We train investment professionals. Hundreds of equity and credit analysts and portfolio managers have taken our Forensic Accounting course. Our service is unique in that our courses are created and delivered by practitioners. We have decades of experience on the buy-side so we understand your needs. We also do bespoke research.
Our Forensic Accounting Course is designed to help investment analysts detect earnings manipulation. It focuses on creative accounting rather than conducting detailed forensic analysis but we explain the tools short sellers employ to detect fraud and some of the techniques we used at hedge funds to identify short opportunities. The course has some 200 real life examples of tricks and several in-depth case studies. Delivered by a veteran analyst with 30+ years of experience, it also draws on a number of relevant academic studies.
This course was developed for one of the largest investment institutions in the world, a multi-trillion household name. We explain in detail our tips and tricks to build an accurate and rolling enterprise value, and then review different valuation methodologies, from DCF, through sum of the parts and football field analyses to LTV/CAC based methods. We conclude with a series of case studies examining the valuation of individual stocks.
Many investors ignore the financials sector as they view financial companies as a black box. But the sector is a large one and presents an opportunity. This course equips participants with the tools necessary to understand the bank sector deeply, guides them in what to look for when analysing a bank and addresses topical issues through the use of case studies.
Investors will leave with confidence that they can pick up a bank’s financial report or speak to a bank CFO and extract what they need to form an investment opinion.
We have a unique training philosophy and are one of few training firms to specialise in the investment field. The advantages of using us to train your team are:
training delivered by practitioners who understand the problems faced by fund managers and analysts and have experience to call on
“no bull” content – theory is kept to a minimum; we teach using real-life examples (some of which are current and actionable)
every course is bespoke – we consult with you first to understand your needs, before course construction
massive knowledge bank – we have over 3000 course slides and hundreds of pages of online content with hours and hours of video
our content is second to none – each course takes many man-weeks of preparation by highly experienced analysts and is continuously updated
that content is backed by decades of experience – you can learn from our past mistakes.
Don’t take our word for it – below are a sample of our clients and here are just a few of the testimonials from delighted front office participants. To learn more, visit the individual course pages above, or email us at info@behindthebalancesheet.com to arrange a call to discuss your requirements. We are happy to create courses for corporates or non-profits also.
In addition to training, we also provide various consulting services.
We offer a range of services to corporates, from competitor and industry analyses (including unquoted players), to management information for executive and non-executive directors and valuation services. Our rigorous analysis is informed, independent, and impartial.
Our only interest is in offering unbiased, impartial and honest advice. We have no incentive to advise you to engage in a transaction, whether it’s a float a takeover or a buyback – we shall give you impartial advice.
Our analysis is rigorous and the output simple: We take pride in doing detailed work, but producing output that is easy to assimilate. Examples of the sort of work in which we engage include Industry studies, competitor financial analysis, management information for executives, independent information for non-executive directors, company valuations and simplified accounts data for employee communications.
There are 3 common themes across the above
We specialise in difficult and complex financial analysis, and are most commonly asked to produce forensic accounting analyses of quoted companies and valuations of unquoted companies.
Our core analytical expertise lies in the B2B space, and we have the longest experience in UK and US stocks. We also have extensive experience in Asia and consumer sectors. We have zero knowledge and understanding of sectors like banks, insurance and pharmaceuticals, but use an affiliate network of analysts with an average of 25 years’ experience in these sectors.
The main concerns for institutional clients when appointing someone to do bespoke research for them are will the work be of the right quality and how much will it cost?
Clients are always reassured about quality when they see our experience and past work. On costs, the nature of investment research means that it’s sometimes difficult to predict precisely how long a piece of work may take. We therefore agree a set of milestones with clients at the outset, with agreed deliverables. The client can then decide how much, if any additional due diligence is required on any issue which may emerge from the research. If an issue requires further verification, we immediately report on this, and the client can authorise additional work if they feel it is necessary.
Our other model is to produce bespoke research for a client and once it has been digested and acted on, to publish it for a wider audience. Our first such publication is a Forensic Accounting Report on 5 Chinese Internet stocks.
This report reviews the financial statements of 5 Chinese internet stocks on 15 accounting issues. It flags where the companies have manipulated the presentation of their performance.
The stocks are:
Alibaba
Baidu
JD.com
Meituan Dianping
Tencent
A separate report on Alibaba only is also available
