Every Number Tells a Story
Understanding how the three basic financial reports (Income Statement, Balance Sheet, and Cash Flow Statement correspond to an overall measurement strategy is going to be critical to your future success as a business manager. Berman and Knight (2006) call it Financial Intelligence and tell us that you need to look at the business financial results within a big picture framework and include factors such as competition, regulations, the economy and changing customer needs. In your Unit 6 Report to the Board you will be telling the story of your company using these numbers and gaining practice using real world companies which will be invaluable to you both professionally and personally.

The Unit 6 Report to the Board will be your opportunity to tell the financial story of your company. You will be using actual corporate data to present financial metrics. The ratios and measurements you use will provide you with invaluable real-world practice by introducing you to actual corporate financial analysis used by managers every day.

For this Discussion topic you will select an organization in which you have an interest; for example, you may be interested in learning more about your chosen organization's financial statements for research or investment purposes. Or, your reason for choosing your organization can simply be due to the ready access to data.

Below are some guidelines for selecting an organization to use for this Discussion.

One, you may use your own employer as the basis for the analysis - IF your employer is appropriate to the Assignment and has the requisite information to support a graduate-level analysis. Use of an organization that is not appropriate may result in a diminished score. If you have any doubts, please contact your instructor for additional guidance.

Another possibility would be to use a local company willing to help you with your analysis, even if you are not an employee.

Next, if you are not employed, or if your employer is not appropriate to the Assignment, you may select a different organization. You may use any organization of your choosing, but it must be appropriate to the Assignment. NOTE: If you are self-employed, your own company would NOT be an appropriate research subject. You must select another company to meet the requirements of the analysis. Part of the objective of the Assignment is to inspire graduate-level research.

There are many methods for choosing a company. Here are some suggestions to get you started:

investorguide.com
Kaplan Library
Current events
Review the financial picture and the current company success/trouble in the marketplace. See if you can use the financial statements to tell us the story of the company. Include the following data points in your response as a base and include additional information as you deem important to the response:

Company Name and relevant information.
Why you selected this company for analysis.
How did the numbers provide information to you about areas of success, opportunities for improvement?
How can you use the numbers to create recommendations for continued success?