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Week 1 - Assignment

SWOT and Strategy

[WLOs: 6] [CLOs: 2, 4]

Prior to beginning work on this assignment, review the following through the Growing Your Business simulation, the Strategy video available in the Supplementary Review Materials through the Help section, read through the pop-up screen titled Thoughts as you prepare your Strategy that will show when you go to the SWOT and Strategy tab of the TriCorp simulation, read the Internal Emails, and read the Welcome on Board memos. Additionally, read The U.S. Medical Device Industry: Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats, The Potential of Medical Device Industry in Technological and Economical Context, and Introduction to the Special Issue.

The final section that must be completed in the Growing Your Business simulation for Week 1 is your SWOT and Strategy. Your Strategy, in particular, should be guiding all of your decisions (in the corporate world one of the primary reasons business commitments are not met is the misalignment between decisions and strategy). This will be your compass when making decisions for your organization.

The SWOT and Strategy assignment,

· Must be completed through the Growing Your Business simulation .

· Must describe Hisco's Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT Analysis) based on the information you have read.

· In the Strategy section, must describe what your strategy will be for the next two to three years.

· When you are done, click the checkbox at the bottom of the screen, then click Save SWOT and STRATEGY.

· All the inputs have to have at least 50 words.

· After completing the simulation, students must save the provided pdf from the Pdf Report link and submit it through Waypoint. Verify your submission was successful.

Carefully review the Grading Rubric (Links to an external site.) for the criteria that will be used to evaluate your assignment.

Week 2 - Assignment

Decisions for Quarter One and Quarterly Business Review

[WLO: 3] [CLOs: 1, 3, 4]

Part I: Decisions for Quarter One. Prior to working on your Decisions for Quarter One, review the following through the Growing Your Business simulation, the “Suggestions for Quarter 1” pop-up screen, any Quarter One Internal Emails and/or Memos, and watch the Preparing Your Financial Commitments video. The pop-up will be available at the lower left (Blue Guidelines) of the Executive Summary Decisions Tab and the video, emails, and memos can be re-accessed through the Help section. Additionally, read Turning bean counters into difference makers: How corporate finance is changing with the times, Why financial dashboards matter, and Five pointers to get you started, and What are your financial statements telling you.

The Decisions for Quarter One Assignment

· Must be completed through the Growing Your Business simulation.

· Consider the following questions as you prepare your annual budget/plan (if the answer is “No” to any of the questions you may be at a Competitive Disadvantage and lack critical information to draw inference from):

· Did you

· Request/purchase the Marketing Report and Business Intelligence Dashboard (BID)?

· Utilize the 3 available role plays for Qtr.1?

· Consider in the R&D Projects (other than Project 2, for which you may want to complete funding in Qtr.1)?

· Must use the Role Play.

· It is critical you read the details of the role play very carefully and any questions should immediately be referred to the Help Desk.

· You can gain differentiated competitive advantage through effective use of the role play.

· Some role players only provide qualitative information, while others provide the ability to negotiate with quantitatively.

· The role play is a scarce resource because of the limited number of calls per quarter.

· Must submit your Quarter One Budget Plan.

· Periodically, as you modify inputs to use the “Model My Plan” at the lower right to see the impact of your decisions on the Financial Metrics.

· Input your financial decision and then click on the blue Submit My SRO button on the bottom right of the Quarterly Decisions screen.

· You must submit your Quarter One Decisions prior to moving on this week’s Quarterly Business Review assignment.

Part II: First Quarter Quarterly Business Review (QBR). You must submit your Quarter One Decisions prior to moving on this week’s Quarterly Business Review assignment. Prior to beginning work on the First Quarter Quarterly Business Review, review the following through the Growing Your Business simulation, the Variance Analysis video and the content from the Suggestions for Quarter Two Decisions pop-up. The video will provide you with a variety of financial tools, routinely used in Financial Planning & Analysis, for planning, meeting commitments and growth purposes. These are tools any business leader, regardless of function, needs to have a working knowledge. Real world examples will be presented throughout the simulation. You can always re-watch the Variance Analysis video in the Supplementary Review Materials in the Help section. In addition, there is a TRI Corp Critical Equation in PDF format that can also be found in the same section. Additionally, read Turning Bean Counters Into Difference Makers: How Corporate Finance Is Changing With the Times, Why Financial Dashboards Matter, Five Pointers to Get You Started, and What Are Your Financial Statements Telling You.

With the completion of Q1 you are responsible for completing your first Quarterly Business Review (QBR). This is a qualitative and quantitative summary of your competitive performance for Q1. Business reviews (or Operational Reviews) are a routine part of annual corporate activities and are very cross-functional in nature. A major component of a QBR is around meeting commitments that are embedded in your budgetary planning process. Meeting commitments are seen explicitly in your Variances. These learnings are designed to enhance your performance in future Quarters.

The Quarterly Business Review Assignment

· Must be completed through the Growing Your Business simulation.

· After logging in, go to the Quarterly Decisions tab on the top right of the simulation site and then click on the Executive Summary tab to access the Quarterly Business Review section.

· Must be completed and submitted using all of the data provided including

· Quarterly Pre-Tax Net Income relative to Plan for the Quarter

· Review the Pre-Tax Net Income Chart Explanation Download Pre-Tax Net Income Chart Explanation document

· Cash Flow walk

· Review the How to Read the Cash Flow Walk Chart Download How to Read the Cash Flow Walk Chart document

· Pre-tax Net Income in Plan

· Must show that Hisco is on track to Meet/Exceed its Annual Net Income Commitment through an evaluation of both quantitative and qualitative techniques for business analysis and decision making.

· Must create specific business tactics to achieve organizational survival and growth.

· After completing, check the box and submit in the lower right.

· After completing the simulation, students must save the provided pdf from the pdf found within the Executive Summary tab of the Quarterly Decisions page and submit it through Waypoint. Verify your submission was successful.

· To access the PDF for submission, click on the QTRLY Decisions tab from the simulation home page and then go to the Executive Summary tab. Within the Executive Summary page, you will find a Download link associated with each quarterly decision you completed.

· Remember, you will be receiving feedback on your QBR each quarter. You should review the feedback prior to submitting next quarter's decisions, as there may be some critical learning that can help your performance in the next quarter.

· Must use scholarly sources in addition to the course text.

· The Scholarly, Peer-Reviewed, and Other Credible Sources (Links to an external site.) table offers additional guidance on appropriate source types. If you have questions about whether a specific source is appropriate for this assignment, please contact your instructor. Your instructor has the final say about the appropriateness of a specific source for a particular assignment.

· Must document any information used from sources in APA Style as outlined in the Writing Center’s APA: Citing Within Your Paper (Links to an external site.) guide,

· Must include a separate references page that is formatted according to APA Style as outlined in the Writing Center. See the APA: Formatting Your References List (Links to an external site.) resource in the Writing Center for specifications.

Carefully review the Grading Rubric (Links to an external site.) for the criteria that will be used to evaluate your assignment.

Week 3 - Assignment

Decisions for Quarter Two and Second Quarter Quarterly Business Review

[WLOs: 2] [CLOs: 1, 3, 4]

Part I: Decisions for Quarter Two. Prior to beginning work on the Decisions for Quarter Two, carefully review the content found in the “Suggestions for Quarter 2” pop-up screen and read any Quarter Two Internal Emails and/or Memos available through your Growing Your Business simulation. The pop-up will be available at the lower left (Blue Guidelines) of the Executive Summary Decisions Tab and the video, emails, and memos can be re-accessed through the Help section.

The Decisions for Quarter Two Assignment

· Must be completed through the Growing Your Business simulation .

· Did you

· Request/purchase the Marketing Report and Business Intelligence Dashboard (BID)?

· Utilize the 4 available role plays for Qtr.2?

· Consider in the R&D Projects?

· Must use the Role Play

· It is critical you read the details of the role play very carefully and any questions should immediately be referred to the Help Desk.

· You can gain differentiated competitive advantage through effective use of the role play.

· Some role players only provide qualitative information, while others provide the ability to negotiate with quantitatively.

· The role play is a scarce resource because of the limited number of calls per quarter.

· Must submit your Quarter Two Budget Plan.

· Must not have a short-range outlook over the credit limit.

· Periodically, as you modify inputs, use the “Model My Plan” at the lower right to see the impact of your decisions on the Financial Metrics.

· Input your financial decision and then click on the blue Submit My SRO button on the bottom right of the Quarterly Decisions screen.

· You must submit your Quarter Two Decisions prior to moving on this week’s Quarterly Business Review assignment.

Part II: Second Quarter Quarterly Business Review (QBR). You must submit your Quarter Two Decisions prior to moving on to this week’s Quarterly Business Review assignment. Prior to beginning work on your Second Quarter Quarterly Business Review, review the content from the Suggestions for Quarter Two Decisions pop-up and your Business Intelligence Dashboard. The graphics in the dashboard should provide you with the trends (that is the time series data is growing) in data to critically analyze your competitors for the few two quarters their positions for the longer term.

With the completion of Quarter Two, you are responsible for completing your second Quarterly Business Review (QBR). This is a qualitative and quantitative summary of your competitive performance for Q2. Business reviews (or Operational Reviews) are a routine part of annual corporate activities and are very cross-functional in nature. A major component of a QBR is around meeting commitments that are embedded in your budgetary planning process. Meeting commitments are seen explicitly in your Variances. These learnings are designed to enhance your performance in future Quarters.

In your Growing Your Business simulation,

· Evaluate quantitative and qualitative techniques for business analysis and decision-making.

· Utilize tools from finance, marketing, information technology and human resources management to manage the profitability of overall business operations in the second quarter.

The Second Quarter Quarterly Business Review Assignment

· Must be completed through the Growing Your Business simulation.

· After logging in, go to the Quarterly Decisions tab on the top right of the simulation site and then click on the Executive Summary tab to access the Quarterly Business Review section.

· Must be completed and submitted using all of the data provided including

· Quarterly Pre-Tax Net Income relative to Plan for the Quarter

· Review the Pre-Tax Net Income Chart Explanation Download Pre-Tax Net Income Chart Explanation document

· Cash Flow walk

· Review the How to Read the Cash Flow Walk Chart Download How to Read the Cash Flow Walk Chart document

· Pre-tax Net Income in Plan

· Must show that Hisco is on track to Meet/Exceed its Annual Net Income Commitment through an evaluation of both quantitative and qualitative techniques for business analysis and decision making.

· Must create specific business tactics to achieve organizational survival and growth.

· After completing, check the box and submit in the lower right.

· Must use scholarly sources in addition to the course text.

· Must document any information used from sources in APA Style as outlined in the Writing Center’s APA: Citing Within Your Paper (Links to an external site.) guide.

Carefully review the Grading Rubric (Links to an external site.) for the criteria that will be used to evaluate your assignment.

Week 4 - Assignment

Decisions for Quarter Three and Third Quarter Quarterly Business Review (QBR)

[WLOs: 4] [CLOs: 1, 3, 4]

Part I: Decisions for Quarter Three. Prior to beginning work on the Decisions for Quarter Three, carefully review the content found in the “Suggestions for Quarter 3” pop-up screen and read any Quarter Three Internal Emails and/or Memos available through your Growing Your Business simulation. The pop-up will be available at the lower left (Blue Guidelines) of the Executive Summary Decisions Tab and the video, emails, and memos can be re-accessed through the Help section.

In your Growing Your Business simulation,

· Evaluate quantitative and qualitative techniques for business analysis and decision-making.

· Utilize tools from finance, marketing, information technology and human resources management to manage the profitability of overall business operations specific to Quarter 3.

· Create specific business tactics to achieve organizational survival and growth.]

The Decisions for Quarter Three Assignment

· Must be completed through the Growing Your Business simulation.

· Did you

· Request/purchase the Marketing Report and Business Intelligence Dashboard (BID)?

· Utilize the 3 available role plays for Qtr.3?

· Consider in the R&D Projects?

· Must use the Role Play

· It is critical you read the details of the role play very carefully and any questions should immediately be referred to the Help Desk.

· You can gain differentiated competitive advantage through effective use of the role play.

· Some role players only provide qualitative information, while others provide the ability to negotiate with quantitatively.

· The role play is a scarce resource because of the limited number of calls per quarter.

· Must submit your Quarter Three Budget Plan.

· Must not have a short-range outlook over the credit limit.

· Periodically, as you modify inputs, use the “Model My Plan” at the lower right to see the impact of your decisions on the Financial Metrics.

· Input your financial decision and then click on the blue Submit My SRO button on the bottom right of the Quarterly Decisions screen.

· You must submit your Quarter Three Decisions prior to moving on this week’s Quarterly Business Review assignment.

Part II: Third Quarter Quarterly Business Review (QBR). Due by Day 7. You must submit your Quarter Three Decisions prior to moving on this week’s Quarterly Business Review assignment. Prior to beginning work on the Third Quarter Quarterly Business Review, review the following content from the Growing Your Business Simulation, the Suggestions for Quarter Three Decisions pop-up and your Business Intelligence Dashboard. The graphics in the dashboard should provide you with the trends (that is the time series data is growing) in data to critically analyze your competitors for the first two quarters their positions for the longer term.

With the completion of Quarter Three, you are responsible for completing your third Quarterly Business Review (QBR). This is a qualitative and quantitative summary of your competitive performance for Quarter Three. Business reviews (or Operational Reviews) are a routine part of annual corporate activities and are very cross-functional in nature. A major component of a QBR is around meeting commitments that are embedded in your budgetary planning process. Meeting commitments are seen explicitly in your Variances. These learnings are designed to enhance your performance in future Quarters.

In your Growing Your Business simulation,

· Evaluate quantitative and qualitative techniques for business analysis and decision-making.

· Assess the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats associated with the corporate strategy & policy process.

· Utilize tools from finance, marketing, information technology and human resources management to manage the profitability of overall business operations.

· Create specific business tactics to achieve organizational survival and growth.

The Third Quarter Quarterly Business Review Assignment

· Must be completed through the Growing Your Business simulation.

· After logging in, go to the Quarterly Decisions tab on the top right of the simulation site and then click on the Executive Summary tab to access the Quarterly Business Review section.

· Must be completed and submitted using all of the data provided including

· Quarterly Pre-Tax Net Income relative to Plan for the Quarter

· Review the Pre-Tax Net Income Chart Explanation Download Pre-Tax Net Income Chart Explanation document

· Cash Flow walk

· Review the How to Read the Cash Flow Walk Chart Download How to Read the Cash Flow Walk Chart document

· Pre-tax Net Income in Plan

· Must show that Hisco is on track to Meet/Exceed its Annual Net Income Commitment through an evaluation of both quantitative and qualitative techniques for business analysis and decision making.

· Must create specific business tactics to achieve organizational survival and growth.

· After completing, check the box and submit in the lower right.

· Must use scholarly sources in addition to the course text.

· Must document any information used from sources in APA Style as outlined in the Writing Center’s APA: Citing Within Your Paper (Links to an external site.) guide,

Carefully review the Grading Rubric (Links to an external site.) for the criteria that will be used to evaluate your assignment.

Week 5 - Assignment 1

Decisions for Quarter Four and Final Qualitative Competitive Ranking

[WLOs: 2, 4] [CLOs: 1, 3, 4]

Prior to beginning work on this assignment, carefully review the content found in the “Suggestions for Quarter 4” pop-up screen and read any Quarter Three Internal Emails and/or Memos available through your Growing Your Business simulation. The pop-up will be available at the lower left (Blue Guidelines) of the Executive Summary Decisions Tab and the emails and memos can be re-accessed through the Help section.

As in prior quarters, you will revise and submit your Quarter 4 Decisions. If there is any quarter that requires balancing the short- and long-term this is it. You need not only to meet and/or exceed your Financial Targets within your budget/plan but are creating shareholder value for the long-term. Reminder, if you have the ability to exceed plan as you saw in the Internal Emails, go for it.

After your fourth quarter results are returned, the first screen you will see will be your Final Quantitative Competitive Ranking. This will be followed by Guidelines for “When Q4 Results are returned.” The Winning Chart can always be found on the Quarterly Dashboard under “Winner.” The ranking you receive from these results will determine your grade for Part I of the Week 5 Assignment. 1st = 10, 2nd = 9.25, 3rd = 8.5.

In your Growing Your Business simulation,

· Evaluate quantitative and qualitative techniques for business analysis and decision-making.

· Utilize tools from finance, marketing, information technology and human resources management to manage the profitability of overall business operations specific to Quarter 4.

· Create specific business tactics to achieve organizational survival and growth.

The Decisions for Quarter Four and Final Qualitative Competitive Ranking

· Must be completed through the Growing Your Business simulation.

· Must use the Role Play

· It is critical you read the details of the role play very carefully and any questions should immediately be referred to the Help Desk.

· You can gain differentiated competitive advantage through effective use of the role play.

· Some role players only provide qualitative information, while others provide the ability to negotiate with quantitatively.

· The role play is a scarce resource because of the limited number of calls per quarter.

· Must submit your Quarter Four Budget Plan.

· Periodically, as you modify inputs, use the “Model My Plan” at the lower right to see the impact of your decisions on the Financial Metrics.

· Input your financial decision and then click on the blue Submit My SRO button on the bottom right of the Quarterly Decisions screen.

· You must submit your Quarter Four Decisions prior to moving on to this week’s Annual Operating Review assignment.

Week 5 - Assignment 2

Annual Operating Review (AOR)

[WLOs: 3] [CLOs: 1, 2, 3, 4]

You must submit your Quarter Four Decisions prior to moving on this week’s Annual Operating Review assignment. With the completion of Quarter Four, you are responsible for completing your Annual Operating Review (AOR). This is a qualitative and quantitative summary of your competitive performance for the year. Once the PDF is generated in the simulation, you will then upload that document for grading through Waypoint below. This will have a similar look and feel to the QBRs but is a review of the entire year as well responding, as any business leader needs to your long-term and how you will create shareholder value. At this time, your Business Intelligence Dashboard (all of the graphics) should provide you with the data to critically analyze your competitors for the year and how they are positioned for the longer term. Note the Variance Graphics are of slightly different form to reflect your annual activities.

Through the Growing Your Business simulation,

· Evaluate quantitative and qualitative techniques for business analysis and decision-making.

· Assess the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats associated with the corporate strategy & policy process.

· Utilize tools from finance, marketing, information technology and human resources management to manage the profitability of overall business operations.

· Create specific business tactics to achieve organizational survival and growth.

The Annual Operating Review,

· Must be completed through the Growing Your Business simulation. Once the PDF is generated in the simulation, you will then upload that document for grading through Waypoint below.

· Must be completed and submitted using all of the data provided including

· Quarterly Pre-Tax Net Income relative to Plan for the Year

· Review the Pre-Tax Net Income Chart Explanation Download Pre-Tax Net Income Chart Explanation document

· Cash Flow walk

· Review the How To Read The Cash Flow Walk Chart Download How To Read The Cash Flow Walk Chart document

· Pre-tax Net Income in Plan

· Must show that Hisco is on track to Meet/Exceed its Annual Net Income Commitment through an evaluation of both quantitative and qualitative techniques for business analysis and decision making.

· Must create specific business tactics to achieve organizational survival and growth.

· After completing, check the box and submit in the lower right.

· Must use scholarly sources in addition to the course text.

· Must document any information used from sources in APA Style as outlined in the Writing Center’s APA: Citing Within Your Paper (Links to an external site.) guide.

Carefully review the Grading Rubric (Links to an external site.) for the criteria that will be used to evaluate your assignment.

Week 6 - Final Paper

HISCO Summary Annual Report

[WLOs: 2, 3] [CLOs: 1, 3, 4]

Prior to gaining access to the Summary Annual Report through the Growing Your Business simulation, all previously assigned simulation work must be completed. After all previously assigned simulation work has been completed, the Summary Annual Report Template Download Summary Annual Report Template will be accessible through the Annual Report tab.

The summary annual report is a scaled down version of a full annual report. You will simply not have enough detail to complete the typical nine sections. For example, you are not responsible for the Auditor’s Report. Naturally, you are encouraged to review real world annual reports which can be used as a strawman in preparation. Your recently completed Annual Operating Review in Week 5 should be aligned with your Annual Report.

Preparing your HISCO summary annual report will be one of the most comprehensive assignments you will have completed during your MBA. You will gain an appreciation for the complexity and responsibility the senior executives continually face. Hopefully, you have experienced the holistic and competitive environment from the simulation. Your recently completed Annual Operating Review will provide the basics.

The information, qualitative and quantitative, in an annual report should provide current and prospective investors (as well as any stakeholder) a complete insight into the company’s historic performance and its plans for growth and improvement over the next few years as defined by its strategy. Publicly traded companies are required by law to prepare and submit to many constituencies a variety of filings. The most well-known is the Annual Report to Shareholders and related Form 10-K. An annual report is technically an unofficial document. The Form 10-K will typically provide the most comprehensive summary of the company’s history, financials, risks and opportunities, and current operations. The Form 10-K is submitted annually to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Technically, HISCO is a private company (you may have sold equity to the venture capitalist) and only if it had publicly trades debt would be required to file a Form 10K.

As a future leader of a public or private company, you will learn the integrative nature of any business while you complete the HISCO summary annual report. This document can become an important part of your e-portfolio in the program. Your owner, Stanley Sloane, looks forward to reading your HISCO summary annual report. While details may vary state by state, even if your career leads to growing a small private business, you will need to file an annual report with The Secretary of State in your jurisdiction, another benefit to learning from our final activity.

The following identifies specifics instructions for preparation of each required section. The required sections to be completed will be found the word document from the model. Please remember to periodically save your work. An online search will reveal innumerable sites devoted to annual reports.

The HISCO Summary Annual Report

· Must be completed using the template provided through the Growing Your Business simulation.

· For technical help with the simulation, please email [email protected]

· Follow the Summary Annual Report Template Download Summary Annual Report Template as a guide to formatting your work. Standard APA formatting will not apply to this assignment.

· Must include the following:

· Cover Page

· You can design your own cover page. Should be reflective of your corporate image and may include a picture and/or logo. At a minimum, it will include the name, [simulation year] HISCO Summary Annual Report, as well as your name and date. The cover page can only be 1 page.

· CEO Letter

· The CEO Letter is designed to share the Strategy, Financial Highlight Summary, and Business Overview of the past year. Evaluate quantitative and qualitative techniques for business analysis and decision-making. It will typically also include the future growth outlook for the business (detailed in the Sales, Marketing and Industry pages below). The CEO Letter can be a maximum of 3 pages.

· The "Stan Sloane Letter"

· HISCO’s owner, Stan Sloane, is very happy that he decided to hire you to help turn the company around. He is interested in having you stay on with the company. However, he will need assurance from you that you are committed to continuing to grow HISCO. Explain to Stan how you plan on running the company over the next two years. You should discuss the majority of the items you developed when you first came on with the company, including: whether you would make any changes to the SWOT analysis, whether you would change the company strategy, negotiations you would make with company stakeholders, future technology suggestions, growth expectations in general for the industry and specifically for HISCO over the next two years, any concerns that occurred in the past year that you would address, and any other information you believe would be relevant in order to reassure Stan that he has placed the company in the right hands. You will add this letter at the end of the standard Annual Report. This letter is not part of a traditional Annual Report. The “Stan Sloane Letter” can be 3-4 pages.

· Sales, Marketing, & Industry

· This section should detail all aspects of HISCO’s Value Chain, from supplier to manufacturing to the customer. Products, NPIs, Pricing, in an industry perspective of competition should be elaborated on. Utilize tools from marketing to manage the profitability of overall business operations. A review of your SWOT would probably help as well as your recently completed Annual Operating Review. An essential element is for current and prospective investors to understand how HISCO makes money and will be able to create growth and deal with risks. The Sales, Marketing & Industry section can be a maximum of 5 pages.

· Financial Statements

· Financial statements are the heart and soul of the annual report. This is a quantitative section that provides current and prospective investors a look into HISCOs financial performance. The financial statements consist of the Income Statement, Balance Sheet, and Cash Flow. We suggest you show a minimum of 4 Qtrs. for each of the past two years for the Income Statement, Balance Sheet, and Cash Flow. Utilize tools from finance management to manage the profitability of overall business operations. Consider expanding the lines within each statement in the model. You will need to provide details on the Credit Line. The Financial Statements section can be a maximum of 6 pages.

· Management Discussion and Analysis (MD&A)

· The Management Discussion and Analysis section provides the real detail on year to year performance. In your case, this will be simulation year vs. prior simulation year. Topics will be both qualitative and quantitative in all aspects of simulation year relative to prior simulation year. MD&A will certainly include a complete variance analysis of performance and the successes and failures of your decisions for the year. It is the time you will delve into the details of your operating decisions. The MD&A section is typically devoted to the past (your future was described in prior sections). Reference to the Financial Statements is crucial as well as your recently completed Annual Operating Review. Graphics from your Business Intelligence Dashboard and your Variance walks on Income and Cash can provide visual insight into your performance. The Management Discussion and Analysis (MD&A) can be a maximum of 6 pages.

· Notes, Appendices, and References

· Any supporting documents, comments, information, a glossary of terminology, and/or clarifications you deem relevant to your annual report to assist current and prospective investors. The Notes, Appendices, and References are required and can be a minimum of 1 page and a maximum of 2 pages. References can be in a bulleted or numbered format.

Carefully review the Grading Rubric (Links to an external site.) for the criteria that will be used to evaluate your assignment.

Book

Stanko, B., & Zeller, T. L (2003). Understanding corporate annual reports: A user's guide Download Understanding corporate annual reports: A user's guide [PDF file]. Hoboken, N.J.: John Wiley & Sons.

Articles

Aileron. (2011, October 25). Five steps to a strategic plan (Links to an external site.) . Forbes. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/aileron/2011/10/25/five-steps-to-a-strategic-plan/#3199e5254645

Biery, M. E. (2013, September 1). How healthy is your business? 6 ways to take its ‘temperature.’ (Links to an external site.) Forbes. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/sageworks/2013/09/01/how-healthy-is-your-business-using-industry-data-to-check-the-temperature/#26ca43e1704a

Biery, M. E. (2013, December 22). What are your financial statements telling you? (Links to an external site.) Forbes. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/sageworks/2013/12/22/understanding-financial-statements/#72daac5822b0

Bujaki, M., & McConomy, B. (2010, May). Voluntary disclosures in corporate annual reports — More than meets the eye (Links to an external site.) . CMA Management, 84(3), 14-16.

Fotsch, B., & Case, J. (2017, September 5). Six tips for planning a great 2018 (Links to an external site.) . Forbes. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/fotschcase/2017/09/05/six-tips-for-planning-a-great-2018/

Holtzman, Y., Gorkhover, G., & Ganz, M. (2015, January 12). The U.S. medical device industry: Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (Links to an external site.) . Retrieved from https://www.mddionline.com/us-medical-device-industry-strengths-weaknesses-opportunities-and-threats

Maresova, P., Penhaker, M., Selamat, A., & Kuca, K. (2015). The potential of medical device industry in technological and economical context (Links to an external site.) . Therapeutics and Clinical Risk Management, 11, 1505-1514. doi:10.2147/TCRM.S88574

Mathur, A. (2016, April 20). Why 70% of companies paid zero in corporate taxes: they had zero profits (Links to an external site.) . Forbes. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/aparnamathur/2016/04/20/why-70-of-companies-paid-zero-in-corporate-taxes-they-had-zero-profits/#7a02689c56e3

Medtronic. (2016). Integrated performance report (Links to an external site.) . Retrieved from http://www.medtronic.com/content/dam/medtronic-com/us-en/corporate/documents/17267.MED.Sustainability.Report_4_FINAL%20NOV%208.pdf

Mosca, L. (2017, October 18). Buisness planning for 2018, and how to cash in on the new year (Links to an external site.) . Forbes. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/louismosca/2017/10/18/business-planning-for-2018/#6f5b12f6692d

Pal, N. (2015, April 9). Why financial dashboards matter, and five pointers to get you started (Links to an external site.) . Forbes. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/skollworldforum/2015/04/09/why-financial-dashboards-matter-and-five-pointers-to-get-you-started/#4f6e2f5f2520

Paunovic, G. (2017, December 6). The single strategy you need to fuel business growth right now (Links to an external site.) . Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2017/12/06/the-single-strategy-you-need-to-fuel-business-growth-right-now/#35b9fdd42c59

Sampson, L. (2015, March 13). Turning bean counters into difference makers: How corporate finance is changing with the times (Links to an external site.) . Forbes. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/oracle/2015/03/13/how-corporate-finance-is-changing-with-the-times/#1aaa9ab639d1

Savickas, Mark L. (2003, September). Introduction to the special issue (Links to an external site.) . Career Development Quarterly, 52(1), 4-7. doi:10.1002/j.2161-0045.2003.tb00621.x

Uggla, H. (2015). Aligning brand portfolio strategy with business strategy (Links to an external site.) . IUP Journal of Brand Management, 12(3), 7-17. Retrieved from http://www.iupindia.in/Brand_Management.asp

Multimedia

TriCorporation. (n.d.). Preparing your financial commitments: Guide to developing a budget as the leader of HISCO [Video file]. Retrieved from https://qa.trisimulation.com/Simulation

Supplemental Materials

Cadrain, S. (2020). How to read the cash flow walk chart Download How to read the cash flow walk chart[Presentation slides]. Canvas@UAGC. https://login.uagc.edu

Cadrain, S. (2020). Pre-tax net income chart explanation Download Pre-tax net income chart explanation[Presentation slides]. Canvas@UAGC. https://login.uagc.edu