U.S. companies are holding more cash than ever before on their balance sheets.

Look up Apple’s Statement of Cash Flows and Balance Sheet for 2014, as an example, from http://www.sec.gov/edgar/searchedgar/companysearch.html.

Apple has been successful in generating cash and we can observe a huge amount of cash accumulated on Apple’s balance sheet.

You can identify the size of Apple’s cash holding by referring to the ratio of Apple’s cash to its book value of assets, the dollar amount of cash holdings, the trend of its cash ratios, the trend of its cash balance, etc.

Discuss:

1. Evaluate why Apple is holding so much cash. Discuss your recommendations on Apple's cash holdings from the perspectives of:
   1. Shareholders
   2. Managers
   3. Debt holders
2. Identify and analyze some of Apple’s major investing activities that use and provide cash.