An Accounting project that i need help on. Financial Accounting

FINANCIAL ACCOUNTING TEAM PROJECT REQUIRED: WRITTEN PROJECT 1. Obtain the most recent annual report for TWO companies in the SAME industry. The reports should contain at least three years of income statement data and two years of balance sheet data. 2. Analyze at least 3 (three) items on the income statement for your base company that would be important to an investor, and discuss whether your company's performance related to these items appeared to be improving, deteriorating, or remaining stable. Justify your answer. 3. Analyze at least 3 (three) items on the balance sheet for your base company that would be important to an investor, and discuss whether your company's performance related to these items appeared to be improving, deteriorating, or remaining stable. Justify your answer. 4. Identify 2 (two) items not included in (or derived from) the financial statements that you think would be important to someone considering whether to invest in your company. Discuss your reasons for believing that these two items about the company would be important in making an investment decision. (Hint: you might want to consider items discussed in other business classes.) 5. Compare your base company's financial statements with those of the second company in the same industry. If you were making a decision to invest in one of the two companies, which company would you choose? Why? (Note: your answer in this section must include some financial issues, but your answer need not be limited to a discussion of financial issues.) Note: 1. You must submit the entire annual report for each company being discussed. 2. Your analysis must include page references to relevant portions of the annual reports, and the relevant portions of the annual reports must be highlighted. Your report must also contain appropriate quotation marks for quoted material and appropriate citations for material taken from sources outside the financial statements. 3. Your analysis is limited to 6 (six) pages, and must be typed, doublespaced, and have 12point font. GRADING RUBRIC The written projects are worth 100 points and will be graded in two phases: First, the projects will be reviewed for compliance with the basic requirements and for composition. Any projects submitted without the entire annual reports for both companies being discussed, without appropriate page references to the relevant portions of the annual reports, without appropriate highlighting of the relevant portions of the annual reports, without appropriate citations for material taken from sources outside the annual reports, and/or with excessive composition errors will have to be resubmitted. Any papers requiring resubmission for the above reasons will be docked a minimum of 40 points out of 100. Second, the papers will be reviewed for content and will be graded using the following rubric 84100 points: The paper is well written, free of grammatical and other writing errors, and well organized. The report addresses each of the issues specified in the requirements, uses appropriate examples to illustrate concepts discussed, and integrates the annual report data with the narrative. The report focuses on important items, demonstrates a thorough understanding of the relationships among financial statement data, and is cohesive. 6683 points: The paper generally is well written but may have minor grammatical or other writing errors or lack smooth transitions. The report addresses the issues specified in the requirements, demonstrates understanding, and focuses mainly on important items, but does not fully synthesize the material being discussed, and/or does not integrate the annual report data with the narrative. 4865 points: The paper does not have excessive grammatical or other writing errors. The report addresses the issues specified in the requirements, but demonstrates only moderate understanding, and/or lacks integration. 3047 points: The paper does not have excessive grammatical or other writing errors. The report addresses the issues specified in the requirements, but demonstrates only minimal understanding of one or more of the issues. 1029 points: The paper is acceptable after initially requiring resubmission due to failure to comply with the basic requirements, excessive composition errors, or failure to demonstrate understanding of two or more of the issues required to be discussed. 09 points: The paper fails to meet the basic requirements, has excessive composition errors, and/or fails to demonstrate understanding of two or more of the issues required to be discussed after a first resubmission. FINDING ANNUAL REPORTS You are required to turn in a copy of both companies' annual reports with your group project. The best way to obtain annual reports is to request them directly from the company. You may find a company's contact information on its website (usually in an SEC Filings or Investor Relations/Information tab). You should request two copies, and exchange the second with the group using your company for comparison. Annual reports are also available on the SEC website, http://sec.gov/, and through the university library website using either the S&P Market Insight or LexisNexis databases. Company Website Example: finding an annual report for Kroger: 1. Type Kroger.com into the web browser address bar 2. Click the link SEC Filings towards the bottom of the screen 3. Click on one of the links to open a PDF document or 4. Click the Contact US link for contact information SEC Website Example: finding a 10K report for Kroger: 1. Click the link Search for Company Filings under Filings & Forms (EDGAR) 2. Click the link for Full Text Search on the lefthand side of the screen 3. Click the link for Advanced Search on the righthand side of the screen 4. Go to the In Form Type pulldown menu and click on 10K 5. Type the company name in the appropriate box 6. Click on Search S&P Market Insight Example: finding a 10K report for Kroger: 1. Click the link for Company at the top of the screen 2. Type the ticker symbol in the box and click Go 3. Click the link for EDGAR on the lefthand side of the screen 4. Click the icon of the document to change the format (Word, HTML, etc) 5. Click the link for the 10K report under Annual Filings 6. Click the link for Archives to access older 10K reports (back to 1994) Lexis Example: finding a 10K report for Kroger: 1. Click Business at the top of the screen 2. Go to the Lefthand side of the screen and click the link for SEC Filings 3. Type either the ticker symbol or the company name into the appropriate box 4. Go to the Sources pulldown menu and click on SEC Form 10K 5. Select the date you want (the default is all dates) 6. Click on Search (In LexisNexis, a single 10K is often split into several records, so be careful)