As an analyst for a large U.S. multinational corporation, you are assigned to examine a possible acquisition candidate, completing an initial search and review. Your supervisor is a member of the Controller’s team. The Controller reports directly to the Chief Financial Officer (CFO). Your work may be presented to various audiences, so professionalism is essential in all deliverables you create. As you review historical financial statements, you cannot conclude if this company is a good investment.
- Select a publicly-traded company from the Fortune 500 list.
- The company must have Accounts Receivable and Inventory. You must select a retail or manufacturing company.
- You must research and secure the SEC 10-K Annual Report for the most recent year by visiting and searching the SEC EDGAR system.
- Save the 10-K document to your computer for access. Please do not print this file, as the report is usually 100 pages or more.
- Use the selected company in the discussion postings throughout the semester. The discussion questions are designed to help you build content for your report and presentation.
- Reading an SEC 10-K Report: The following link will access the SEC’s document: How to Read an SEC 10-K Report. http://www.sec.gov/answers/reada10k.htm
Course Learning Objective Assessed: Identify and communicate with accounting and financial information users to facilitate analytical decision-making.
Report Requirements
Report Content
- Post the name of your desired company in the Week 1 SEC 10-K Project discussion for your instructor’s approval. Your post must answer all parts of the discussion.
- Each student must select a different company, so read the company names chosen by classmates. The company must be a publicly-traded company from the Fortune 500 list.
- Your report should comment on the financial statements for your company as they relate to the information presented through Week 5 material for this class, including the notes to the financial statements.
- Do not consider the material from Weeks 7 and 8 in your report.
- The report must be submitted after Week 5 material on Property, Plant, and Equipment (PPE).
Report Layout
- Write a minimum of a 3-page (a full-page typically has at least 300 words) report, single-spaced, one-inch margins, 12-point font, with a double space between paragraphs. This page requirement includes data visualization (charts and graphs) that you create.
- Page count does not include a title page, tables and exhibits, and reference list.
- Include a title page (include your name on the title page). The report must consist of headings such as Accounts Receivable and Inventory (topics from the textbook); other examples would be Income Statement, Balance Sheet, and the Statement of Shareholders’ Equity.
- Include a brief introduction of your company as well as a conclusion/summary at the end. Most of your report should include accounting topics in weeks one through five.
- You must include the Income Statement, Balance Sheet, Statement of Shareholders’ Equity, and Critical Audit Matters in your report.
- You are to compare current and prior year statements and what changed. You can copy directly from the SEC 10-K Report. The statements are not included in the page count.
- APA style is required for citations and a reference list. The report must include the reference list.
Resources
- Visit the Accounting Toolbox in the Course Content > Course Resources of the ACCT 220 LEO classroom. The Accounting Toolbox is a constant resource in our UMGC undergraduate accounting courses.
- Links and explanations to assist you with this report may appear in this resource.
- Your professor will provide additional guidance.
Academic Integrity
- You must comply with the UMGC Policy for Academic Integrity.
- Write your report using accounting terms from our textbook and explain how these terms relate to your company’s financial statements. Thoroughly paraphrase in your own words and your writing style and structure. Changing a few words from the original is not fully paraphrasing.
- The discussion postings throughout the semester should assist you in completing this report. However, do not copy and paste your discussion responses in your report.
PowerPoint Presentation
- You must prepare a PowerPoint draft and post it to Peer-Review of SEC 10-K Project discussion.
- Include data and an analysis of the data with your commentary. Tell the story as you learn from reading the financial statements.
- Use the M.S. Snipping Tool to snip an image of the financial statements.
- Do not use the notes feature.
- Once you have received feedback on your PowerPoint draft, make appropriate revisions, and submit the final version in the SEC-10K PowerPoint Presentation assignment folder.