Accounting Quality for Walmart (most recent)

Consider the list in the sections titled Assessing and Remediating Accounting Quality and use it to assess the quality of the companies reported numbers.

Use an online investment Website to find key ratios for close competitors. Compare these ratios to your companies.

Find the consensus analysts EPS forecast for the recent year end for each company. How did your companies do? Were there any one-time items or unusual changes in any expenses that might have caused each company to just meet or beat the forecast? This could indicate earnings management.

Does each company report non-GAAP earnings? What items do they exclude or include? Do the two companies report similar one-time items? Do the items seem reasonable or do you detect some self-serving disclosure?