ANALYSIS OF THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS OF A PUBLICLY OWNED CORPORATION This Comprehensive Problem is to acquaint you with the content of the 2018 financial statements of Home Depot, Inc., reproduced in Appendix A of this textbook. (The 2018 financial statements are for the fiscal year ended February 3, 2019.) The problem contains three major parts, which are independent of one another: Part I is designed to familiarize you with the general contents of a company's financial statements; Part II involves analysis of the company's liquidity; and Part III analyzes the trend in its profitability. If you work this problem as a group assignment, each group member should be prepared to discuss the group's findings and conclusions in class. A good starting point for understanding the financial statements of a company such as Home Depot, Inc., is to understand the accounting policies used in preparing those statements. The first note accompanying the financial statements provides a brief description of the major accounting policies the company used. Many of the areas discussed in this note have been covered in this text. Part I Annual reports include not only comparative financial statements but also other sources of information, such as: . A multiyear summary of selected information comparing key financial and other statistics for the past 5 or 10 years. . Several pages of Notes that accompany the financial statements. Reports by management and by the independent auditors in which they express their respective responsibilities for the financial statements.