Behind the Balance Sheet

Stephen Clapham spent decades as a professional equity analyst before turning his attention to investor education, and Behind the Balance Sheet reflects that background. The show focuses on forensic accounting, valuation, and capital cycles, the unsexy but critically important skills that separate good stock pickers from everyone else. The guest roster is genuinely impressive for a podcast with only about 63 episodes. Clapham has landed interviews with Terry Smith (the quality investing legend behind Fundsmith), John Armitage of Egerton Capital, Mario Gabelli, Bill Nygren, Tom Gayner, and Nick Train. Each conversation runs 50 minutes to about 90 minutes, with Clapham bringing the kind of detailed financial questions that these guests rarely get asked on other shows. The episode with Terry Smith on quality, valuation, and long-term compounding is a standout. New episodes arrive roughly monthly, which means the pace is deliberate rather than frantic. But the tradeoff is that every episode feels substantial. Clapham isn't filling airtime; he's extracting specific, actionable insights about how top investors analyze businesses, spot accounting red flags, and think about position sizing. The show holds a 4.8-star rating from 46 reviews. It's aimed at a sophisticated audience: private investors who already know the basics, professional analysts looking to sharpen their skills, and portfolio managers who want to hear how their peers approach similar problems. If you care more about understanding a company's financial statements than hearing someone's market outlook, this podcast was made for you.