Business and Mergers & Acquisition Resources

A class in financial analysis and/or accounting can be very useful for lawyers. The bar association also offers accounting CLEs for lawyers, which will give you the basics as well as getting you CLE credit.

The library has a selection of accounting for lawyers books at call number HF5686 .L35.

Also useful are websites such as investopedia.com and wikipedia.org.

Financial Statement Analysis and Business Valuation for the Practical Lawyer, 2d ed. by Robert B. Dickie, ABA Publishing (Available on Bloomberg Law)

Part I of this book offers newer business lawyers and company directors "a practical orientation to the fundamentals of financial statements," while Part II covers valuation of businesses and value creation. Frequently-used abbreviations, acronyms, and other terms are defined at the beginning of the book.

Bloomberg Law also provides materials on Understanding Financial Statements and Ratios in its Transactional Intelligence Center.