FP&A and Group Accounting · 6 weeks · 5 hours a week

Ledger to Statements

Build the P&L, the balance sheet and the cash flow statement from one general ledger. Every concept is taught the same way: in plain English first, then the maths, then SQL, then Python, then a companion video.

Lecture notesSlide deckCompanion codeOpen the library →

Your progress0 of 30 hours

How each concept is taught

Understand it, then prove it, then code it twice

Each layer of the stack rests on the one below: you cannot build a balance sheet before you trust the ledger, and you cannot explain cash before you can read profit. Work through the weeks in order.

  1. In plain EnglishWhat it is, why a CFO cares, and an analogy.
  2. The mathsThe formula, worked on our case company's real numbers.
  3. SQLPortable SQL that runs on SQL Server, PostgreSQL and SQLite.
  4. PythonThe same result in pandas, step for step.
  5. WatchA companion video that explains the idea another way.
  6. Check yourselfOne question. Answer it before you reveal the solution.

The stack

foundation at the bottom

Click a layer to open that week. The green line under each layer fills as you finish its concepts.

Before week 1

Set up the teaching ledger

All examples use Alpine Gear Ltd, a fictional retailer that starts trading in FY2024. Amounts are in EUR thousand. The script creates four tables (GL, COA, Calendar, CF) with 26 journal entries.

Run it in SQL Server (Azure Data Studio), PostgreSQL or SQLite. For Python, the companion file lecture_companion/financial_statements.py loads the same script into SQLite and checks every figure.

Sign convention used throughout: P&L income is positive and expenses are negative, so summing the P&L gives the profit. Balance-sheet increases are positive.

SQL · 01_schema_and_data.sql