This is a great point.

I take it for granted that people want to be able to read a balance sheet and an income statement.

But most people don't.

That was my thinking reading this. You need the basics but I would assume the main motivation is to look at a company's financial statement and at least recognize a lot of the language and the significance of the relationships. Of course there are going to be a lot of subtleties but the statement shouldn't be seen as being written in an ancient language.