8 phases
Foundations
Start here: the basics, assuming you know nothing yet.
From Fraser & Ormiston's Understanding Financial Statements and Berk & DeMarzo's Corporate Finance, reduced to plain language and small round numbers.
Phase 1
What a business is, financially
Revenue, cost, profit and cash — and who has a claim on what is left.
Phase 2
The three statements and how they link
A film, a photograph and a bank statement — and the two lines that join them.
Phase 3
Reading a balance sheet
Assets = liabilities + equity, and what 'current' actually means.
Phase 4
Reading an income statement
From revenue down to net income, and the three margins on the way.
Phase 5
Reading a cash flow statement
Operating, investing, financing — and why profitable companies go bust.
Phase 6
Basic ratios you can do in your head
Margin, growth, return, liquidity and leverage — with the rounding tricks for each.
Phase 7
Money has a time cost
Interest, compounding, discounting and the Rule of 72 — the intuition first.
Phase 8
Where the money comes from
Debt, equity, and what 'cost of capital' means before any formula.