The objective of the Course Project is to analyze the financial statements of a publicly traded company.
Obtain an annual report from a publicly traded corporation that is interesting to you. Be sure that the company has deferred taxes, a retirement plan, share-based compensation, earnings per share, and a cash flow statement. Using techniques you have learned in the previous weeks, respond to the following questions:
- What amount of deferred tax assets or deferred tax liabilities are on the two most recent years on the balance sheet? What gives rise to these deferred taxes? What information is disclosed in the footnotes related to deferred taxes? Please define a deferred tax asset and deferred tax liability.
- What temporary and permanent differences does the company disclose in its footnotes? What are some other examples of temporary and permanent differences?
- What is the amount of income tax provision in the two most recent years on the income statement? What information is disclosed in the footnotes relating to income tax expense? Does the company have a net operating loss carryforward or carryback? What are the guidelines for carryforwards and carrybacks?
- Does the company have a defined benefit or defined contribution plan? What are the key elements of the plan discussed in the footnotes? What amounts on the balance sheet relate to this plan? What are the differences between defined benefit and defined contribution plans?
- What are the earnings-per-share amounts disclosed on the income statement for the most recent year? What dilutive securities are discussed in the footnotes? Please identify and describe other examples of dilutive securities. How do these impact earnings per share?
- What kind of share-based compensation does the company have? What was the compensation expense for the two most recent years? What are the key elements of this plan discussed in the footnotes? Please identify and describe other types of share-based compensation.
- Does the company use the direct or indirect cash flow presentation method? What is the difference between these two methods? How does the cash flow statement agree to the other financial statements?
- What investing and financing activities does the company have? What are some other examples of investing and financing activities?
- What non-cash transactions does the company have on its cash flow statement? What are some other examples of non-cash transactions?