Assignment: Financial Statement Analysis Project

In lieu of the class scheduled for Monday September 25, students will be expected to begin to work on a Financial Statement Analysis Project. During this project the student will be expected to:

1. Read the textbook chapter on financial statement analysis

a. Chapter 12
b. Chapter 14

2. Read and View the materials about the use of the SEC's EDGAR database (on Blackboard)

3. View the materials about financial statement analysis (on Blackboard)

4. Select a publicly traded company to report on. No duplicate companies. Selection will be on a first-come, first-served basis via e-mails to pmcgurr@ashland.edu.

5. Read the company's most recent 10-K.

6. Using the financial statements in the 10-K prepare the following information

a. Prepare a vertical analysis of the company's most current Balance Sheet
b. Prepare a horizontal (trend) analysis of the company's income statement over the past two years
c. Calculate the following ratios for the most current year

i. Current ratio
ii. Debt to equity ratio
iii. Operating profit percentage (EBIT)
iv. Operating income percentage

7. Write a 3 - 5 page paper (double space; Times New Roman 12 font) covering the following topics

a. What is the nature of the company's business?

b. What is the largest category of asset? What does this tell you about the company's operations?

c. How much were the company's sales for the most recent year? How big were their profits?

d. What did the financial analysis of the company tell you about the company and its operations?

e. While reviewing the company's financial statements, what aspects of the statements or what accounts were the most unfamiliar to you? How large were these matters in comparison to the total statements?

f. From this basic analysis can you tell if the company is doing well or not so well? Please explain.

Further details will be provided as needed.