxes owed is how we got here).

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