Reflect on your experience developing a comprehensive financial analysis over the span of this course.

Overall, this process has been enlightening. In a lot of ways, I thought that I understood quite well the role of an executive and what it entailed, but I was wrong. I didn't comprehend the level of understanding that they needed regarding particular types of analysis in the market in order to make sound decisions as a leader. Naively, I figured it was as simple as taking information from accountants etc. and compiling the information to make a decision. While this is still a factor in making sound decisions as a leader, not all of the information will be provided to you in order for you to be able to analyze and interpret appropriately to come to a consensus.

Which components were the easiest to develop?

For me, the easiest was probably the calculations of the ratios etc. It's all a matter of taking the information provided and performing mathematical calculations. In essence, it's all plug-and-play when performing these tasks. While some of these can be more tedious and difficult than another, all entail simple mathematical processes and this was the easiest.

Which components were the hardest?

Analysis of the results from the mathematical processes performed was the most difficult. Performing calculations is the easy part but when you have to take the results of the calculations, understand their meanings, and then formulate an action, that is truly stressful and difficult. For me even just learning this process was stressful because of all of the potential domino affects that could be instigated if someone is not careful. The market is very volatile and unpredictable. If an executive does not understand and interpret the results of the calculations in depth, it could be catastrophic for a company. All things considered, analyzing the results and interpreting their meaning and portrayal of the market or health of the company was the most difficult for me.

What other challenges did you encounter and how did you resolve them?

At first, trying to find appropriate and relative resources was a significant struggle. Given that I have no background in this approach to the economy or financial markets within companies, let alone how to analyze it, this was definitely difficult as I had to start from the ground up. However, as time continued, I was able to identify the most relative and reliable resources for our projects. My favorite has become Investopedia given its multitude of relevant information and the presentation of its information is extremely easy to read and provides great examples that are easy to follow and relate to enhancing the depth of the material.

Did anything surprise you as you worked through this project?

I was actually very surprised at how many analyses exist in analyzing a company and a market at a particular point in time. I thought you might look at a couple of ratios and be able to formulate a picture of a company thoroughly but that is not the case. The depth in which these companies can be analyzed on their performance is unreal. Even more, the fact that a company can still find loopholes to be unethical and skew numbers is baffling. Because of this, my interpretation of the corporate and executive world is not a pretty one.

What are key takeaways you learned in this course that you can applyin the future?

Investments. Investments. Investments. Out of all of the things to take away from this course, I am taking the knowledge on how to analyze a company's economic health to determine future investments for myself and even my own business investments in the future. If I were to ever own my own company or business I will have a greater capability to make sound financial decisions that should highly benefit the company in the future. If it wasn't for my taking this course, I would have likely failed to make beneficial or profitable choices.