Learning Guide

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BookkeepingCFAAnalysis

Reading Financial Statements

How to read the Income Statement (PL), Balance Sheet (BS), and Cash Flow Statement (CF) with concrete examples.

17 min

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Read Disclosures

Understand annual report structure, footnote reading, and how consolidated statements work.

Disclosure

EDINET Filing Guide

Annual report structure, document types, key points to check, and how to use this site for research.

10 min

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Disclosure

Disclosure Document Types

Annual securities report, semi-annual report, earnings release, integrated report, governance report, large shareholding, TOB — differences, sources, and reading priorities of the 9 major Japanese disclosure documents.

12 min

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DisclosureStandards

Reading Financial Notes

Accounting policies, segment information, related parties, contingent liabilities, and tax effect accounting in footnotes.

12 min

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StandardsCFAUSCPA

Reading Consolidated Statements

Consolidation scope, elimination process, non-controlling interests, goodwill, and equity method basics.

12 min

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ESGDisclosure

Sustainability Disclosure Guide

Structured walk-through of TCFD, SSBJ standards, and the four pillars (governance, strategy, risk, metrics & targets) of the Annual Securities Report sustainability chapter.

15 min

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Analysis

Industry-Specific Disclosure

Banking, insurance, real estate, construction, electric utility — industry-specific financial statement regulations, unique line items, sector regulation, and analytical pitfalls explained.

14 min

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M&ADisclosure

TOB & Large Shareholding Reports

Tender offer (TOB) and 5% rule large shareholding reports: filing obligations, typical M&A flow, and how to detect activist movements early.

13 min

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DisclosureAnalysis

Reading MD&A

Read MD&A through five lenses (change, drivers, KPI, outlook, risk) — plus identifying management bias and peer comparison.

13 min

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Learn Analysis

Learn financial metric calculations, cash flow analysis, and practical corporate analysis steps.

How to Analyze Companies

Find a company → Read financials → Compare. A step-by-step practical analysis guide.

10 min

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AnalysisM&A

Research Methodology

From issue framing & issue trees, through PEST / SWOT / Five Forces, data sourcing × interviews, to presentation design — a systematic skill set for researchers and analysts.

12 min

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Working Capital & CCC

DSO/DIO/DPO definitions, CCC formula with industry benchmarks, optimization levers (AR/inventory/AP), and a 5-step framework to read working capital efficiency from disclosure.

13 min

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Financial Metrics

Covers ROE, PER, PBR and other key metrics with formulas and industry benchmarks, organized into profitability, safety, efficiency, and valuation categories with summary tables.

15 min

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Cash Flow Analysis

Explains CF statement structure, operating CF margin, FCF, PL divergence, plus a 5-stage lifecycle pattern diagnostic table from growth to decline.

12 min

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AnalysisCFAValuation

ROIC and Capital Allocation

ROIC formula, WACC × ROIC spread, the five capital allocation choices, and reading Japan's PBR-below-1 response disclosures.

16 min

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Shareholder Returns

Dividends, buybacks, DOE, total return ratio, the five policy types, and Japan trends after the TSE PBR-below-1 request.

14 min

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AnalysisStandards

R&D and Intangible Assets

R&D accounting (JGAAP vs IFRS), goodwill / patents / software classification, amortization / impairment, and R&D intensity analysis methods.

14 min

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StandardsCFAM&A

Mastering the Equity Method

Associates and joint ventures: accounting mechanics, comparison with consolidation, dividend treatment, impairment, and yuho disclosures. Essential for trading houses and autos.

14 min

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AnalysisDisclosure

Earnings Guidance Analysis

Guidance disclosure rules, identifying management forecasting biases, reading revision patterns, quantifying surprise, and evaluating consistency with medium-term plans.

13 min

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Reading Non-GAAP Metrics

Systematic guide to six non-GAAP measures including Adjusted EBITDA, Core OP, and Adjusted EPS. Covers SEC/ESMA/TSE disclosure rules, an adjustment-quality checklist, and cross-company comparison pitfalls.

13 min

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AnalysisBookkeeping

Inventory Analysis Guide

Inventory valuation methods (FIFO/moving average/total average), lower of cost or NRV, inventory turnover (DIO), industry-specific patterns, disclosure reading, and common pitfalls comprehensively explained.

12 min

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Applied Analysis

Valuation, credit analysis, and detecting earnings manipulation — advanced practical skills.

ValuationCFAM&A

Valuation

Explains DCF, WACC components (Re, Rd, β), and provides a comparison table of major multiples including EV/EBITDA, PER, and PBR with use cases.

10 min

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Credit Analysis

Systematically covers 5 credit analysis frameworks (leverage, coverage, liquidity, rating, distress) with metric formulas and assessment criteria.

12 min

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AnalysisAudit

Red Flags in Financial Statements

Details all 8 Beneish M-Score variables (DSRI through LVGI) with interpretation guides, plus 8 specific governance risk factors to watch.

12 min

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ValuationM&ACFA

Net Debt Analysis

The core of equity valuation in M&A. Systematically explains debt-like/cash-like items, non-operating assets, and enterprise value allocation.

15 min

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Analysis

SGA, Non-Operating & Extraordinary Items Analysis

SGA trend analysis, fixed-variable decomposition, per-capita labor cost analysis, and non-operating/extraordinary items procedures in financial DD.

22 min

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StandardsAnalysis

Investment & Other Assets Analysis

Analyze investment securities, loans, insurance reserves, and other long-term BS assets from a DD perspective. Covers classification, impairment, and business/non-business asset determination.

18 min

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tags.items.creditM&A

Corporate Turnaround Fundamentals

How distressed companies get rebuilt: crisis-mode management, choosing the restructuring route, cash forecasting and the standstill decision, the seven turnaround metrics, adjusted and liquidation balance sheets, DDS/DES/debt forgiveness, and reading distress out of disclosure.

About 20 min

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M&A in Practice

Cover the financial mechanics of M&A end-to-end: structuring, PPA, FDD, JV/carve-out, WACC, and LBO.

M&A

M&A Structuring Fundamentals

Systematic comparison of 7 major M&A structures, ownership ratios & shareholder rights, tax qualification requirements, and structure selection checklist.

14 min

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M&AValuationStandards

PPA (Purchase Price Allocation) Overview

The 3-step PPA process, identified intangible assets, Relief from Royalty and MEEM valuation methods with practical data.

13 min

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M&AValuation

Financial DD for Valuation

How Financial DD results feed into DCF and comparable company analysis. Learn BS classification, working capital analysis, and WACC parameter setting.

12 min

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M&AValuation

JV Design & Carve-out Valuation

From carve-out FS, direct/allocated cost split, standalone adjustments and minimum cash, to JV legal form, governance, and term-sheet design — a full valuation-practice guide.

15 min

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ValuationCFA

WACC Practical Issues

CAPM theory, beta analysis, equity risk premium, size risk premium, D/E ratio setting — comprehensive coverage of practical WACC issues.

15 min

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M&AValuationCFA

LBO Fundamentals

Comprehensive guide to leveraged buyouts: capital structure design, debt tranches, cash flow modeling, IRR/MOIC, and exit strategies. A must-read for aspiring PE professionals, CFOs, and credit analysts.

15 min

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M&AValuationCFA

Venture Company Valuation & Investment Practice

A structural framework for valuing venture companies — fundamentally different from mature M&A. Covers round-by-round risk-return profiles, IPO funding data, survival-risk-adjusted discount rates (20–80%), stage-based required returns, Exit Multiple terminal value, and a practitioner checklist.

About 20 min

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M&AValuation

Introduction to Infrastructure Project Finance

Financing repaid solely from a project's own cash flow — the shift from PFI to concessions in Japan, the nine risks lenders test and their standard mitigants, capital stacks built on seniority and project phase, and how the whole arrangement surfaces in securities reports.

About 18 min

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M&A

Finance PMI in Practice

How far an acquired company's finance function has to be lifted by the first close: accounting policy gaps, close acceleration and fiscal year alignment, account mapping and the consolidation package, management reporting and budgets, tax and internal control, mergers versus carve-outs, and the traces integration leaves in disclosure.

About 18 min

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M&A

Shareholders Agreements in Practice

The four ownership thresholds and their effects, board appointment rights and the limits of voting agreements, veto items, funding and dividend policy, transfer restrictions and rights of first refusal, tag-along and drag-along, call and put options, deadlock resolution, and spotting the agreement from disclosure.

About 18 min

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Understand Standards

Understanding the differences between IFRS and Japanese GAAP helps explain why the same company's numbers can differ.

StandardsUSCPA

What is IFRS?

IFRS principles, key standards (IFRS 15/16, IAS 36), adopting companies, and reading tips for investors.

10 min

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What is J-GAAP?

Japanese accounting standards characteristics, goodwill amortization, retirement benefits, and revenue recognition adoption.

16 min

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IFRS vs J-GAAP Comparison

Comparison table for goodwill, leases, revenue recognition and other key items, plus a case study showing how the same performance differs under each standard.

8 min

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New Lease Accounting Standard Overview

Systematic guide to ASBJ No. 34: lessee ROU assets & lease liabilities, lessor accounting, and transition measures.

22 min

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StandardsAudit

Lease Standard Implementation Guide

Project planning, 6 key issues, IFRS 16 lessons, financial impact analysis, and business process design.

20 min

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Leveraging AI for Lease Accounting Standards

Five compliance elements, IFRS 16 lessons, AI-OCR, and BPO automation solutions.

10 min

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New Lease Standard — Computational Deep Dive (Measurement, Prepayment, SLB, Modifications, Variable, Residual)

CPA-textbook-level journal entries and worked examples covering ROU/liability measurement, depreciation, prepaid payments, sale-and-leaseback, component separation, contract modifications, variable lease payments and residual value guarantees.

35 min

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StandardsValuationAudit

Impairment Testing (J-GAAP/IFRS)

J-GAAP 3-step vs IFRS 1-step comparison, value in use vs fair value, CGU book value, tax treatment, and loss allocation rules.

13 min

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Hedge Accounting Basics

Three hedge categories (fair value / cash flow / net investment), qualification criteria, accounting mechanics, disclosure, and IFRS 9 vs J-GAAP differences. Essential for FX, interest rate, and commodity risk management.

14 min

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StandardsUSCPA

Advanced Accounting Topics

A cross-cutting overview of specialized topics — impairment, leases, consignment, stock-based compensation, distributable amounts, parent–subsidiary year-end mismatches. For analysts who want to lift the precision of their reading.

10 min

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StandardsUSCPAAudit

Corporate Income Tax & Tax Effect Accounting

A practitioner's guide to taxable income, permanent vs temporary differences, deferred tax assets and liabilities, statutory vs effective rate, DTA recoverability (5 categories), the group taxation regime, international tax (BEPS to Pillar 2), and how to read tax footnotes in EDINET filings.

25 min

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StandardsUSCPAAudit

Japanese Corporate Tax Law — Detailed Reference (11 Chapters)

A chapter-by-chapter walk through Japan's Corporate Tax Act using the TAC tax-law textbook as the skeleton: overview, depreciation, valuation gains/losses, bad debt, taxes & dues, dividend-received exclusion, deemed dividends, entertainment expenses, donations, the group corporate tax system, and director/employee compensation — written to the same level of detail as Form 4 / Form 1.

40 min

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Management Accounting

Costing, budgeting, and decision accounting — the internal-facing managerial toolkit.

BookkeepingUSCPA

Cost Accounting & Management Accounting

Covers the 5-step cost flow, process costing characteristics, standard cost variance analysis (5 formulas), and how to read a cost of goods manufactured report.

9 min

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Bookkeeping

Management Accounting Foundations & Cost Element Accounting

From cost accounting's purpose, the 4 classification axes, and the industrial bookkeeping account system to materials, labor, and overhead aggregation, predetermined prices/wage rates, and variance analysis — a systematic walkthrough of manufacturing P&L fundamentals.

25 min

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Bookkeeping

Product Costing Methods & Standard Cost Management

The 7 patterns of process costing (basics, opening WIP, additional materials, process-by-process, job-lot, equivalent, spoilage/loss) and standard cost variance analysis (four-/three-method) — the core of manufacturing cost management, with BOX diagrams and full worked examples.

30 min

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Managerial Decision Making (Direct Costing, Budgeting, Capital Investment)

Direct costing and CVP relationships, segment profitability, the PDCA cycle of budget management and variance analysis, capital investment evaluation (NPV/IRR), and WACC — the science of management decisions, systematically built with complete worked examples.

35 min

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Audit

Understand financial-statement audit, ICFR audit, and interim review in practice.

AuditUSCPA

Audit Fundamentals (Financial Statement Audit, Internal Control Audit, Interim Review)

From the purpose, four functions, independence and professional skepticism, materiality and audit assertions, eight audit procedures, the basic sections of the audit report through qualified opinions / KAM / going concern, to J-SOX internal control audits and interim reviews — the full picture of CPA auditing.

40 min