CIFHA study plan
CIFHA · Give each week a clear focus.
8 weeks · About 6 hours per week
Financial Statement Analysis
Reconstruct a three-statement model from a raw annual report and label every line item by financial-statement category
Compute vertical and horizontal common-size statements for two consecutive years and annotate the three largest shifts
Identify revenue-recognition and expense-timing choices that distort comparability between periods
Explain how changes in working-capital accounts propagate from the balance sheet to the income statement and cash flow statement
Your checkpoint
A one-page annotated common-size analysis of a public company's two most recent annual statements, with the three largest shifts flagged and explained
Financial Statement Analysis
Compute and interpret basic and diluted EPS, including the effect of dilutive securities on the denominator
Adjust reported earnings for one-time items and non-cash charges to derive a normalized earnings figure
Differentiate operating from non-operating results and explain why the split matters for trend analysis
Detect at least three earnings-quality red flags in a set of financial statements
Your checkpoint
A reconciliation table converting reported net income to normalized earnings for one company, with each adjustment justified in a sentence
Financial Health Assessment and Metrics
Calculate the core liquidity, solvency, and profitability metric set from raw statements without a formula sheet
Interpret each metric against an industry benchmark and state whether the gap signals strength or stress
Build a composite financial-health scorecard that weights metrics by relevance to a lender's perspective
Explain how off-balance-sheet obligations and lease treatment alter reported leverage metrics
Your checkpoint
A completed 12-metric financial-health scorecard for one company with benchmark comparisons and a one-paragraph overall health verdict
Financial Health Assessment and Metrics & Ratio and Trend Analysis
Compute the full ratio family (activity, coverage, leverage, profitability) and classify each by the question it answers
Decompose return on equity into its margin, turnover, and leverage components and attribute the change year over year
Run a three-year trend analysis and separate cyclical movement from structural deterioration
Identify which ratios are distorted by industry norms and adjust interpretation accordingly
Your checkpoint
A three-year ratio trend workbook with a DuPont decomposition and a written attribution of the largest driver of ROE change
Ratio and Trend Analysis & Cash Flow and Liquidity Analysis
Convert accrual-based net income to operating cash flow and reconcile every reconciling item to its source
Classify cash flows into operating, investing, and financing and judge the sustainability of each stream
Compute free cash flow under two definitions and explain when each is appropriate
Assess liquidity using cash-flow-based coverage rather than balance-sheet ratios alone
Your checkpoint
A cash flow quality assessment for one company covering OCF reconciliation, FCF under both definitions, and a liquidity conclusion
Cash Flow and Liquidity Analysis & Risk Management and Credit Assessment
Build a short-term liquidity stress scenario that models a 20% revenue decline and its cash impact
Map a company's debt maturity profile and identify refinancing concentration risk
Apply a structured credit-assessment framework covering business risk, financial risk, and structural subordination
Assign an internal credit rating with written rationale tied to specific metrics and qualitative factors
Your checkpoint
A two-page credit memo with an internal rating, the three metrics that most drive the rating, and a stated downside trigger
Risk Management and Credit Assessment & Financial Planning and Forecasting
Identify the principal financial and operational risks a lender or analyst must underwrite for a given business model
Translate historical performance into a defensible three-year forecast with explicitly stated drivers
Stress-test the forecast under base, downside, and severe scenarios and record covenant headroom in each
Document forecast assumptions so a third party could reproduce the model
Your checkpoint
A three-scenario forecast model with an assumptions log and a covenant-headroom table across all three cases
Financial Statement Analysis & Financial Health Assessment and Metrics & Ratio and Trend Analysis & Cash Flow and Liquidity Analysis & Risk Management and Credit Assessment & Financial Planning and Forecasting
Integrate statement analysis, health metrics, trends, cash flow, risk, and forecasting into one end-to-end company assessment
Complete timed practice sets across all six domains and log every error by root cause
Re-drill weak areas until each domain's practice accuracy is consistently high
Summarize a full company analysis in a concise written recommendation with supporting metrics
Your checkpoint
A complete integrated company analysis and recommendation memo plus an error log showing root-cause categories and remediation for each domain
Milestones
Week 2: Produce normalized earnings from a raw annual report in under 45 minutes with every adjustment justified
Week 4: Complete the 12-metric scorecard and DuPont decomposition unaided, scoring at least 80% on a self-graded ratio drill
Week 6: Write a defensible internal credit rating with rationale that cites at least three specific metrics and one qualitative factor
Week 8: Deliver the integrated memo and demonstrate at least 80% accuracy on a full-length timed mixed-domain practice set