--%>

Understand and interpret financial statements

Our purpose this week: learning how to understand and interpret financial statements.

Assignment:

The class should discuss all of the questions listed below as they relate to the financial statements of any U.S. public company of your choice in its latest annual report. You can find the financial statements of any U.S. public company by visiting Yahoo Finance or MSN Money. If you work for a U.S. public company, you may want to use the financial statements of your company - but the choice is up to you.

1) What 3 items of important information does the income statement reveal about the financial performance of the company over the last three years?

2) What 3 items of important information does the balance sheet reveal about the financial position of the company over the last two years?

3) Can you identify the major sources of funding used by the company from the information presented in the company's annual report? If not, how could you get this information?

4) Who is responsible for:

      a) the issuance, and

      b) the content

of the company financial statements? 

5) What assurance, if any, is there that the financial statements are in compliance with GAAP, and are free of material misstatements?

6) Of what use, if any, are the notes to the financial statements?

   Related Questions in Corporate Finance

  • Q : Public Finance which type of tax,

    which type of tax, direct or indirect is applicable in underdeveloped countries? Why? Show your critical areas and weaknesses.

  • Q : Which model was great breakthrough for

    Which one model was great breakthrough for side of finance theory?

  • Q : Who proposed modern quantitative

    Who proposed a modern quantitative methodology for portfolio selection?

  • Q : Which taxes do I have to use for

    Which taxes do I have to utilize when calculating Free Cash Flow (FCF) – is this the medium tax rate or the marginal tax rate of the leveraged company?

  • Q : How can auditor spot acts of creative

    How can auditor spot acts of creative accounting? Means let an illustration, the excess of provisions or the non-elimination of intra group transactions along with value added.

  • Q : Minimum pretax earnings XYZ Company is

    XYZ Company is planning to acquire a machine which will cost $200,000, that will last for 4 years. The company employs straight-line depreciation. The tax rate of XYZ is 35% and the proper discount rate in this situation is 12%. (A

  • Q : PV of Dividends PV of dividends:

    PV of dividends: Cortez, Inc., is expecting to pay out a dividend of $2.50 next year. After that it expects its dividend to grow at 7 percent for the next four years. What is the present value of dividends over the next five-year period if the required rate of return is 10 percent?

  • Q : Effective annual yield problem Stanley

    Stanley invested in a municipal bond which promised an annual yield of 6.7 %. The bond pays coupons twice a year. What is the effective annual yield (abbreviated as EAY) on this investment? (1) 13.4%  (2) 6.81%  (3) 6.70%  (4) None of the above

  • Q : Briefly describe the financial services

    1 FINANCIAL SERVICES BY BANKS Financial system facilitates the transformation of savings of individuals, government as well as business into investment and consumption. It consists of

  • Q : Explain Straddle and Strangle Straddle

    Straddle & Strangle: In the case of shorting butterfly spread, it can be seen that the gains are limited. However, there exists another strategy known as straddle which produces unlimited gains. This strategy benefits when the trader expects that