Sylvia Ayala recently accepted a job in the production department at Apple. Before she starts work, she decides to review the company’s annual report to better understand its operations.

The content and organization of corporate annual reports have become fairly standardized.

Excluding the public relations part of the report (pictures, products, etc.), the following are the traditional fi nancial portions of the annual report: (LO 3)

• Financial Highlights

• Letter to the Stockholders

• Management’s Discussion and Analysis

• Financial Statements

• Notes to the Financial Statements

• Management’s Responsibility for Financial Reporting

• Management’s Report on Internal Control over Financial Reporting

• Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm

• Selected Financial Data The offi cial SEC fi ling of the annual report is called a Form 10-K, which often omits the public relations pieces found in most standard annual reports. To access Apple’s Form 10-K, including notes to the fi nancial statements, follow these steps:

1. Go to http://investor.apple.com.

2. Select the Financial Information tab.

3. Select the 10-K annual report dated September 2014.

4. The financial portions of the annual report begin on page 21.

Instructions Use Apple’s annual report to answer the following questions.

(a) What CPA firm performed the audit of Apple’s financial statements?

(b) What was the amount of Apple’s basic earnings per share in 2014?