I am in the process of completing my final project. Please help me the Executive Summary, Approach and recommendations portions of the project which is outlined in sections I, II and VII of the rubric. I have completed milestones 1,2 & 3 which is section III, IV, V, VI of the rubric - which i have also attached. ALso if you can please help me arrange the references in the proper order. Please keep in mind the approach is apart of the executive summary, the two should not exceed one pg together, the recomendation doesn't need to be more than one page either. So basically no more than two pages. Please see all attachments. Please use rubric as guide.

The company being used is WAL-MART

Running head: WAL-MART FINAL REPORT ANALYSIS WAL-MART Financial Analysis Projection Report 1 WAL-MART FINANCIAL HEALTH AND PERFORMANCE 2 Wal-Mart Financial Health and Performance Organizational Context The Wal-Mart is a world or multinational retailer in the United States of America as its roots. It runs small single department stores that have grown for many years to make profit and has therefore grown to become one of the world's largest retailer stores. It runs under the corporation of hypermarket and grocery department stores. Through increased sales of the company they have been able to acquire more finance and income that has enabled its growth. The growth of the company has been contributed by both the sales in the stores and the organizational structure of the company that includes the leadership of the company. This has therefore enabled good financial performance and health business practices. Features Wal-Mart operates both whole and retail services to the customers. It is widely located due to its performance of global scope business operation. It operates in different segments that include Wal-Mart U.S, Wal-Mart international and Sam's club. These operating segments involve digital, online and retail store operations. The company sells a variety of goods and services to varying customer at lower prices to enhance attraction of customers (Wahlen et., al 2014). These products include electronics, office and home equipment's, toys, beauty products, groceries and other products that a person my need for daily task. These are carried out in different store categories which vary from supermarkets, hypermarkets, warehouses, cash and carry items, drugs stores, supercenters, and digital retail. These varieties of items are appealing to the customers and enhance marketing opportunities and competitive advantages that enable the company to succeed in its operation. WAL-MART FINANCIAL HEALTH AND PERFORMANCE 3 The company has technological advances and makes the effort to expand and bring new products which enable healthy financial performance of the company. Having different and new store formats is also appealing to the customer due to accessibility hence increasing the number of sales. Organization Structure The company is managed through a structure that contains both the hierarchical and function based definition. Vertical command line exists within the firm's Hierarchy and the authority across the organization while the function based is the group of employees that include departments that govern the employee at the level of operation (Wild et., al 2004). This therefore is influential to the level of decision making on the company due to involvement of all parties hence improving the performance of employees due to their involvement and the feeling that they are valued which therefore reflects back to the outcome of the company. Walmart Financial Performance Financials Revenue Percentage Gross Margin 2012-01 2013-01 2014-01 2015-01 2016-01 446,509 468,651 476,294 485,651 482,130 24.8 24.8 24.8 25.1 25.0 Operating Income 26,491 27,725 26,872 27,147 24,105 Percentage Operating Margin 5.9 5.9 5.6 5.6 5.0 Net Profit 15,699 16,999 16,022 16,363 14,694 WAL-MART FINANCIAL HEALTH AND PERFORMANCE 4 2012-01 2013-01 2014-01 2015-01 2016-01 Dividends 1.46 1.59 1.88 1.92 1.96 Cash Flow USD Mil 24,255 25,591 23,257 28,564 27,389 * Indicates calendar year-end data information Financial Health Wal-Mart is one of the most powerful company in the world that has a strong balance sheet and great cash generation in its operation. Wal-Mart is making investments that are significant to the people and delivering technological advances through their association with shareholders and customers (Isberg et., al 2013). In the recent fiscal year it has generated a great revenue, operating income and return on investment in its annual report. In the current year it has added 300 new global stores. The shareholders have returned in excess through the dividends and purchase of share due to the strong financial strength. Wal-Mart has an everyday low operation concept to customers that appeals the customers hence increased seal and with their global appearance and the chains of operation they are able to gain competitive advantage. To understand the profitability and healthy performance of Wal-Mart it is worth to consider their price to sale ratios, operating margin, return on invested capital and dividend yield. Their price to sales ratio has enhanced growth due to competitive pressure by their peers. The high dividend yield has fluctuated the changes in the price of stock and also the amount paid per share as compared to their competitors. The company is generating a lot of free cash flows that are more than enough to cover the needs of the dividends. The company's margin of operation is above -0.1% in the industry level and is likely to remain constant due to rise of labor and costs WAL-MART FINANCIAL HEALTH AND PERFORMANCE 5 that are restricting from the closures of the store (Jablonsky, et., al 1998). The company has had a high return on invested capital that has indicated that the company has delivered value to its shareholders. WAL-MART FINANCIAL HEALTH AND PERFORMANCE 6 Due to continued sales and growth of the company through production and management it has thereby shown a good health performance through its income operations and sales on the stores. Use of technological operation methods and having global stores has enabled earning of more customers which has increased their sales due to selling a variety of stock products at favorable prices. Walmart Strategic Priorities and Behavior Success and Risk Factors The major success factors for Walmart's financial heath and performance and competitive advantage are economies of scale and the use of advanced information technology systems. Like other successful retail stores, Walmart invests more in technological systems, which have improved its inventory control, logistics and distribution. Also, due to the large economies of scale, Walmart has a chain of stores all over U.S and other parts of the world, which increases its inventory turnover and hence higher profit earnings. The major risk factors for Walmart's current and future performance include relatively costs (prices) for its products and opening several retail outlets close to each other. By selling products at a lower price to attract more customers and increase their inventory turnover, Walmart has to significantly lower input costs, which include paying employees lower wages compared to other retail stores. However, the increasing pressures to raise the minimum wages to about $15 dollars per hour will affect the company negatively because it will have to increase the employees' salaries or experience high employee turnover. Additionally, Walmart's expansion strategy involves setting many retail stores close to each other. This may limit growth and market WAL-MART FINANCIAL HEALTH AND PERFORMANCE 7 share because the retail stores will potentially cannibalize each other and reduce company's returns on investment. Although Walmart's management invests more in information technology to ensure flawless and efficient operations, the management seems to be more growth oriented because they focus more on establishing subsidiaries in both local and overseas markets. Walmart responds proactively to both internal and external risks inherent in their operations. For instance, the company closed 259 retail stores with poor financial performance of which 154 were U.S based as a strategy to reduce costs of production and increase their focus on e-commerce business. How Walmart can better capitalize on non-financial factors The retail industry market in U.S is saturated and thus highly competitive. The retail market is U.S is dominated by Target Corp, Costco Wholesale Corp, Amazon and other retail giants that offer stiff competition in terms of market outreach and skilled workforce. Thus, Walmart can capitalize on market share by making additional investment in overseas markets especially in developing countries through francizing or setting up subsidiaries. The company can also capitalize on reputation by motivating and encouraging their employees to offer quality services to customers to win their loyalty. The most significance internal risk to Walmart's financial performance is the high potential of loss of talented personnel. Walmart sells its products at the lowest cost compared to other retail stores to increase their customer base and they are therefore forced to reduce input costs including costs of labor to meet other operating expenses. Also, employees at Walmart serve a high influx of customers and work for longer shifts to meet the customers' demand. Both of these factors, lower pay and poor work-life balance result to increased employee turnover at WAL-MART FINANCIAL HEALTH AND PERFORMANCE 8 Walmart leading to loss of skilled personnel and increased costs for additionally hiring and onboarding. Projection of Walmart's future performance. Walmart's aggregate financial performance has increased invariably for the last ten years, between 2006 and 2016. For instance, the company's net revenues increased consistently from $308 billion in 2006 FY to 478 in the 2016 FY as shown in the following graph. Graph 1: Walmart's Net Revenue between 2006 and 2016. Walmart Net Revenue Since 2006 600 500 400 Amount in Million USD 300 200 100 0 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 Fiscal Year However, Walmart's operating income and net profit deteriorated significantly between 2012 and 2016 due to higher marketing requirements to counteract competition. Table 1: Walmart's financial performance between 2012 and 2016. Gross Margin % Operating Income (USD Mil) Operating Margin % 2012 25.0 26,49 1 5.9 2013 24.8 27,72 5 5.9 2014 24.8 26,87 2 5.6 2015 28.8 27,14 7 5.6 2016 25.1 24,10 5 5.1 WAL-MART FINANCIAL HEALTH AND PERFORMANCE Net Profit (USD Mil) Dividends Cash Flow (USD Mil) 15,69 9 1.46 24,25 5 16,99 9 1.59 25,59 1 16,02 2 1.88 23,25 7 16,36 3 1.92 28,56 4 9 14,69 4 1.96 27,38 9 Based on the above financial health and performance, Walmart's net revenue, gross margin, dividends and cash flow are expected to increase in the next three years, while operating income and the net profit are expected to deteriorate further. The projection that Walmart's net profit will decline further is based on the assumption that the company will have to increase their marketing expenses in order to counteract competition which is increasingly becoming stiffer. On the other hand, the company's revenue earnings will potentially increase because the company has shifted its focus to e-commerce, which will allow it to seize the opportunity for the increasing online customers. Likely investment A likely investment that Wal-Mart may consider is investing in in a strong worldwide ecommerce website. With the increasing demand in the online purchases across the world, a worldwide ecommerce website can be ideal to Wal-Mart and can revolutionize the way that WalMart does business. The basic features of a worldwide ecommerce include the ease of use. Shoppers of today are moving towards online buying since it saves time and offer a wide selection that help them save money. Online purchasing is being preferred by the people due to the easiness and convenience that allow the shoppers to purchase products and services at any time of the day from the comfort of their home. The investment will therefore be ideal to the company since it will help increase sales as more and more shoppers move to online buying (Report, 2017). WAL-MART FINANCIAL HEALTH AND PERFORMANCE 10 The modern e-commerce websites will help to decrease the physical stores and automate operations which will help in the reduction of costs. Search engines help to generate a lot of traffic to the websites which intron helps to increase the sales. The convenience and ease of use make have made e-commerce become of the most preferred way of shopping due to the easiness and user friendliness (Walmart, 2017). Investing in e-commerce will help Wal-Mart in achieving the cost leadership goals and due further reduction of costs Wal-Mart can be able to offer its products at a lower price for more competitive advantage (Walmart, 2017). Costs and Benefits Benefits A worldwide e-commerce website will help Wal-Mart to save on the operational costs; This is because it's possible to automate inventory management and decrease the costs associated with inventory by 10%. More e-commerce sales will help reduce the costs that are associated with inventory in the physical stores. This will therefore decrease the costs of revenue in Wal-Mart by 1% With this investment Wal-Mart is likely to reduce the personnel costs by 20%. This is because more automation of the billing, inventory managements and other operations is likely to reduce the number of employees that are required in the company. The effect on the spread sheet WAL-MART FINANCIAL HEALTH AND PERFORMANCE 11 projections is that the Sales, General and Administrative expenses will reduce by s will reduce by 5% With such a website, Wal-Mart will be able to offer complete product listings with high quality images, title and product descriptions. This will help to rank high in the search engines which value rich content. Additional 1.5% sales will be made from reaching more customers via the search engine visibility.. This will increase the sales in the spread sheet by 1.5%. With a worldwide e-commerce website Wal-Mart will be able to sell products all across the world and will not be limited by the geographical locations. Worldwide of customers will help in increasing the revenues and the profitability of the company (Report, 2017). The customers will be in charge of their own buying habits and they will have and there is wide range of products to select from. A committed and focused digital presence will be able to engage the potential customers and maintain relationships with the existing ones. This is likely to increase sales of Wal-Mart by 1.5%. The effect of this is that it will increase sales by 1.5% in the spreadsheet. percentage increase/decrease Additional Revenue 3% favorable Cost of revenue 1% favorable Sales, General and Admin. 5% favorable Costs WAL-MART FINANCIAL HEALTH AND PERFORMANCE 12 The costs include the initial investment costs that will be involved in the initial implementation of the worldwide e-commerce website. This includes the cost of purchasing the necessary equipment and the costs that will be involved in designing the website. The amount of the investment will total $6million The other cost there will be the annual maintenance costs that will be a total of $1billion each year costs Initial investment $7,000,000,000 Annual maintenance costs $1,000,000,000 Business opportunities implications The potential investment affects budgeting and the related business decisions in that the company will have to spend a significant amount of money to invest in the project. The amount that the Wal-Mart will have to invest in the project will include a total of $ 7 billion .This will affect the spending priorities in that the company will have to make the investment to be one of the priorities in the year. $7 billion in cash will be spent on the project The short-term priorities will be affected in that the company may have to cut down on some costs so as to meet the financial needs of the company. Some of the costs that the company may have to cut down in the short-term include the miscellaneous and the auxiliary costs that may not have significant effect on the smooth running of the company. WAL-MART FINANCIAL HEALTH AND PERFORMANCE 13 The investment will affect the long-term spending priorities in that it will help cut down costs such as the inventory costs, the wages and salaries, and the costs associated with running a physical store. Cost benefit analysis Additional operating income Additional Revenue $14,576,190,000 cost of revenue $3,612,560,000 Sales, General and Admin. 5092650000 Additional operating income $23,281,400,000 costs Initial investment $7,000,000,000 Annual maintenance costs $1,000,000,000 Benefits $15,281,400,000 The benefits outweigh the costs in the sense that project will be able to recoup the outlay in the next year. Further, the company will continue to benefit from reduced costs of operations and the additional revenue generated exceeds the costs of outlay which make it a suitable investment. In the next year there will be significant benefits in that the company will be able to have operating income of 23 billion. The net benefits will be 15.28 billion WAL-MART FINANCIAL HEALTH AND PERFORMANCE 14 WAL-MART FINANCIAL HEALTH AND PERFORMANCE 15 References Isberg, S., & Pitta, D. (2013). Using financial analysis to assess brand equity. Journal of Product & Brand Management, 22(1), 65-78. Jablonsky, S. F., & Barsky, N. P. (1998). The manager's guide to financial statement analysis. Wiley. Wahlen, J., Baginski, S., & Bradshaw, M. (2014). Financial reporting, financial statement analysis and valuation. Nelson Education. Wild, J. J., Bernstein, L. A., Subramanyam, K. R., & Halsey, R. F. (2004). Financial statement analysis. McGraw-Hill. Myerson, P. (2012). Lean supply chain and logistics management. Colombus: McGraw-Hill. Valentin, E. K. (2001). SWOT analysis from a resource-based view. Journal of Marketing theory and Practice, 9(2), 54-69. Walmart. (2016). Walmart strategy drives growth and sustainable returns, Plans $20 billion share repurchase program over two years. Retrieved May 8, 2017, from http:/ews.walmart.comews-archive/2015/10/14/walmart-strategy-drives-growth-andsustainable-returns-plans-20-billion-share-repurchase-program-over-two-years Report. (2017). Walmart Inc. Retrieved from http://stock.walmart.com/investors/financialinformation/annual-reports-and-proxies/default.aspx Walmart. (2017). Walmart Inc. Retrieved from http://www.nasdaq.com/symbol/wmt/financials? query=income-statement MBA 520 Final Project Guidelines and Rubric Overview Businesses and other organizations must regularly measure their financial performance and health in order to make operational and strategic decisions affecting the organization's future. Management professionals utilize income statements, balance sheets, cash flow statements, and a limitless variety of other reports and techniques to evaluate an organization. They also work closely with professionals from departments across the organizationincluding marketing, human resources, and operationsto ensure that the business runs smoothly and that financial decisions are not made in isolation. For this project, you will use the accounting and finance skills you learned in the course to review the past and current financial performance and health of a global, publicly traded company. Based on that analysis, you will create initial financial projections that forecast the company's performance under different scenarios and identify internal risks and opportunities in order to begin planning future activities. This assessment addresses the following course outcomes: Assess organizations' underlying financial performance and health by analyzing relevant financial statements, variances, ratios, and other financial information Draw connections between accounting and financial information and the broader organizational context for making integrated business decisions Assess critical factors driving financial risks and opportunities for informing management priorities Forecast business performance under different assumptions about inputs and processes using simple financial models Evaluate the internal costs and benefits of business opportunities for their impact on budgeting and business decisions Communicate financial analyses clearly and coherently for persuading internal stakeholders of the validity of observations and conclusions Prompt Imagine you are a newly hired manager at a publicly traded, global corporation of your choosing. (Your instructor must approve your choice. You may also choose a non-publicly traded organization, if your instructor verifies that the organization has sufficient financial information available to complete the project.) You have been asked to review the company's past and current financial performance and health and make initial financial projections in order to begin planning for the upcoming year. Your supervisor is particularly interested in a fresh perspective on what your analysis reveals about potential risks and opportunities, as well as recommendations for next steps. Because you will eventually need to convince internal stakeholders, including senior management, of the feasibility and desirability of your suggested activities, it is important that you justify your projections and recommendations, explaining how they were informed by existing information and modeling different scenarios. Your financial analysis and projection report will include several financial tables, along with a comprehensive narrative describing the organization's context, financial performance and health, and your analytical approach and conclusions. Your report should be geared toward an executive audience with basic accounting and finance knowledge and should be well organized, clear, concise, convincing, and free of distracting errors. Note that, in addition to the organization's financial statements and website, other authoritative news sourcessuch as annual reports and external sites like Bloomberg.commay offer insights that facilitate analysis or provide information on the organization's priorities, challenges, and geographic distribution. Specifically, your financial analysis and projection report must include the following critical elements: I. Executive Summary. Clearly and concisely summarize your principal findings, projections, and recommendations with an eye to persuading busy executives to support your ideas and to read further. II. Approach. Provide your intended audience with a solid, but brief, sense of the parameters of your analysis and who else you would consult in refining it further and why. Remember, your goal is to convince readers of the validity of your observations, while recognizing limitations that affect business decisions. III. Financial Performance and Health. In this section, you will evaluate the organization's recent financial performance and current financial health, given its organizational context. In particular, you must cover: A. Organizational Context 1. What key features of the organization (e.g., major products or services, customers, location, etc.) help set the boundaries for business decisions? In other words, what key goods or services does your organization provide, for whom, where, and why? 2. How is the company organized and managed (e.g., by product groups, geographic region, function, etc.)? How does that affect accounting and financial information and subsequent business decisions? B. Recent Financial Performance 1. Assess what the organization's consolidated income statements for the last three years say about its financial performance. Use relevant indicators, graphs, and spreadsheets to support your narrative. (Include all spreadsheets in an appendix.) For example, what do the amounts and year-to-year changes in revenue, operating income, net profit or loss, and Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortization tell you? Do any items stand out? 2. Assess what the organization's consolidated cash flow statements for the same time period say about its financial performance. Use relevant indicators, graphs, and spreadsheets to support your narrative. For example, what do the amounts and year-to-year changes in cash from operating activities, cash from investing, cash from financing, and total cash flow tell you? Do any items stand out? 3. Assess the organization's underlying financial performance. Support your answer with the analysis above and relevant research. For example, is recent performance substantially affected by unusual events such as a major acquisition or spin-off? Is the business thriving or struggling in its industry? How do you know? C. Current Financial Health 1. Assess how the organization is capitalized and what that tells you about its financial health. Support your response with relevant graphs, spreadsheets, and indicators such as \"cash and cash equivalents,\" total debt, shareholders' equity, current ratio, debt/equity ratio, and Days Sales Outstanding (DSO). For example, does the organization have enough cash for payroll and other bills? Does it have the right mix of debt versus equity (stock)? How do you know? 2. Does the organization have the right amount of cash and other resources (e.g., key people, technologies, reputation, physical assets, etc.) to fuel future growth? What does this suggest for business decisions? For example, if it has too much cash, should it pay a large dividend, repurchase its own shares, or reinvest the excess funds? 3. Assess the financial value of the company using relevant indicators. What does your assessment imply for future business health and performance? For example, what is the business's current market value? What is its price-to-earnings ratio? What do these suggest about investor perceptions of the business's future? IV. Success Factors and Risks. Use this section to discuss the factors that may affect current and future performance. Specifically: A. How do the organization's financial and strategic priorities affect accounting procedures and business decisions? How might that affect business success? For example, is management growth-oriented or efficiency-oriented? What is the organization's approach to risk and short- versus longterm planning horizons? B. How might the organization better capitalize on non-financial factors such as market share, reputation, human resources, physical facilities, or patents? Support your response with relevant research and analysis. C. What are the most significant internal risks to the company's financial performance? Give evidence to support your response. For example, is the company vulnerable to technological changes or cyber-attacks? Loss of high-talent personnel? Production disruptions? V. Projections. Based on what you know about the organization's financial health and performance, forecast its future performance. In particular, you should: A. Project the organization's likely consolidated financial performance for each of the next three years. Support your analysis with an appendix spreadsheet showing actual results for the most recent year, along with your projections and assumptions. Remember, your supervisor is interested in fresh perspectives, so you should not just replicate existing financial statements, but should add other relevant calculations or disaggregations to help inform decisions. B. Modify your projections for the coming year to show a best- and worst-case scenario, based on the potential success factors and risks you identified. As with your initial projections, support your analysis with an appendix spreadsheet, specifying your assumptions and including relevant calculations and disaggregations beyond those in existing financial reports. C. Discuss how your assumptions, forecasting methodology, and information gaps affect your projections. Why are your projections appropriate? For example, are they consistent with the organization's mission and priorities? Aggressive but achievable? How would changing your assumptions change your projections? VI. Business opportunities. In this section, discuss the incremental impact of a hypothetical, but reasonable, simple new investment project, such as a new product or facility or a cost-cutting investment, as an initial step in thinking about the future. Be sure to address the following: A. Based on your knowledge of this organization, what is a likely investment it would consider and why? Be sure to describe the basic features of the investment as a foundation for considering its potential financial impact. B. Evaluate the approximate costs and benefits of the investment you identified, explaining how these would affect your spreadsheet projections and business decisions. Estimates are sufficient, but should be grounded in common sense and insight into the organization. C. How does the potential investment affect budgeting and related business decisions? For example, does the investment involve significant cash spending this coming year, followed by benefits in the following year? How might that affect short-term and long-term spending priorities? Does the benefit outweigh the cost? VII. Recommendations. What should you and your manager do next? Support your recommendations with evidence from your financial analysis. For example, should the company pursue the new investment you identified? Implement process changes to decrease risks and/or improve performance? Milestones Milestone One: Financial Performance and Health In Module Three, you will submit your first milestone in which you will evaluate the organization's recent financial performance and current financial health, given its organizational context. This milestone will be graded with the Milestone One Rubric. Milestone Two: Success Factors, Risk, and Projections In Module Five, you will discuss factors that may affect current and future performance. You will then forecast future performance, based on what you know about the organization's financial health and performance. This milestone will be graded with the Milestone Two Rubric. Milestone Three: Business Opportunities In Module Seven, you will discuss the incremental impact of a hypothetical, but reasonable, simple new investment project, such as a new product or facility or a cost-cutting investment, as an initial step in thinking about the future. This milestone will be graded with the Milestone Three Rubric. Final Submission: Financial Analysis Projection Report In Module Nine, you will submit your final project. It should be a complete, polished artifact containing all of the critical elements of the final product. It should reflect the incorporation of feedback gained throughout the course. This submission will be graded with the Final Product Rubric. Deliverables Milestone 1 Deliverable Financial Performance and Health Module Due Three Grading Graded separately; Milestone One Rubric Five Graded separately; Milestone Two Rubric 2 Success Factors, Risk, and Projections 3 Business Opportunities Seven Graded separately; Milestone Three Rubric Final Submission: Financial Analysis Projection Report Nine Graded separately; Final Product Rubric Final Product Rubric Guidelines for Submission: Your financial analysis and projection report should be approximately 6-8 pages long (excluding title page, spreadsheets and graphs, and references list). It should be double spaced, with 12-point Times New Roman font and one-inch margins, and should use the latest guidelines for APA formatting for references and citations. Please also include your name, course name, and submission date on the title page. Instructor Feedback: This activity uses an integrated rubric in Blackboard. Students can view instructor feedback in the Grade Center. For more information, review these instructions. Critical Elements Executive Summary Exemplary (100%) Meets \"Proficient\" criteria, and response is especially wellsuited for target audience Proficient (90%) Clearly and concisely summarizes principal findings, projections, and recommendations with an eye to persuading busy executives to support ideas and read further Approach Meets \"Proficient\" criteria, and response is especially wellsuited for target audience Provides intended audience with a solid, but brief, sense of parameters of analysis and who else would be consulted in refining it Needs Improvement (70%) Summarizes principal findings, projections, and recommendations with an eye to persuading busy executives to support ideas and read further, but summary is lengthy, lacks clarity, omits critical details, or contains inaccuracies Provides intended audience with a sense of parameters of analysis and who else would be consulted, but response is lengthy, lacks clarity, omits critical details, or contains inaccuracies Not Evident (0%) Does not summarize principal findings, projections, and recommendations with an eye to persuading busy executives to support ideas and read further Value 5.33 Does not provide intended audience with a sense of parameters of analysis and who else would be consulted in refining it 5.33 Financial: Context: Key Features Meets \"Proficient\" criteria and draws particularly insightful connections between organization's financial and non-financial features and business decisions Describes how key features of organization help set boundaries for business decisions Financial: Context: Organized Meets \"Proficient\" criteria and demonstrates especially keen insight into relationships between organization's structure, how financial information is recorded, and impact on business decisions Analyzes how company is organized and managed and effect on accounting and financial information and subsequent business decisions Financial: Performance: Income Meets \"Proficient\" criteria, and analysis and supporting evidence are particularly wellsuited to drawing meaningful conclusions about financial performance Assesses what consolidated income statements for last three years say about financial performance, supported by relevant indicators, graphs, and spreadsheets Financial: Performance: Cash Flow Meets \"Proficient\" criteria, and analysis and supporting evidence are particularly wellsuited to drawing meaningful conclusions about financial performance Assesses what consolidated cash flow statements for the same time period say about financial performance, supported by relevant indicators, graphs, and spreadsheets Financial: Performance: Underlying Meets \"Proficient\" criteria, and assessment is especially nuanced and well supported by relevant analysis and research Assesses underlying financial performance, supported by analysis and relevant research Describes how key features of organization help set boundaries for business decisions, but response is cursory, contains inaccuracies, or links to decision making are weak or illogical Analyzes how company is organized and effect on accounting and financial information and decisions, but response is cursory, contains inaccuracies, or links between organizational structure, finance, and decision making are weak or illogical Assesses what consolidated income statements say about financial performance, supported by indicators, graphs, and spreadsheets, but response is cursory, contains inaccuracies, or support is not relevant Assesses what consolidated cash flow statements say about financial performance, supported by indicators, graphs, and spreadsheets, but response is cursory or contains inaccuracies or support is not relevant Assesses underlying financial performance, supported by analysis and research, but response is cursory, contains gaps in accuracy or logic, or is poorly supported by analysis and research Does not describe how key features of organization help set boundaries for business decisions 5.33 Does not analyze how company is organized and managed and effect on accounting and financial information and subsequent business decisions 5.33 Does not assess what consolidated income statements for last three years say about financial performance, supported by relevant indicators, graphs, and spreadsheets 3.6 Does not assess what consolidated cash flow statements for the same time period say about financial performance, supported by relevant indicators, graphs, and spreadsheets 3.6 Does not assess underlying financial performance, supported by analysis and relevant research 3.6 Financial: Health: Capitalized Meets \"Proficient\" criteria and analysis and supporting evidence are particularly well suited to drawing meaningful conclusions about financial health Assesses how organization is capitalized and what that says about financial health, supported by relevant graphs, spreadsheets, and indicators Financial: Health: Growth Meets \"Proficient\" criteria and demonstrates extraordinary insight into the connections between financial and nonfinancial resources, resource management strategies, and business decisions related to growth Determines whether organization has right amount of cash and other resources to fuel future growth and what this suggests for business decisions Financial: Health: Financial Value Meets \"Proficient\" criteria, and assessment and supporting evidence are particularly well suited to drawing meaningful conclusions about future financial health and performance Assesses financial value of company and what it implies for future health and performance using relevant indicators Success Factors and Risks: Priorities Meets \"Proficient\" criteria, and discussion of how priorities inform management decisions is especially nuanced Determines how organization's financial and strategic priorities affect accounting procedures and business decisions and the implications for business success Assesses how organization is capitalized and what that says about financial health, supported by graphs, spreadsheets, and indicators, but response is cursory or contains inaccuracies or support is not relevant Determines whether organization has right amount of cash and other resources to fuel future growth and what this suggests for business decisions, but response is cursory or contains inaccuracies or links between different types of resources and business decisions are weak or illogical Assesses financial value of company and what it implies for future health and performance using relevant indicators, but assessment is cursory or contains inaccuracies or links to future health and performance are weak or illogical Determines how organization's financial and strategic priorities affect accounting procedures and business decisions and the implications for business success, but response is cursory or contains inaccuracies or links between priorities and business decisions and procedures are weak or illogical Does not assess how organization is capitalized and what that says about financial health, supported by relevant graphs, spreadsheets, and indicators 3.6 Does not determine whether organization has right amount of cash and other resources to fuel future growth and what this suggests for business decisions 5.33 Does not assess financial value of company and what it implies for future health and performance using relevant indicators 3.6 Does not determine how organization's financial and strategic priorities affect accounting procedures and business decisions and the implications for business success 5.33 Success Factors and Risks: Non-Financial Factors Meets \"Proficient\" criteria and demonstrates extraordinary insight into the ways in which non-monetary factors impact business opportunities Identifies how organization might better capitalize on nonfinancial factors, supported by relevant research and analysis Success Factors and Risks: Risks Meets \"Proficient\" criteria and provides especially nuanced and well-supported insight into the internal factors that are most significant in driving financial risk Pinpoints most significant internal risks to financial performance, supported by evidence Projections: Likely Performance Meets \"Proficient\" criteria, and projections are especially nuanced and well-supported by evidence and realistic assumptions Projects likely consolidated financial performance for next three years, supported by spreadsheet showing actual results for most recent year, projections, and assumptions Projections: Best and Worst Case Meets \"Proficient\" criteria and demonstrates especially keen insight into the range of possible financial projections, based on reasonable and realistic assumptions Modifies projections to show best- and worst-case scenarios for coming year based on success factors and risks identified, supported by spreadsheet with assumptions and relevant information beyond existing financial reports Identifies how organization might better capitalize on nonfinancial factors, supported by research and analysis, but response is cursory, contains inaccuracies, or is poorly supported Pinpoints most significant internal risks to financial performance, supported by evidence, but response is cursory, contains gaps in accuracy or logic, or evidence is weak or irrelevant Projects likely consolidated financial performance for next three years, supported by spreadsheet showing actual results for most recent year, projections, and assumptions, but response contains inaccuracies or faulty assumptions or omits key details Modifies projections to show best- and worst-case scenarios based on success factors and risks identified, supported by spreadsheet with assumptions and additional information, but response contains inaccuracies or faulty assumptions or additional information included is not relevant Does not identify how organization might better capitalize on non-financial factors, supported by research and analysis 5.33 Does not pinpoint most significant internal risks to financial performance, supported by evidence 5.33 Does not project likely consolidated financial performance for next three years, supported by spreadsheet showing actual results for most recent year, projections, and assumptions 5.33 Does not modify projections to show best- and worst-case scenarios based on success factors and risks identified, supported by spreadsheet with assumptions and information beyond existing financial reports 5.33 Projections: Discuss Meets \"Proficient\" criteria and demonstrates especially keen insight into the sensitivity of financial projections to changing circumstances and assumptions Discusses how assumptions, forecasting methodology, and information gaps affect projections and why projections are appropriate Business Opportunities: Likely Investment Meets \"Proficient\" criteria, and investment identified is particularly well-aligned with the needs, priorities, and goals of the organization Identifies likely investment to consider and why, describing its basic features as a foundation for considering potential financial impact Business Opportunities: Costs and Benefits Meets \"Proficient\" criteria, and evaluation is based on realistic estimates and is especially well aligned with decision-making needs Evaluates approximate costs and benefits of investment identified, explaining how these would affect spreadsheet projections and business decisions Business Opportunities: Implications Meets \"Proficient\" criteria, and discussion of budgeting implications is particularly nuanced and well aligned with decision-making needs Assesses implications of potential investment for budgeting and related business decisions Recommendations Meets \"Proficient\" criteria, and response is especially wellsuited for target audience Recommends clear and coherent next steps, based on persuasive evidence from financial analysis Discusses how assumptions, methodology, and information gaps affect projections and why projections are appropriate, but discussion is cursory or illogical or contains inaccuracies Identifies likely investment to consider and why, describing its basic features as a foundation for considering potential financial impact, but response is cursory or contains inaccuracies or justification for why investment would be of interest to organization is weak Evaluates approximate costs and benefits of investment identified, explaining how these would affect spreadsheet projections and business decisions, but evaluation is cursory or contains gaps in accuracy or logic, or links to business decisions are weak Assesses the implications of potential investment for budgeting and related business decisions, but evaluation is cursory or contains inaccuracies Recommends next steps, based on evidence from financial analysis, but these are not clear and coherent, or evidence is not persuasive given intended audience Does not discuss how assumptions, forecasting methodology, and information gaps affect projections and why projections are appropriate 5.33 Does not identify likely investment to consider and why, describing its basic features as a foundation for considering potential financial impact 5.33 Does not evaluate approximate costs and benefits of investment identified, explaining how these would affect spreadsheet projections and business decisions 5.33 Does not assess implications of potential investment for budgeting and related business decisions 5.33 Does not recommend next steps, based on evidence from financial analysis 5.33 Articulation of Response Submission is free of errors related to citations, grammar, spelling, syntax, and organization and is presented in a professional and easy-toread format Submission has no major errors related to citations, grammar, spelling, syntax, or organization Submission has major errors related to citations, grammar, spelling, syntax, or organization that negatively impact readability and articulation of main ideas Submission has critical errors related to citations, grammar, spelling, syntax, or organization that prevent understanding of ideas 2.05 Earned Total 100%