An annual report is a comprehensive statement describing a company's activities throughout the preceding year. Annual reports are intended to provide shareholders and other interested stakeholders informed about the company's activities and financial performance. All public corporations must provide shareholders with a financial report every year so that shareholders understand and are able to assess overall performance.

The first part of the report often contains an impressive combination of graphics, photos, and an accompanying narrative, all of which chronicle the company's activities over the past year. The back part of the report contains detailed financial and operational information.

In this assignment, you will read and assess the financial performance of IBM, Inc. over the past couple of years. Begin by downloading the latest IBM annual report from AnnualReports.com. Once you have accessed the website, search for IBM, and then download the most recent annual report in a PDF format. Read pages 128, and then find the financial data (i.e., income statements, balance sheets and statements of cash flows) on pages 78-81.

Using the IBM income statement data on page 78 in the annual report, create a common size income statement by using the Common Income Statement Template located under Week 4's Resources.

Using the consolidated income statement data and the balance sheet data on page 80 in the IBM annual report, create a table of ratios. To create the required common size income statements for IBM, using the information and model found in the article by Laux (2010)

For this assignment, you will create a four-part analysis of IBM. In Section 1 of your paper, summarize what you learned or found particularly interesting about IBM in your reading of the first 28 pages of the annual report. In Section 2, insert the tables you created (either cut and paste from Excel or create tables in Word). In Section 3, evaluate IBM by discussing the numbers in your common size income statement and balance sheet ratios. Look for trends that identify areas of strength, stability, or possible concern.