A company's growth is dependent on its financial information. It is important to record and maintain accurate information in order to produce concise financial statements.

Both internal and external users have different interests and utilizes the information communicated on financial statements to make analytical, logical, conscious and profitable investment decisions in order to make better economic decisions.

Chapter 17 reviews a variety of methods used to analyze financial statements.

1. 1. Research a publicly traded company (For example: Apple) and obtain copies of the COMPARATIVE BALANCE SHEET AND INCOME STATEMENT
   2. Utilize the information learned in Chapter 17, apply methods to analyze the financial statements. N.B. ATTACHED is a pre-designed MICROSOFT EXCEL spreadsheet for you to use in computing the financial statement analysis for the publicly traded company. Each analysis tool must be covered (horizontal, vertical and Ratio Analysis). You can use (nasdaq.com, market watch, yahoo finance) to research financial statements.
   • For the vertical and horizontal analysis, in Excel, you will type the accounts and dollar values for the most recent years -2020 and 2019- (as listed on the financial statements even if there is no dollar value for an account) for the company; then perform the analysis
   • For the Ratio analysis you need to compute 2 ratios from each section: (for example: Liquidity you can test the working capital and current ratio for both the current year and the previous year. Therefore 4 (ratio tests per category) *3 (three categories - liquidity, solvency and profitability) = 12
   • In Microsoft Word, you will conduct an overall analysis of the financial health of the company. Additionally, use AT LEAST THREE online articles (journals, news releases, magazines, industry reports) to support your analysis based on current and future developments that determines that company's state of operation or engagements that will enhance the company's business operation.

You will submit TWO documents: the Microsoft Word document and the Microsoft Excel spreadsheet. The Final Submission must meet the following specifications:

Microsoft Word (Times New Roman, 12 point font, Double space, and 1" margin)

• Cover page: Title, name student, college, date of submission
• Financial Health of the company (3 -5 pages): 1. Overview of the company you analyzed, 2. Detailed overview of how you performed the analysis (What analysis did you perform, how did you perform), 3. Review of external documents significant to understand the financial health of the company, 4. Overall analysis of the financial health of the company, ensure to elaborate on what significant numbers mean based on the analysis you performed and how your assumption is supported by media reports (Use key numbers to describe the financial health of the company), 5. Describe how is the company financial stable in the U.S. Market and internationally? 6. What should the company do to improve or keep doing more of to dominate/continue to dominate the market
• Conclusion (1/2 page) 1. What was so important? 2. What did you learn, 3. Why was it important to learn what you learned, and 4. How has this information impact your analytical thought process regarding future investment?
• Reference page: APA format (Purdue Owl APA Guidelines) (Links to an external site.)

Microsoft Excel

• Vertical Analysis financial statement
• Horizontal Analysis financial statement
• Ratio Analysis

CLICK HERE for the Word document

CLICK HERE for the Excel Spreadsheet

CLICK HERE for the grading criteria for this assignment