AccountingCompanyAnalysisProject.pdf

ACCT 2301 BUSINESS PRINCIPLES

COMPANY ANALYSIS PROJECT

This project will have you analyze an assigned company based on the ratios found in chapter
13. Your answers must be detailed enough to paint an overview of the company’s financial
performance and must provide sources used to avoid plagiarism. Any plagiarism (information
provided without sources) will result in an automatic zero and potential disciplinary action as
noted per the SJC student handbook.

Project Requirements

A single report will be prepared addressing the areas in this document. Do NOT include the
questions below in your report.

There is no maximum length; a minimum of 3 pages is required. Use double-spacing, 12-point
font size, and black text color. No specific formatting requirements outside of these already
provided (i.e. stuff like MLA doesn’t matter here).

Company Selection

Your company must be a public-traded company with information accessible on the internet (or
other easily accessible source; this is to make your lives easier to find information). Examples
include Microsoft, Ford Motor Co, Shell Oil, General Motors, Chipotles, Amazon, Boeing, Home
Depot, Coca-Cola, Tesla, Wal-Mart, Pepsi, Apple, Facebook, McDonalds. Get creative and find a
company you are interested in, pick a company that is maybe currently controversial (GE was
recently in the news for potential financial fraud, but there are many others), or pick a company
that went under to compare the financials for the prior 2 years before they didn’t survive.

Paper Structure

All papers must include a Company Introduction & Background on the company. Then you
must calculate and discuss the following ratios for the body of your paper:

• Current Ratio
• Acid Test Ratio
• Inventory Turnover Ratio
• Debt Ratio
• Equity Ratio
• Debt to Equity Ratio
• Profit Margin Ratio
• Earnings Per Share

When addressing the financial ratios, include as much detail as you feel necessary. There may
be some questions you cannot answer due to the lack of available information – in these cases,
you may provide other information related to that.

Other Topics you may want to include:

• Looking at the company’s financial statements, does the company issue financial
statements according to GAAP or IFRS (or some other accounting standard)?

• What is the company’s total assets, liabilities, and equity from its balance sheet for the
most recent year?

• What is the company’s 3 largest assets and 3 largest liabilities for the most recent year?
Why do you think these are the largest?

• What is the company’s total revenue for the most recent year?
• What is the company’s net income for the most recent year?
• Use the ratios on page 511 in chapter 13 to determine the company’s financial

performance and health. Interpret each ratio and discuss how it reflects on the
company. If you want to, you can pick a competitor and compare the competitor’s
ratio to your company’s ratio.

• What type of financing does the company employ – stock, debt, or a mix? How much?
• What is the company’s current common stock price (at the time of your answering this

question)? Give the date of the stock quote and the source. If there are multiple classes
or types of stock, provide this information for each class or type.

• What stock exchange does the company’s stock trade on?
• Does the company pay dividends? If so, how much was the most recent dividend paid?

What date was it paid? Provide source used.
• Does the company use bonds? If so, how much bond debt is on the balance sheet?