The Annual Report Project (ARP) provides you the opportunity to analyze a corporate annual report. You will obtain the annual report of a Fortune 500 company and answer questions regarding the application of concepts studied in your financial accounting course.
The Annual Report Project:
Will increase your interest in financial accounting by allowing you to personally choose the annual report you will review
Provides hands-on exposure to financial statements of real-world companies
Emphasizes the importance of the notes to the financial statements
Provides an opportunity to examine the application of procedures and methods discussed in your accounting textbook
Encourages you to work with spreadsheets
The Annual Report Project consists of five assignments and is designed to be a useful supplement for undergraduate financial accounting courses. The following is a list of the topics covered in each Annual Report Project assignment:
ARP 1 Obtaining the Annual Report
ARP 2 Company Information
ARP 3 Overview of the Annual Report
ARP 4 The Balance Sheet
ARP 5 The Income Statement
ANNUAL REPORT PROJECT - ASSIGNMENT 1
OBTAINING THE ANNUAL REPORT -You must email your instructor the name of the company you select as no two teams may use the same company.
Obtain the most recent annual reports of two U.S. corporations which are Fortune 500 companies and are traded on a national stock exchange (NYSE, NASDAQ).
Do not select a public utility, financial institution or brokerage firm, insurance company, co-operative or government entity. In addition, please note that summary annual reports are not acceptable.
The completion of your annual report project assignments will be easier if you obtain a printed copy of the annual report rather than retrieve the report from an Internet site. However, your instructor may allow you to download the annual report from the company Web site.
A useful resource is fortune.com. This site provides links to the Web sites of Fortune 500 companies.
To obtain a printed copy of the annual report, contact the company's Investor Relations department.
OTHER USEFUL SOURCES ARE:
The Investor Relations Information Network (www.irin.com)
The Wall Street Journal Annual Reports Service (www.icbinc.com)
The Public Register's Annual Report Service (www.prars.com) (800-4-
ANNUAL)
Barron's Annual Report and Earnings Service (www.icbinc.com) (800-965-2929)
1. Choosing a company
Choose companies in which you are interested. Perhaps the company has been featured in the news lately. Perhaps you own stock in the company. Perhaps you would like to own stock in the company. If you want to look at a list of possibilities, find a copy of the April issue of Fortune magazine which lists the Fortune 500 or try www.fortune.com
2. Request Your Reports. Answer the following questions.
Name of company chosen:
Company Fortune 500 Rank
a. ________________________________________ ______________Date you requested the reports: ___________________________________________
How did you request the annual report? (Indicate phone number called, Internet address, etc.)
Why did you select this particular company?
ANNUAL REPORT PROJECT - ASSIGNMENT 2
GUIDANCE FOR THIS AND THE FOLLOWING ASSIGNMENTS:
- When a question asks you to explain, describe, analyze, etc., use complete sentences and well-organized paragraphs.
- The space provided for the answer indicates the expected length of your answer.
1. Name of company chosen: ________________________Apple Corporation Inc_______________________
2. Information about the company:
What is the industry classification for the company (according to Fortune or the Internet site
you are using)?
Describe the nature of the company's business.
List the company's primary products or services (use brand names where available).
What is the address of the company's corporate headquarters?
What is the address of the company's Web site?
List other countries in which the company operates:
What were the company's revenues for the most recent fiscal year? _________
Who is the chairman of the company's board of directors?
______________________________________________
Who is the company's CEO?
_________________________________________________
3. Provide the following market data:
On what stock exchange is the company's stock traded?
____________________________________________
What is the ticker symbol for the company? ________________________
What was the price of the company's stock at the end of one day during this past week?
Price: _______________________ Date: ______________________
What were the lowest and highest stock prices during the past year?
52-week low: __________________ 52-week high: _________________
4. Obtain a copy of an article about the company. Attach a copy of the article.
Name of article: ______________________________________________
Source of article (name of magazine or newspaper, date, page numbers):
__________________________________________________________
Summarize the article. Use complete sentences and well-organized paragraphs. Your summary should be no fewer than 100 words in length.
Market Update:
(Stock price this week)
Price_________on
date___________
ANNUAL REPORT PROJECT - ASSIGNMENT 3
OVERVIEW OF ANNUAL REPORT
By now you have received your annual report.
This assignment will provide both an overview of the annual report of your chosen company
************************************************************************
HELPFUL ADVICE: You will be able to complete the remaining assignments more readily
if you take the time now to:
a. Make copies of pages 2 and 3 of this assignment after you have completed them. It will serve as your table of contents for future assignments.
b. Make a copy of the five-year (or more) summary of selected financial data from your annual report. It contains several key numbers that will be required in future assignments.
c. Print industry comparisons. One useful Web site is Reuters.com.*
Under the "News and Markets" tab, click on Stocks.
Enter either the ticker symbol or company name.
Across the top of the next screen, you will see an extensive menu of options forobtaining more information about your company. You will find much of this For ratios and industry comparisons, choose the Financials option from this
Print the resulting pages.
***************************************************************************
*Another useful Web site is finance.yahoo.com
Name of company chosen: __________________________________________
Balance sheet date: ________________________________
1. REVIEW THE ANNUAL REPORT THAT YOU HAVE RECEIVED. IT WILL CONTAIN
SEVERAL SECTIONS:
a. FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS. This section provides a summary of selected financial results over a number of years. You may find two schedules providing highlights: one brief summary near the front of the annual report and a more detailed summary in the financial section.
This second schedule may be called Five-Year Summary of Selected Financial Data.
Note its page number here. Page(s)______
b. THE CHAIRMAN'S LETTER. This letter provides the chairman's overview of the past
year and developments which will affect the next year. Page(s)______
c. THE COMPANY, ITS PRODUCTS, ITS EMPLOYEES. This section may contain a
number of color photographs and will highlight the products and accomplishments of the
company. Pages_______
d. MANAGEMENT DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS. This section discusses operating results,
industries in which the company operates, financing and investing activities, significant
events, trends and developments. Page________
e. THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS AND NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS.
This section contains the balance sheet(also called statement of financial position),
income statement, statement of cash flows and statement of stockholders' equity. The accompanying
notes, as indicated at the bottom of each of the above statements, are an integral
part of the financial statements. The financial statements cannot be understood without reference
to the notes.
The financial statements and accompanying notes will be the focus of your Annual Report Project.
Balance Sheet Page______
Income Statement Page________
Statement of Cash Flows Page______
Statement of Stockholders' Equity Page______
Notes to the financial statements:
(Include ALL notes. Attach an additional page if necessary.)
Summary of significant accounting policies Note #_____ Page_______
Inventories Note #_____ Page_______
Plant assets Note #_____ Page_______
Long-term debt Note #_____ Page_______
Income taxes Note #_____ Page_______
Employee benefit plans Note #_____ Page_______
Commitments and contingencies Note #_____ Page_______
Other notes:
Title of note Note #_____ Page_______
f. MANAGEMENT REPORT ON INTERNAL CONTROL Page_______
g. THE INDEPENDENT AUDITOR'S REPORT:
REPORT ON INTERNAL CONTROL Page_______
REPORT ON THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS Page_______
h. Other:
__________________________________________ Page_______
__________________________________________ Page_______
__________________________________________ Page_______
2. REVIEW THE CHAIRMAN'S LETTER TO THE SHAREHOLDERS.
Summarize the major points made in the letter.
Page(s) on which letter appears: _____
Locate the management report(s) and the independent auditor's report(s).
Answer the following questions. Page(s)_______
a) Who is responsible for the preparation and integrity of the financial statements?
b) Does the company maintain a system of internal controls? Why?
c) Does the company have an audit committee? ______ What is its purpose?
d) What is the name of the independent public accountant (auditor)?
(Note: There are two independent auditor's reports: (1) a report on internal control, and (2) a report
on the financial statements. The following questions relate to the financial statement audit.)
e) According to the auditor's report on the financial statements, what is the auditor's responsibility?
f) According to the audit report, what is an audit?
g) Summarize the auditor's opinion.
Market Update:
(Stock price this week)
Price_________on
date___________
ANNUAL REPORT PROJECT - ASSIGNMENT 4
THE BALANCE SHEET
Name of company chosen: _______________________________________
THE BASICS
Locate the company's balance sheet. Balance sheet date: __________________
Page on which balance sheet appears:_________
1. The accounting equation is Assets = Liabilities + Stockholders' Equity. Replacing the words in the accounting equation with dollar amounts, give the company's accounting equation at the end of the current and prior years.
Assets = Liabilities + Equity
This year _______________ ______________ _______________
Last year _______________ ______________ _______________
2. Calculate the company's current ratio for both this year and the prior year.
Show your computations.
This year:
Last year: = ___________________ =
Explain what information this ratio provides. (Hint: See the Financial Statement Analysis
chapter of your textbook.) Use complete sentences.
Has the current ratio improved or worsened? Explain. Use complete sentences.
Calculate the company's debt to total assets ratio (also called total debt to equity) for both this year and the prior year. Show your computations.
This year:
Last year: = ___________________ =
Explain what information this ratio provides. Use complete sentences.
Has the ratio improved or worsened? Explain. Use complete sentences.
3. Compare these ratios to industry averages.
Use the ratios you printed in Assignment 3.
Your company Industry
Current ratio ____________ __________
Debt to equity ratio ____________ __________
How do the results for your company compare to industry averages?
Market Update:
(Stock price this week)
Price_________on
date___________
ANNUAL REPORT PROJECT - ASSIGNMENT 5
THE INCOME STATEMENT
Name of company chosen:________________________________________
Locate the company's income statement.
What is the period covered by the income statement?_________________________
What is the page on which the income statement appears? ________
THE BASICS
1. Does the format of the statement more closely follow a single-step or a multiple-step format? ________________________________________
How can you tell?
2. What are the accounts that catch your attention compared to the previous year's income statement?
3. What could be the reasons of the increases or decreases from one year to another?
4. Could you please provide your input on how the company might increase its net income?