The fi nancial statements of Amazon.com, Inc. are presented in Appendix D. Financial statements of Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. are presented in Appendix E.

Instructions

(a) Based on the information contained in these fi nancial statements, compute the following values for each company for the most recent fi scal year.

(1) Accounts receivable turnover. (For Amazon.com, use “Net product sales.” Assume all sales were credit sales.)

(2) Average collection period for accounts receivable.

(b) What conclusions concerning the management of accounts receivable can be drawn from these data?

INTERPRETING FINANCIAL STATEMENTS