Description For this milestone, submit a draft of a portion of the analysis step, Section F: Benchmarks. You will analyze your chosen company’s performance relative to the industry. You will be expected to find one peer company that operates in the industry of your chosen company and perform a side-by-side analysis of the same ratios you performed in Milestone Three and answer the questions posed in Part II, Section F of the Final Project Document.You may use the Yahoo! Finance and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission websites to gather the information.For additional details, please refer to the Milestone Four Guidelines and Rubric document and the Final Project Document. 4 attachmentsSlide 1 of 4attachment_1attachment_1attachment_2attachment_2attachment_3attachment_3attachment_4attachment_4.slider-slide > img { width: 100%; display: block; } .slider-slide > img:focus { margin: auto; } Unformatted Attachment Preview FIN 325: Final Project Milestone One Brendon Cronin Southern New Hampshire University 5/16/20 Final Project Milestone One Part I Milestone One 2 Microsoft Inc. Income Statement Source: https://www.macrotrends.net/stocks/charts/MSFT/microsoft/income-statement Microsoft Inc. Balance Sheet Milestone One Source: https://www.macrotrends.net/stocks/charts/MSFT/microsoft/balance-sheet 3 Milestone One 4 Microsoft Inc. Statement of Cash Flow Source: https://www.macrotrends.net/stocks/charts/MSFT/microsoft/cash-flow-statement Milestone One 5 Part II Different figures are provided by the financial statements on the financial standing of the company. However, all financial statements are interconnected. These are the important statements as they provide an insight into financial highlights of the organization, focusing on any potential issues of the company, along with the way these finances are being handled. The income statement is one primary financial statement that is generally prepared before any other financial statement. The income statement leads to a loss or profit of a company for a specific time period. The income statement gives current and potential investors a detailed, clear overview of financial stature of the company sales to profits, non-operational, and operational costs showing the company’s condition. One more strength is associated with its detailed data of revenue with comprising non-operational attributes attained within a particular period outside of revenues related to sales. From the income statement, one more helpful tool is that it assists an organization in evaluating its incurred expenses with the intention of earning the revenues. For income statement, one drawback is the data’s potential of misrepresentation with a decrease or increase in revenues in a particular time period because of comprising money from sales’ accounts receivable when the accrued expenses have not been paid by the company. This can lead to a company’s success distortion to shareholders, management, creditors, and investors. For income statement, one more limitation is that it does not comprise cash transactions but only focuses on the accrual transactions, leading to the inaccurate net income. In net income, a manipulation is imaginable by using a specific method of inventory valuation, for example, average costing, LIFO, and FIFO method. These types of methods can be used by a company that produces the desired outcome (Kaplan & Atkinson, 2015). Milestone One 6 The balance sheet is one more key financial statement that assists in providing the actual worth of the organization. It shows what is possessed by the company, along with what is owed by the organization. It also shows the equity of the shareholders. The balance sheet externally indicates the company’s financial condition and internally helps in operating the organization. The equation of balance sheet needs to be equal always, and any difference indicates insolvency on the financial system of the company. Together with the income statement, the balance sheet enables the lenders, managers, and investors for calculating financial ratios for examining the organization’s liquidity. The ratios of balance sheet assist in comparing an organization’s performance for a particular time period to its competitors, along with assisting in identifying the financial trends. The balance sheet’s limitation is that an asset’s depreciation is not detected by it; rather, it simply records the asset’s book value. Any gains in value are ignored by the balance sheet, possibly under-assessing long-term assets, falsifying the company’s wealth. The financial statement evaluation’s last part is the analysis of the statement of cash flow. Information is provided by the cash flow statement regarding the variations in business’ cash and cash equivalents with the help of classification of cash flows into financing, investing, and operating activities (De Franco, Kothari & Verdi, 2011). For the cash flow statement, one of the strengths is that it shows how much cash is held by the organization, showing a company’s liquidity. Any possible fiscal reporting inconsistencies can be evaluated with the help of the statement of cash flow by comparing the position of cash. The statement of cash flow assists the management in making the financial and operational plans too. There is also a limitation hold by the cash flow statement that it can be misrepresented easily by not posting payments or purchases, indicating a company’s wrong liquidity position. The statement of cash flow does not Milestone One 7 show a company’s net income from operations requiring this statement to work in conjunction with the statement of income (De Franco, Kothari & Verdi, 2011). For businesses, the significance of both accurately and ethically completed financial reports is critical in simplifying the financial information’s systematic distribution. It enables an organization for making significant decisions at the accounting cycle’s several stages, along with ensuring accuracy all through every step. Each financial statement’s accuracy throughout the accounting cycle is critical for the subsequent step for the reason that it is contingent on the entire previous steps. Fraudulent, missing numbers, or going out of order will lead to incorrect opening balance for coming accounting periods resulting in an incorrect financial picture of the organization. Every information that the accounting cycle provides assists the organizations in planning, making sound decisions for moving the organization forward, or showing the need for improvement. The financial reports assist the current stockholders or potential investors in analyzing the company’s weaknesses and strengths for decisions of investment. Financial reports are also utilized for purposes of tax and lenders. Having ethically incorrect or inaccurate financial reports can result in errors in their calculations of tax liability, which can lead to payments of interest or other fines if the correct tax isn’t paid. One more consequence is the company’s valuation being undervalued with the potential of getting rejected for a loan. Similarly, organizations that enter into a contract under incorrect information, possibly resulting in more issues later. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act, after the Enron scandal, was inaugurated, necessitating the company’s financial accounting to be verifiable with supporting data sources. If an organization is found guilty of ethically incorrect behavior or committing a fraudulent, harsher punishment is imposed by the act up to 25 years in prison and companies’ harsher fines found committing these types of crimes. Milestone One 8 References De Franco, G., Kothari, S. P., & Verdi, R. S. (2011). The benefits of financial statement comparability. Journal of Accounting Research, 49(4), 895-931. Kaplan, R. S., & Atkinson, A. A. (2015). Advanced management accounting. PHI Learning. Running Head VERTICAL AND HORIZONTAL ANALYSIS FIN 325: Final Project Milestone Two Brendon Cronin Southern New Hampshire University 5/21/20 1 VERTICAL AND HORIZONTAL ANALYSIS 2 Vertical and Horizontal Analysis Vertical analysis is also recognized as a common size analysis. These are basically useful for comparing a company to other companies. It states every amount of the balance sheet as a percentage of total assets, or as a percentage of any other item. It is useful in analyzing sales, income tax, etc. On the other hand, another name of horizontal analysis is the trend analysis. It indicates the changes in the financial statement items’ amounts over a particular time period. In assessing the trend situations, this particular analysis is very useful. It is useful in income statements and retained earnings statements. The vertical analysis analyzes each separate figure to one particular figure in the fiscal report. The evaluation is documented as a percentage. This technique analyzes many items to one particular item in the identical period of time. Horizontal is known as “trend analysis” and involves an evaluation after some time. The horizontal analysis analyzes particular items over a variety of accounting intervals. For instance, accounts payable may be analyzed during a period of months in the identical financial year. It displays, after some time, where the modifications are occurring, where the increases and decreases are taking place. Since vertical analysis discloses details that may be useful in making decisions and is used in both intracompany and intercompany evaluations, outer users would use this evaluation (Boyd et al., 2014). VERTICAL AND HORIZONTAL ANALYSIS 3 Vertical Analysis When it comes to the vertical analysis of Microsoft, it can be seen that the net income of Microsoft is 31% of its total revenues for the most recent year, 2019. It can further be seen that the organization’s net income has increased from 26% in the year 2017 to 31% in the year 2019. However, the organization has seen a drop in the net income in the year 2018. The net income percentage is attractive for the investors as there is an increase in net income in the last three years. Another important item to note in this statement is the operating expenses. For the most recent years, the organization’s operating expenses were 66% of the revenues. These expenses are continuously dropping since the year 2017. They were 70% in the year 2017 and dropped to 68% in the year 2018 that further dropped to 66%. It is again a good sign for the company, and it will attract the potential investor of the company. On the other hand, the organization’s horizontal analysis is showing that the revenues of the organizations are continuously increasing since the year 2017. Revenues increased only 6% VERTICAL AND HORIZONTAL ANALYSIS 4 in the year 2017; however, they increased to 14% in the year 2019. It’s a good sign for the company, and it will attract investors. The Gross profit of organizations is also continuously increasing since the year 2017. The Gross profit increased only 7% in the year 2017; however, they increased to 15% in the year 2019. It’s again a good sign for the company, and it will attract the investors. When it comes to net income, it can be seen that the organization’s net income decreased in the year 2018 from 24% to -35%. This decrease was mainly because of the increased expenses of the organization that increased by 351% from 2017 to 2018. On the other hand, the organization decreased its expenses to -78% in the year 2019, and it boosted the organization’s net income to 137% in the year 2019. Horizontal Analysis VERTICAL AND HORIZONTAL ANALYSIS 5 When it comes to the Horizontal analysis of Microsoft, it can be seen that the total current assets of Microsoft are 61.3% of its total assets for the most recent year, 2019. It can further be seen that the organization’s total current assets have decreased from 65.0% in the year 2017 to 61.3% in the year 2019. However, the organization has seen a slight increase in the total current assets in the year 2018. The total current assets percentage is attractive to investors. Another important item to note in the balance sheet is the total long-term assets. For the most recent years, the organization’s total long-term assets were 38% of the total assets. These total long-term assets are continuously increasing since the year 2017. They were 35% in the year 2017 and increased to 38.7% in the year 2019. It is again a good sign for the company, and it will attract the potential investor of the company. In the next section, the current liabilities of the organization have increased from the year 2017 to the year 2019. These liabilities were 22.3% of the total liabilities and shareholder’s equity and increased to 24.2% in the year 2019. Similarly, the organization’s total liabilities have decreased from the year 2017 to the year 2019. They decreased from 65.0% to 64.3%. A decrease in liability is a good sign for the business. Finally, shareholder’s equity was 35.7% of the total liabilities and shareholder’s equity, and there was an increase in the total shareholder’s equity that increased from 35.0% to 35.7%. On the other hand, the organization’s horizontal analysis is showing that the current assets of the organizations are continuously decreasing since the year 2017. Current assets decreased from 16.49% in the year 2017 to 3.47% in the year 2019. It is not a good sign for the company as the assets that can be liquidated quickly are decreasing. The total assets of the company are also decreasing. They decreased from 29.38% in the year 2017 to 3.41% in the year 2018. However, the company has seen an increase in the total assets in the year 2019, and they VERTICAL AND HORIZONTAL ANALYSIS 6 increased to 10.70%. Similarly, the total liabilities of the company have also decreased from 33.86% in the year 2017 to 4.60% in the year 2019. It is a good sign for the company. Internal users would use horizontal analysis. The vertical analysis analyzes each separate figure to one particular figure in the fiscal report. The evaluation is documented as a percentage. This technique analyzes many items to one particular item in the identical accounting interval. By comparing the analyses of several periods to one another, a trend can be revealed that may be helpful in decision making. In examining a company’s efficiency, vertical analysis lets one evaluate companies’ data on the financials. Vertical analysis can display the percentage alternation in the individual asset, liability, and stockholders’ equity items. Overall, the organization is attractive for the investors and is showing a good picture of vertical and horizontal analysis. VERTICAL AND HORIZONTAL ANALYSIS 7 VERTICAL AND HORIZONTAL ANALYSIS 8 References Boyd, K., Epstein, L., Holtzman, M. P., Kass-Shraibman, F., Loughran, M., Sampath, V. S., … & Welytok, J. G. (2014). Accounting All-in-one for Dummies. John Wiley & Sons. VERTICAL AND HORIZONTAL ANALYSIS Appendix Microsoft Inc. Income Statement Source: https://www.macrotrends.net/stocks/charts/MSFT/microsoft/income-statement 9 VERTICAL AND HORIZONTAL ANALYSIS 10 Microsoft Inc. Balance Sheet Source: https://www.macrotrends.net/stocks/charts/MSFT/microsoft/balance-sheet VERTICAL AND HORIZONTAL ANALYSIS 11 Running Head RATIO ANALYSIS 1 FIN 325: Final Project Milestone One Brendon Cronin Southern New Hampshire University 5/30/20 RATIO ANALYSIS 2 Ratio Analysis In evaluating and interpreting the financial statement of the firm, ratio analysis is very significant. From a financial statement, one can get to understand the liability, assets, equity, debts of a firm. By using them, one can calculate different ratios of the firm, for example, current ratio, quick ratio, debt-equity ratio, return on investment, etc. A firm’s financial performance can be identified by analyzing these ratios. One can understand better with examples. Profitability Ratios include gross margin ratio or net margin ratios and depict firms’ gross margin and net margin. It doesn’t depict anything about the company’s internal strategy, but it shows how healthy the business is. Liquidity Ratios include current ratio, cash ratio, quick ratio, and it gives information on the company’s ability to generate cash to repay short term debt, inventory level, cash/cash equivalent in hand. This is a key ratio as it depicts the company’s ability to carry out operational expenses. Leverage Ratios include debt-equity ratio. This depicts how much debt burden the company actually is. It shows the company’s overall financial condition but doesn’t depict anything about internal strategy. Activity Ratio includes the average collection period ratio and average inventory ratio, which shows how fast the company is able to turn its inventory into cash and how good is the company’s collection policy. This is a key indicator of the company’s policy. Shareholders’ Return Ratio depicts the shareholder’s return on their investment, and it does not depict anything about internal strategy. RATIO ANALYSIS 3 Profitability Ratios Profitability is a major measure of the overall success of the company. For most businesses, the fundamental goal is to earn a satisfactory profit. Profit Margin For overall profitability, the first measure is a net profit margin. This measure assists in showing how successful the business is in generating profit from a particular sales quantity. Net margin ratio assists in narrowing down the analysis to the profitability of operations (Damodaran, 2011). When it comes to Microsoft Inc., the net profit margin of Microsoft Inc. is 31.18% for the most recent year, 2019. In the year 2018, the net profit margin was 15.02% and was 26.39% in the year 2017. Hence, the net profit of the organization increased in the last three years. It is a good sign for the organization as its profit margin has increased. Return on Equity Return on equity (ROE) assists in measuring how much has been earned by the organization on the funds that shareholders have invested. Funds that shareholders have invested are set equivalent to equity and consequently imply both indirectly and directly invested funds through retained profits (Damodaran, 2011). When it comes to Microsoft Inc., The ROE of the organization in 2019 was 42.41. In the year 2017, ROE of Microsoft was 31.92 that increased to 19.45 in the year 2018. Overall, the organization has seen an increase in ROE in the last three years. Return on Assets Return on assets (ROA) assists in showing how much has been earned by the organization on all the financial resources’ investment committed to the organization. The investment base in this ratio is set equivalent to the sum of all liabilities and equity – the total RATIO ANALYSIS 4 funds’ sources invested in the assets of the company (Damodaran, 2011). The ROA reflects how well the organization has utilized its funds, regardless of the comparative magnitudes of those funds’ sources. Microsoft has 14.39 ROA in the year 2019. In the year 2017, ROA was 11.49, and it decreased to 6.51 in the year 2018. Overall, the organization has seen an increase in ROA. Return on Capital Return on capital is a ratio utilized in accounting, valuation, and finance, as a measure of the value-creating potential and profitability of an organization relative to the capital invested amount by shareholders. Microsoft Inc. has 25.53 ROC. It was 20.78 in the year 2017 and decreased to 11.70. Overall, ROC for the company has increased. In profitability ratios, the organization has outperformed, and the figures presented by the ratios are attractive for the investors. Considering the profitability ratio, purchasing the stock of Microsoft is a good choice. Liquidity Current Ratio: The current ratio is Current assets/current liability. This explains the company’s working capital ability to meet day to day business requirements. The current ratio of the organization was 2.53 in the year 2019. In the year 2017, the current ratio of the organization was 2.92, and it decreased to the year 2.90. Overall, the organization has a good current ratio as it is above 1. Quick Ratio: This explains the quick cash available with the firm to meet immediate cash requirements. Its ability to pay any immediate debt. When it comes to the Quick ratio, the organization’s quick ratio was 2.88 in the year 2017 that decreased to 2.86 in the year 2018 and RATIO ANALYSIS 5 further decreased to 2.50 in the year 2019. The organization has seen a continuous decrease in the quick ratio. Cash Ratio: The cash ratio assists in measuring the liquidity of the organization; precisely, it is the ratio of total cash and cash equivalents of the organization to its current liabilities. This ratio measures the capability of a company for repaying its short-term debts with cash or cash equivalents, for example, easily marketable securities (Walton & Aerts, 2006). The cash ratio of Microsoft Inc., in the year 2019, was 1.93. In the year 2018, the cash ratio was 2.29, and in the year 2017, the cash ratio was 2.39. Debt Debt-equity Ratio This ratio is calculated as long term debts/equity. This explains the firm’s capital structure, along with focusing on the way the firm has balanced its capital financing. It gives the basis for decision making regarding future funding from debt or equity, calculating the firm’s cost of capital (Samonas, 2015). The debt to equity ratio for the organization has continuously decreased in the last three years. It was 1.04 in the year 2017 that decreased to 0.99 and further decreased to 0.77 in the year 2019. Interest coverage ratios This ratio is used for determining how well the interest can be paid by an organization on its outstanding debts. This ratio is commonly used by investors, creditors, and lenders for determining the lending capital riskiness to an organization. The ratio is also known as the “times interest earned” ratio. For the year 2017, the interest coverage ratio was 13.20 in the year 2017 that further decreased to 12.83 in the year 2018 and increased to 15.99 in the year 2019. RATIO ANALYSIS 6 Operating performance Fixed Asset Turnover This is an efficiency ratio that shows how efficiently or well an organization uses fixed assets for generating sales. This ratio is calculated by dividing net sales by net fixed assets. For Microsoft Inc., the fixed asset turnover in 2017 is 1.10, and it increased to 1.24 in the year 2018 and decreased to 1.13 in the year 2019. Cash flow Dividends Payout Ratio This ratio reflects the dividends paid out total amount to shareholders in relation to the company’s net income. To shareholders, it is the earnings paid a percentage in dividends. Microsoft has seen a decrease in the dividend payout ratio as it was 0.47 in the year 2017 and increased to 0.78 in the year 2018, but it decreased to 0.36 in the year 2019. Investment Valuation Price/book value The current share price of the organization is 183.25, with the book value per share of 14.919. Hence, the price/book value of the organization is 12.28 in the year 2019. Price/earnings The current share price of the organization is 183.25, with the earnings per share of 6. Hence, the price/earnings value of the organization is 30.54 in the year 2019. Price/sales The current share price of the organization is 183.25, with the revenue per share of 18.0. Hence, the price/sales value of the organization is 10.18 in the year 2019. RATIO ANALYSIS Overall, this organization is a good choice for investors as the organization has shown some attractive figures. The organization in the future will also perform well because of its innovative products and strategies. 7 RATIO ANALYSIS 8 References Damodaran, A. (2011). The little book of valuation: how to value a company, pick a stock and profit. John Wiley & Sons. Samonas, M. (2015). Financial forecasting, analysis, and modelling: a framework for long-term forecasting. John Wiley & Sons. Walton, P., & Aerts, W. (2006). Global financial accounting and reporting: principles and analysis. Cengage Learning EMEA. RATIO ANALYSIS 9 Appendix Ratios A B C D E F G H I Profit Margin ROE ROA Current Ratio Quick Ratio Cash Ratio Debt-Equity Ratio Interest Coverage Fixed Asset Turnover 2019 2018 2017 = 31.18% 15.02% 26.39% = 42.41% 19.45% 31.92% = 14.39% 6.51% 11.49% = 2.53 2.90 2.92 2.88 2.86 2.50 = Net Income / Net Sales = 39,240 / 125,843 = Net Income / Avg. Shareholder’s Equity 39,240 / 92,524 = Net Income / Avg. Total Assets = 39,240 / 272,702 Current = Assets / Current Liabilities = 175,552 / 69,420 Total Current Assets/Total = Inventories / Total Current Liabilities 170,505= 16,44 / 58,707 = = Cash / Current Liabilities = = 133,819 / 69,420 = 1.93 2.29 2.39 = Total Debt / Total Equity = 78366 / 102,330 = 0.77 0.99 1.04 -1*Operating = Income / Interest Expense = -1*42959 / -2686 = 15.99 12.83 13.20 = Revenues / Fixed Assets = = 125,843 / 111,004 = 1.13 1.24 1.10 RATIO ANALYSIS 10 J Dividend Payout Ratio = DPS / EPS without NRI = 1.8 / 5.06 = 0.36 Microsoft Inc. Income Statement Source: https://www.macrotrends.net/stocks/charts/MSFT/microsoft/income-statement Microsoft Inc. 0.78 0.47 RATIO ANALYSIS 11 Balance Sheet Source: https://www.macrotrends.net/stocks/charts/MSFT/microsoft/balance-sheet RATIO ANALYSIS 12 Microsoft Inc. Statement of Cash Flow Source: https://www.macrotrends.net/stocks/charts/MSFT/microsoft/cash-flow-statement FIN 325 Final Project Milestone Four Guidelines and Rubric Overview: The final project for this course is the creation of a financial statement analysis. A business’s financial statements offer important insights into its performance and financial health that help guide internal managers’ and external investors’ resource allocations. For a financial analyst, being able to accurately read and interpret these statements is a critical tool in making sound recommendations to clients or company executives. Analysts also need to understand how the limitations of these statements and the legal and ethical obligations that underpin them impact business decisions. Prompt: For this milestone, you will submit a draft of a portion of the analysis step, Section F: Benchmarks. You will analyze your chosen company’s performance relative to the industry. You will be expected to find one peer company that operates in the industry of your chosen company and perform a sideby-side analysis of the same ratios you performed in Milestone Three. You may use the Yahoo! Finance and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission websites to gather the information for the peer company. Specifically the following critical elements must be addressed: II. Analysis. Use this section to present your findings based on quantitative and qualitative analysis of the financial statements. Include a copy of the financial statements and any ratios or analysis in an appendix as support for your discussion. In particular, this section should cover: f) Benchmarks. Analyze the company’s performance relative to the industry average. The average should refer to the same period as the financial statements being analyzed (or as close as possible). Specifically, you should answer: 1. Why is benchmarking important in analyzing financial statements and evaluating a company’s overall performance? In other words, does analyzing a specific company’s financial statements in isolation provide you with sufficient information for analyzing its overall performance? Why or why not? 2. What do benchmarking comparisons tell you about how the selected company is performing relative to industry peers? Support your answer with specific examples from your analysis and industry research. 3. How do your company’s financial statements compare to industry standards in terms of legally and ethically communicating necessary information to stakeholders? Justify your response using specific examples and referencing relevant legal and ethical guidelines. Guidelines for Submission: Your paper must be submitted as a 1–2 page Microsoft Word document with double spacing, 12-point Times New Roman font, oneinch margins, and sources cited in APA format. Attach all relevant calculations and analyses as an appendix. Critical Elements Proficient (100%) Analysis: Explains why benchmarking is important in Benchmarks: analyzing financial statements and Important evaluating a company’s overall performance Needs Improvement (75%) Explains why benchmarking is important in analyzing financial statements and evaluating a company’s overall performance but response contains inaccuracies or omits key details Not Evident (0%) Does not explain why benchmarking is important in analyzing financial statements and evaluating a company’s overall performance Value 30 Analysis: Benchmarks: Comparisons Analyzes what benchmarking comparisons say about company performance with respect to industry peers, supporting answer with specific examples from analysis and industry research Analysis: Benchmarks: Legally and Ethically Evaluates how company’s financial statements compare to industry standards in terms of legally and ethically communicating necessary information to stakeholders, justifying response using specific examples and referencing relevant legal and ethical guidelines Submission has no major errors related to citations, grammar, spelling, syntax, or organization Articulation of Response Analyzes what benchmarking comparisons say about company performance with respect to industry peers but does not support answer with specific examples from analysis and industry research or response contains inaccuracies or omits key details Evaluates how company’s financial statements compare to industry standards in legally and ethically communicating necessary information but does not justify response using specific examples and referencing relevant legal and ethical guidelines or response contains inaccuracies Submission has major errors related to citations, grammar, spelling, syntax, or organization that negatively impact readability and articulation of main ideas Does not analyze what benchmarking comparisons say about company performance with respect to industry peers 30 Does not evaluate how company’s financial statements compare to industry standards in terms of legally and ethically communicating necessary information to stakeholders 30 Submission has critical errors related to citations, grammar, spelling, syntax, or organization that prevent understanding of ideas Earned Total 10 100% Purchase answer to see full attachment Tags: Internal Processes standard set benefits of benchmarking benchmarking with companies organizational requirements User generated content is uploaded by users for the purposes of learning and should be used following Studypool’s honor code & terms of service.

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For this milestone, submit a draft of a portion of the analysis step, Section F: Benchmarks. You will analyze your chosen company’s performance relative to the industry. You will be expected to find one peer company that operates in the industry of your chosen company and perform a side-by-side analysis of the same ratios you performed in Milestone Three and answer the questions posed in Part II, Section F of the Final Project Document.You may use the Yahoo! Finance and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission websites to gather the information.For additional details, please refer to the Milestone Four Guidelines and Rubric document and the Final Project Document.

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FIN 325: Final Project Milestone One
Brendon Cronin
Southern New Hampshire University
5/16/20
Final Project Milestone One
Part I
Milestone One
2
Microsoft Inc.
Income Statement
Source: https://www.macrotrends.net/stocks/charts/MSFT/microsoft/income-statement
Microsoft Inc.
Balance Sheet
Milestone One
Source: https://www.macrotrends.net/stocks/charts/MSFT/microsoft/balance-sheet
3
Milestone One
4
Microsoft Inc.
Statement of Cash Flow
Source: https://www.macrotrends.net/stocks/charts/MSFT/microsoft/cash-flow-statement
Milestone One
5
Part II
Different figures are provided by the financial statements on the financial standing of the
company. However, all financial statements are interconnected. These are the important
statements as they provide an insight into financial highlights of the organization, focusing on
any potential issues of the company, along with the way these finances are being handled.
The income statement is one primary financial statement that is generally prepared before
any other financial statement. The income statement leads to a loss or profit of a company for a
specific time period. The income statement gives current and potential investors a detailed, clear
overview of financial stature of the company sales to profits, non-operational, and operational
costs showing the company’s condition. One more strength is associated with its detailed data of
revenue with comprising non-operational attributes attained within a particular period outside of
revenues related to sales. From the income statement, one more helpful tool is that it assists an
organization in evaluating its incurred expenses with the intention of earning the revenues. For
income statement, one drawback is the data’s potential of misrepresentation with a decrease or
increase in revenues in a particular time period because of comprising money from sales’
accounts receivable when the accrued expenses have not been paid by the company. This can
lead to a company’s success distortion to shareholders, management, creditors, and investors. For
income statement, one more limitation is that it does not comprise cash transactions but only
focuses on the accrual transactions, leading to the inaccurate net income. In net income, a
manipulation is imaginable by using a specific method of inventory valuation, for example,
average costing, LIFO, and FIFO method. These types of methods can be used by a company
that produces the desired outcome (Kaplan & Atkinson, 2015).
Milestone One
6
The balance sheet is one more key financial statement that assists in providing the actual
worth of the organization. It shows what is possessed by the company, along with what is owed
by the organization. It also shows the equity of the shareholders. The balance sheet externally
indicates the company’s financial condition and internally helps in operating the organization.
The equation of balance sheet needs to be equal always, and any difference indicates insolvency
on the financial system of the company. Together with the income statement, the balance sheet
enables the lenders, managers, and investors for calculating financial ratios for examining the
organization’s liquidity. The ratios of balance sheet assist in comparing an organization’s
performance for a particular time period to its competitors, along with assisting in identifying the
financial trends. The balance sheet’s limitation is that an asset’s depreciation is not detected by
it; rather, it simply records the asset’s book value. Any gains in value are ignored by the balance
sheet, possibly under-assessing long-term assets, falsifying the company’s wealth.
The financial statement evaluation’s last part is the analysis of the statement of cash flow.
Information is provided by the cash flow statement regarding the variations in business’ cash and
cash equivalents with the help of classification of cash flows into financing, investing, and
operating activities (De Franco, Kothari & Verdi, 2011). For the cash flow statement, one of the
strengths is that it shows how much cash is held by the organization, showing a company’s
liquidity. Any possible fiscal reporting inconsistencies can be evaluated with the help of the
statement of cash flow by comparing the position of cash. The statement of cash flow assists the
management in making the financial and operational plans too. There is also a limitation hold by
the cash flow statement that it can be misrepresented easily by not posting payments or
purchases, indicating a company’s wrong liquidity position. The statement of cash flow does not
Milestone One
7
show a company’s net income from operations requiring this statement to work in conjunction
with the statement of income (De Franco, Kothari & Verdi, 2011).
For businesses, the significance of both accurately and ethically completed financial
reports is critical in simplifying the financial information’s systematic distribution. It enables an
organization for making significant decisions at the accounting cycle’s several stages, along with
ensuring accuracy all through every step. Each financial statement’s accuracy throughout the
accounting cycle is critical for the subsequent step for the reason that it is contingent on the
entire previous steps. Fraudulent, missing numbers, or going out of order will lead to incorrect
opening balance for coming accounting periods resulting in an incorrect financial picture of the
organization. Every information that the accounting cycle provides assists the organizations in
planning, making sound decisions for moving the organization forward, or showing the need for
improvement. The financial reports assist the current stockholders or potential investors in
analyzing the company’s weaknesses and strengths for decisions of investment. Financial reports
are also utilized for purposes of tax and lenders. Having ethically incorrect or inaccurate
financial reports can result in errors in their calculations of tax liability, which can lead to
payments of interest or other fines if the correct tax isn’t paid. One more consequence is the
company’s valuation being undervalued with the potential of getting rejected for a loan.
Similarly, organizations that enter into a contract under incorrect information, possibly resulting
in more issues later. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act, after the Enron scandal, was inaugurated,
necessitating the company’s financial accounting to be verifiable with supporting data sources. If
an organization is found guilty of ethically incorrect behavior or committing a fraudulent,
harsher punishment is imposed by the act up to 25 years in prison and companies’ harsher fines
found committing these types of crimes.
Milestone One
8
References
De Franco, G., Kothari, S. P., & Verdi, R. S. (2011). The benefits of financial statement
comparability. Journal of Accounting Research, 49(4), 895-931.
Kaplan, R. S., & Atkinson, A. A. (2015). Advanced management accounting.
PHI Learning.
Running Head VERTICAL AND HORIZONTAL ANALYSIS
FIN 325: Final Project Milestone Two
Brendon Cronin
Southern New Hampshire University
5/21/20
1
VERTICAL AND HORIZONTAL ANALYSIS
2
Vertical and Horizontal Analysis
Vertical analysis is also recognized as a common size analysis. These are basically useful
for comparing a company to other companies. It states every amount of the balance sheet as a
percentage of total assets, or as a percentage of any other item. It is useful in analyzing sales,
income tax, etc.
On the other hand, another name of horizontal analysis is the trend analysis. It indicates
the changes in the financial statement items’ amounts over a particular time period. In assessing
the trend situations, this particular analysis is very useful. It is useful in income statements and
retained earnings statements.
The vertical analysis analyzes each separate figure to one particular figure in the fiscal
report. The evaluation is documented as a percentage. This technique analyzes many items to one
particular item in the identical period of time. Horizontal is known as “trend analysis” and
involves an evaluation after some time. The horizontal analysis analyzes particular items over a
variety of accounting intervals. For instance, accounts payable may be analyzed during a period
of months in the identical financial year. It displays, after some time, where the modifications are
occurring, where the increases and decreases are taking place. Since vertical analysis discloses
details that may be useful in making decisions and is used in both intracompany and
intercompany evaluations, outer users would use this evaluation (Boyd et al., 2014).
VERTICAL AND HORIZONTAL ANALYSIS
3
Vertical Analysis
When it comes to the vertical analysis of Microsoft, it can be seen that the net income of
Microsoft is 31% of its total revenues for the most recent year, 2019. It can further be seen that
the organization’s net income has increased from 26% in the year 2017 to 31% in the year 2019.
However, the organization has seen a drop in the net income in the year 2018. The net income
percentage is attractive for the investors as there is an increase in net income in the last three
years.
Another important item to note in this statement is the operating expenses. For the most
recent years, the organization’s operating expenses were 66% of the revenues. These expenses
are continuously dropping since the year 2017. They were 70% in the year 2017 and dropped to
68% in the year 2018 that further dropped to 66%. It is again a good sign for the company, and it
will attract the potential investor of the company.
On the other hand, the organization’s horizontal analysis is showing that the revenues of
the organizations are continuously increasing since the year 2017. Revenues increased only 6%
VERTICAL AND HORIZONTAL ANALYSIS
4
in the year 2017; however, they increased to 14% in the year 2019. It’s a good sign for the
company, and it will attract investors. The Gross profit of organizations is also continuously
increasing since the year 2017. The Gross profit increased only 7% in the year 2017; however,
they increased to 15% in the year 2019. It’s again a good sign for the company, and it will attract
the investors. When it comes to net income, it can be seen that the organization’s net income
decreased in the year 2018 from 24% to -35%. This decrease was mainly because of the
increased expenses of the organization that increased by 351% from 2017 to 2018. On the other
hand, the organization decreased its expenses to -78% in the year 2019, and it boosted the
organization’s net income to 137% in the year 2019.
Horizontal Analysis
VERTICAL AND HORIZONTAL ANALYSIS
5
When it comes to the Horizontal analysis of Microsoft, it can be seen that the total
current assets of Microsoft are 61.3% of its total assets for the most recent year, 2019. It can
further be seen that the organization’s total current assets have decreased from 65.0% in the year
2017 to 61.3% in the year 2019. However, the organization has seen a slight increase in the total
current assets in the year 2018. The total current assets percentage is attractive to investors.
Another important item to note in the balance sheet is the total long-term assets. For the
most recent years, the organization’s total long-term assets were 38% of the total assets. These
total long-term assets are continuously increasing since the year 2017. They were 35% in the
year 2017 and increased to 38.7% in the year 2019. It is again a good sign for the company, and
it will attract the potential investor of the company.
In the next section, the current liabilities of the organization have increased from the year
2017 to the year 2019. These liabilities were 22.3% of the total liabilities and shareholder’s
equity and increased to 24.2% in the year 2019. Similarly, the organization’s total liabilities have
decreased from the year 2017 to the year 2019. They decreased from 65.0% to 64.3%. A
decrease in liability is a good sign for the business.
Finally, shareholder’s equity was 35.7% of the total liabilities and shareholder’s equity,
and there was an increase in the total shareholder’s equity that increased from 35.0% to 35.7%.
On the other hand, the organization’s horizontal analysis is showing that the current
assets of the organizations are continuously decreasing since the year 2017. Current assets
decreased from 16.49% in the year 2017 to 3.47% in the year 2019. It is not a good sign for the
company as the assets that can be liquidated quickly are decreasing. The total assets of the
company are also decreasing. They decreased from 29.38% in the year 2017 to 3.41% in the year
2018. However, the company has seen an increase in the total assets in the year 2019, and they
VERTICAL AND HORIZONTAL ANALYSIS
6
increased to 10.70%. Similarly, the total liabilities of the company have also decreased from
33.86% in the year 2017 to 4.60% in the year 2019. It is a good sign for the company.
Internal users would use horizontal analysis. The vertical analysis analyzes each separate
figure to one particular figure in the fiscal report. The evaluation is documented as a percentage.
This technique analyzes many items to one particular item in the identical accounting interval.
By comparing the analyses of several periods to one another, a trend can be revealed that may be
helpful in decision making. In examining a company’s efficiency, vertical analysis lets one
evaluate companies’ data on the financials. Vertical analysis can display the percentage
alternation in the individual asset, liability, and stockholders’ equity items. Overall, the
organization is attractive for the investors and is showing a good picture of vertical and
horizontal analysis.
VERTICAL AND HORIZONTAL ANALYSIS
7
VERTICAL AND HORIZONTAL ANALYSIS
8
References
Boyd, K., Epstein, L., Holtzman, M. P., Kass-Shraibman, F., Loughran, M., Sampath, V. S., … &
Welytok, J. G. (2014). Accounting All-in-one for Dummies. John Wiley & Sons.
VERTICAL AND HORIZONTAL ANALYSIS
Appendix
Microsoft Inc.
Income Statement
Source: https://www.macrotrends.net/stocks/charts/MSFT/microsoft/income-statement
9
VERTICAL AND HORIZONTAL ANALYSIS
10
Microsoft Inc.
Balance Sheet
Source: https://www.macrotrends.net/stocks/charts/MSFT/microsoft/balance-sheet
VERTICAL AND HORIZONTAL ANALYSIS
11
Running Head RATIO ANALYSIS
1
FIN 325: Final Project Milestone One
Brendon Cronin
Southern New Hampshire University
5/30/20
RATIO ANALYSIS
2
Ratio Analysis
In evaluating and interpreting the financial statement of the firm, ratio analysis is very
significant. From a financial statement, one can get to understand the liability, assets, equity,
debts of a firm. By using them, one can calculate different ratios of the firm, for example, current
ratio, quick ratio, debt-equity ratio, return on investment, etc. A firm’s financial performance can
be identified by analyzing these ratios. One can understand better with examples.
Profitability Ratios include gross margin ratio or net margin ratios and depict firms’ gross
margin and net margin. It doesn’t depict anything about the company’s internal strategy, but it
shows how healthy the business is.
Liquidity Ratios include current ratio, cash ratio, quick ratio, and it gives information on
the company’s ability to generate cash to repay short term debt, inventory level, cash/cash
equivalent in hand. This is a key ratio as it depicts the company’s ability to carry out operational
expenses.
Leverage Ratios include debt-equity ratio. This depicts how much debt burden the
company actually is. It shows the company’s overall financial condition but doesn’t depict
anything about internal strategy.
Activity Ratio includes the average collection period ratio and average inventory ratio,
which shows how fast the company is able to turn its inventory into cash and how good is the
company’s collection policy. This is a key indicator of the company’s policy.
Shareholders’ Return Ratio depicts the shareholder’s return on their investment, and it
does not depict anything about internal strategy.
RATIO ANALYSIS
3
Profitability Ratios
Profitability is a major measure of the overall success of the company. For most
businesses, the fundamental goal is to earn a satisfactory profit.
Profit Margin
For overall profitability, the first measure is a net profit margin. This measure assists in
showing how successful the business is in generating profit from a particular sales quantity. Net
margin ratio assists in narrowing down the analysis to the profitability of operations
(Damodaran, 2011). When it comes to Microsoft Inc., the net profit margin of Microsoft Inc. is
31.18% for the most recent year, 2019. In the year 2018, the net profit margin was 15.02% and
was 26.39% in the year 2017. Hence, the net profit of the organization increased in the last three
years. It is a good sign for the organization as its profit margin has increased.
Return on Equity
Return on equity (ROE) assists in measuring how much has been earned by the
organization on the funds that shareholders have invested. Funds that shareholders have invested
are set equivalent to equity and consequently imply both indirectly and directly invested funds
through retained profits (Damodaran, 2011). When it comes to Microsoft Inc., The ROE of the
organization in 2019 was 42.41. In the year 2017, ROE of Microsoft was 31.92 that increased to
19.45 in the year 2018. Overall, the organization has seen an increase in ROE in the last three
years.
Return on Assets
Return on assets (ROA) assists in showing how much has been earned by the
organization on all the financial resources’ investment committed to the organization. The
investment base in this ratio is set equivalent to the sum of all liabilities and equity – the total
RATIO ANALYSIS
4
funds’ sources invested in the assets of the company (Damodaran, 2011). The ROA reflects how
well the organization has utilized its funds, regardless of the comparative magnitudes of those
funds’ sources. Microsoft has 14.39 ROA in the year 2019. In the year 2017, ROA was 11.49,
and it decreased to 6.51 in the year 2018. Overall, the organization has seen an increase in ROA.
Return on Capital
Return on capital is a ratio utilized in accounting, valuation, and finance, as a measure of
the value-creating potential and profitability of an organization relative to the capital invested
amount by shareholders. Microsoft Inc. has 25.53 ROC. It was 20.78 in the year 2017 and
decreased to 11.70. Overall, ROC for the company has increased.
In profitability ratios, the organization has outperformed, and the figures presented by the
ratios are attractive for the investors. Considering the profitability ratio, purchasing the stock of
Microsoft is a good choice.
Liquidity
Current Ratio:
The current ratio is Current assets/current liability. This explains the company’s working
capital ability to meet day to day business requirements. The current ratio of the organization
was 2.53 in the year 2019. In the year 2017, the current ratio of the organization was 2.92, and it
decreased to the year 2.90. Overall, the organization has a good current ratio as it is above 1.
Quick Ratio:
This explains the quick cash available with the firm to meet immediate cash
requirements. Its ability to pay any immediate debt. When it comes to the Quick ratio, the
organization’s quick ratio was 2.88 in the year 2017 that decreased to 2.86 in the year 2018 and
RATIO ANALYSIS
5
further decreased to 2.50 in the year 2019. The organization has seen a continuous decrease in
the quick ratio.
Cash Ratio:
The cash ratio assists in measuring the liquidity of the organization; precisely, it is
the ratio of total cash and cash equivalents of the organization to its current liabilities. This ratio
measures the capability of a company for repaying its short-term debts with cash or
cash equivalents, for example, easily marketable securities (Walton & Aerts, 2006). The cash
ratio of Microsoft Inc., in the year 2019, was 1.93. In the year 2018, the cash ratio was 2.29, and
in the year 2017, the cash ratio was 2.39.
Debt
Debt-equity Ratio
This ratio is calculated as long term debts/equity. This explains the firm’s capital
structure, along with focusing on the way the firm has balanced its capital financing. It gives the
basis for decision making regarding future funding from debt or equity, calculating the firm’s
cost of capital (Samonas, 2015). The debt to equity ratio for the organization has continuously
decreased in the last three years. It was 1.04 in the year 2017 that decreased to 0.99 and further
decreased to 0.77 in the year 2019.
Interest coverage ratios
This ratio is used for determining how well the interest can be paid by an organization on
its outstanding debts. This ratio is commonly used by investors, creditors, and lenders for
determining the lending capital riskiness to an organization. The ratio is also known as the “times
interest earned” ratio. For the year 2017, the interest coverage ratio was 13.20 in the year 2017
that further decreased to 12.83 in the year 2018 and increased to 15.99 in the year 2019.
RATIO ANALYSIS
6
Operating performance
Fixed Asset Turnover
This is an efficiency ratio that shows how efficiently or well an organization uses fixed
assets for generating sales. This ratio is calculated by dividing net sales by net fixed assets. For
Microsoft Inc., the fixed asset turnover in 2017 is 1.10, and it increased to 1.24 in the year 2018
and decreased to 1.13 in the year 2019.
Cash flow
Dividends Payout Ratio
This ratio reflects the dividends paid out total amount to shareholders in relation to the
company’s net income. To shareholders, it is the earnings paid a percentage in dividends.
Microsoft has seen a decrease in the dividend payout ratio as it was 0.47 in the year 2017 and
increased to 0.78 in the year 2018, but it decreased to 0.36 in the year 2019.
Investment Valuation
Price/book value
The current share price of the organization is 183.25, with the book value per share of
14.919. Hence, the price/book value of the organization is 12.28 in the year 2019.
Price/earnings
The current share price of the organization is 183.25, with the earnings per share of 6.
Hence, the price/earnings value of the organization is 30.54 in the year 2019.
Price/sales
The current share price of the organization is 183.25, with the revenue per share of 18.0.
Hence, the price/sales value of the organization is 10.18 in the year 2019.
RATIO ANALYSIS
Overall, this organization is a good choice for investors as the organization has shown
some attractive figures. The organization in the future will also perform well because of its
innovative products and strategies.
7
RATIO ANALYSIS
8
References
Damodaran, A. (2011). The little book of valuation: how to value a company, pick a stock and
profit. John Wiley & Sons.
Samonas, M. (2015). Financial forecasting, analysis, and modelling: a framework for long-term
forecasting. John Wiley & Sons.
Walton, P., & Aerts, W. (2006). Global financial accounting and reporting: principles and
analysis. Cengage Learning EMEA.
RATIO ANALYSIS
9
Appendix
Ratios
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
Profit Margin
ROE
ROA
Current Ratio
Quick Ratio
Cash Ratio
Debt-Equity Ratio
Interest Coverage
Fixed Asset
Turnover
2019
2018
2017
=
31.18%
15.02%
26.39%
=
42.41%
19.45%
31.92%
=
14.39%
6.51%
11.49%
=
2.53
2.90
2.92
2.88
2.86
2.50
= Net Income
/
Net Sales
= 39,240
/
125,843
= Net Income
/
Avg. Shareholder’s Equity
39,240
/
92,524
= Net Income
/
Avg. Total Assets
= 39,240
/
272,702
Current
= Assets
/
Current Liabilities
= 175,552
/
69,420
Total Current
Assets/Total
= Inventories
/
Total Current Liabilities
170,505= 16,44
/
58,707
=
= Cash
/
Current Liabilities
=
= 133,819
/
69,420
=
1.93
2.29
2.39
= Total Debt
/
Total Equity
= 78366
/
102,330
=
0.77
0.99
1.04
-1*Operating
= Income
/
Interest Expense
= -1*42959
/
-2686
=
15.99
12.83
13.20
= Revenues
/
Fixed Assets
=
= 125,843
/
111,004
=
1.13
1.24
1.10
RATIO ANALYSIS
10
J
Dividend Payout
Ratio
= DPS
/
EPS without NRI
= 1.8
/
5.06
=
0.36
Microsoft Inc.
Income Statement
Source: https://www.macrotrends.net/stocks/charts/MSFT/microsoft/income-statement
Microsoft Inc.
0.78
0.47
RATIO ANALYSIS
11
Balance Sheet
Source: https://www.macrotrends.net/stocks/charts/MSFT/microsoft/balance-sheet
RATIO ANALYSIS
12
Microsoft Inc.
Statement of Cash Flow
Source: https://www.macrotrends.net/stocks/charts/MSFT/microsoft/cash-flow-statement
FIN 325 Final Project Milestone Four Guidelines and Rubric
Overview: The final project for this course is the creation of a financial statement analysis. A business’s financial statements offer important insights into its
performance and financial health that help guide internal managers’ and external investors’ resource allocations. For a financial analyst, being able to accurately
read and interpret these statements is a critical tool in making sound recommendations to clients or company executives. Analysts also need to understand how
the limitations of these statements and the legal and ethical obligations that underpin them impact business decisions.
Prompt: For this milestone, you will submit a draft of a portion of the analysis step, Section F: Benchmarks. You will analyze your chosen company’s
performance relative to the industry. You will be expected to find one peer company that operates in the industry of your chosen company and perform a sideby-side analysis of the same ratios you performed in Milestone Three. You may use the Yahoo! Finance and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission
websites to gather the information for the peer company.
Specifically the following critical elements must be addressed:
II. Analysis. Use this section to present your findings based on quantitative and qualitative analysis of the financial statements. Include a copy of the
financial statements and any ratios or analysis in an appendix as support for your discussion. In particular, this section should cover:
f) Benchmarks. Analyze the company’s performance relative to the industry average. The average should refer to the same period as the financial
statements being analyzed (or as close as possible). Specifically, you should answer:
1. Why is benchmarking important in analyzing financial statements and evaluating a company’s overall performance? In other words, does
analyzing a specific company’s financial statements in isolation provide you with sufficient information for analyzing its overall
performance? Why or why not?
2. What do benchmarking comparisons tell you about how the selected company is performing relative to industry peers? Support your
answer with specific examples from your analysis and industry research.
3. How do your company’s financial statements compare to industry standards in terms of legally and ethically communicating necessary
information to stakeholders? Justify your response using specific examples and referencing relevant legal and ethical guidelines.
Guidelines for Submission: Your paper must be submitted as a 1–2 page Microsoft Word document with double spacing, 12-point Times New Roman font, oneinch margins, and sources cited in APA format. Attach all relevant calculations and analyses as an appendix.
Critical Elements
Proficient (100%)
Analysis:
Explains why benchmarking is important in
Benchmarks:
analyzing financial statements and
Important
evaluating a company’s overall
performance
Needs Improvement (75%)
Explains why benchmarking is important in
analyzing financial statements and evaluating a
company’s overall performance but response
contains inaccuracies or omits key details
Not Evident (0%)
Does not explain why benchmarking is
important in analyzing financial statements
and evaluating a company’s overall
performance
Value
30
Analysis:
Benchmarks:
Comparisons
Analyzes what benchmarking comparisons
say about company performance with
respect to industry peers, supporting
answer with specific examples from analysis
and industry research
Analysis:
Benchmarks:
Legally and
Ethically
Evaluates how company’s financial
statements compare to industry standards
in terms of legally and ethically
communicating necessary information to
stakeholders, justifying response using
specific examples and referencing relevant
legal and ethical guidelines
Submission has no major errors related to
citations, grammar, spelling, syntax, or
organization
Articulation of
Response
Analyzes what benchmarking comparisons say
about company performance with respect to
industry peers but does not support answer
with specific examples from analysis and
industry research or response contains
inaccuracies or omits key details
Evaluates how company’s financial statements
compare to industry standards in legally and
ethically communicating necessary information
but does not justify response using specific
examples and referencing relevant legal and
ethical guidelines or response contains
inaccuracies
Submission has major errors related to
citations, grammar, spelling, syntax, or
organization that negatively impact readability
and articulation of main ideas
Does not analyze what benchmarking
comparisons say about company
performance with respect to industry
peers
30
Does not evaluate how company’s financial
statements compare to industry standards
in terms of legally and ethically
communicating necessary information to
stakeholders
30
Submission has critical errors related to
citations, grammar, spelling, syntax, or
organization that prevent understanding of
ideas
Earned Total
10
100%

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