Many companies post their financial statements and auditor’s report on their home pages, generally under a heading labeled “investor relations.” Use one of the Internet search engines to do the following:
a. Visit Intel’s (www.intel. com) and Microsoft’s (www.microsoft. com) home pages and review their financial statements, including their auditors’ reports.
b. Search the web for the home page of a non- U. S. company and review its financial statements, including its auditor’s report. For example, BMW’s home page (www. bmwgroup. com, under Investor Relations) allows a visitor to download the financial statements as a pdf file. Identify the auditing standards followed by the company’s auditors.
c. Compare the standard U. S. audit report with the audit report for the non- U. S. company (e. g., BMW).
d. Visit the SEC’s website (www. sec. gov), and find the link for EdgarScan. Find, download, and print the auditor’s report for a U. S. company of your choice. Identify whether or not the audit report is an unqualified, or “clean,” opinion and explain how you could tell.