Case Study Assignment: Campbell Soup Case

In this Assignment, you will explore the asset structure of Campbell Soup and how it measures their use effectively. This will prepare you to view any company with the same scrutiny.

Locate the Campbell Soup Case 4-4 on page 272 of your text. Be sure to submit thoughtful and substantial answers to the questions following each case.

Analysis of Investing Activities Campbell Soup Refer to the annual report of Campbell Soup Company in Appendix A. a. Compute Campbell Soups working capital at the end of Year 11. b. Campbell Soup reports net receivables totaling over $527 million. To whom has it extended credit and how much bad debt reserve is provided against these receivables? What percentage of total receivables is considered uncollectible? c. What cost flow assumption does Campbell Soup use for inventories? What is its inventory write-down policy? d. The inventory turnover ratio (cost of goods sold/average inventory) is a measure of inventory management efficiency and effectiveness. Compute the inventory turnover ratio for Campbell Soup and comment on ways that it might improve the ratio. e. How much is the LIFO reserve for Campbell Soup? What are the total tax benefits realized by Campbell Soup as of the end of fiscal Year 11 because it chose the LIFO inventory cost flow assumption (assume a 35% tax rate)? f. What would Campbell Soups pretax income have been in Year 11 if it had chosen FIFO? g. What percentage of total assets is Campbell Soups investment in plant assets? What depreciation method does it use for fixed assets? What percentage of historical cost is the accumulated depreciation amount associated with these assets? What can the percentage depreciated calculation reveal to an analyst about fixed assets? h. Campbell Soup reports intangible assets totaling about $436 million at the end of Year 11. What major transaction(s) gave rise to this amount? CHECK(d) Inventory turnover, 5.37 (f) $672.4 mil.

This is a challenging activity. You should prepare to spend substantial time working on your response.

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