Give a one-or-two sentence overview of what you will discuss next. Introduce Table 1. Do not just present it without saying why it is there. Complete a table like the one below. You can copy and paste this table and then complete it with your company’s information.

Table 1

Financial Results for Nike SEC 10K

	Amount (Convert to Millions or Billions)
Balance Sheet Items:
Total Current Assets
Total Assets
Total Current Liabilities
Total Liabilities
Total Equity
Total Liabilities + Total Owners’ Equity
Income Statement Items:
Total Revenue
Cost of Goods Sold (or Cost of Product Sales)
Gross Profit (Total Revenue – Cost of Goods Sold)
Net Income or (Net Loss)
Profit Margin (Net Income/Total Revenue)

For your revenue amount and Cost of goods sold, be sure to include Total revenues and Total cost of sales if you have more than one revenue source and/or more than one cost of sales amount.

Then say: The results in Table 1 are key amounts from the SEC 10-K of (your company’s name). You can comment briefly on the results in the table here as a segue to the next section.

 Balance Sheet Terminology and Results. Begin this section by saying what a balance sheet is and telling what it contains. Define the three main components. Cite the source for the balance sheet definition and the main components. If your company uses a different title, you can say what the title is. After defining and describing the main components of the balance sheet, write two (or more) paragraphs about other aspects of the balance sheet that you found particularly interesting for your company. Find accounts on your company’s balance sheet, or terms related to the balance sheet that you think would be interesting to discuss. Tell what the terms are, define each and provide a citation for each term. Ideally, the terms can be related in some way. I will provide some suggestions at the end of my directions. Then tell what you found for your company for the things you discussed and tell why you found them interesting.

 Income Statement Terminology and Results. Begin this section by saying what an income statement is and telling what it contains. Define the three main components. Cite the source for the income statement definition and the main components. If your company uses a different title, you can say what the title is. After defining and describing the main components of the income statement, write two (or more) paragraphs related to the income statement that you find interesting. Find accounts on your company’s income statement, or terms related to the income statement that you think would be interesting to discuss. Tell what the terms are, define each and provide a citation for each term. Ideally, the terms can be related in some way. As with the balance sheet, I will provide some suggestions at the end of my directions. Then tell what you found for your company for the things you discussed and tell why you found them interesting.

This section of your paper is intended to allow you to demonstrate that you have learned some of the basics of financial accounting, can research and cite valid sources to support your understanding, and can relate your knowledge to a real company’s results. Since each student has a different company, this is where I expect to see wide variation in what is written.

 Conclusion.

Make closing remarks about the results you found for your company. Were you surprised about anything? Did you learn anything about your company that you did not expect? Do you think your company has a bright future or a dim future? Is there anything about your company’s operations you would change? You do not have to discuss all of these. Just pick at least one or two thoughtful aspects of the company to discuss. It would be great if you could tie your conclusions to the things you discussed about the items on the balance sheet and especially on the income statement.