M5 Assignment 2: Submission—Course Project

Module 1 - Assignment 2: Discussion— Which company is the best investment?

As the first step of your final project, select three companies to evaluate for determining which is in the best financial health and would therefore, be the most profitable investment.

· What considerations might you have when deciding which company is the best investment?

· Be sure to include in your discussion a variety of financial indicators.

· Think about what you already know about finances and companies and apply your knowledge to this topic.

Response:

Three companies I am evaluating to determine which would be the most profitable investment include General Motors , Alaska Air Group and Rue21 . General Motors Company deals with designing and selling cars, trucks and automobile parts. The company has maintained reliable stock prices over time. It has however been experiencing a reduction in its profit margin and sales, with both anticipated to reduce further in the coming year. The company is highly leveraged, with a total debt to equity ratio of 195.71. Its current operating cash to total debt ratio stands at 18.39%, indicating operational efficiency. The company’s current ratio is 0.89*, which is below the set industry ratio of 3* (Reuters, 2018).

 

The Alaska Air Group offers airline services in the United States. The company’s profitability has been unstable the past few years due to costly fuel prices and fare wars amongst competitors. The airline has been restructuring by eliminating some underperforming routes from its services and expanding in its home turf. Its stock prices have been rising slowly since the restructure even though revenues and profits continue to decline further. The company’s profits and sales are projected to grow steadily beginning the end of the year. It has moderate leverage, with an average leverage ratio of 2.08 and a debt to equity ratio of 69% (Reuters, 2018). The company has been listed in Forbes as one of the best employers. Its effective management can be traced to its impressive return on equity of 31.09%.

 

Rue21, Inc. is a retailer company that specializes in modern wear. The chain has been experiencing a sharp decline in its revenues and profits. It piped down operations by closing down 400 of its stores to reduce potential losses. It filed for bankruptcy in the past year, a strong indicator of financial distress according to Posner (2018). Though it’s still making profits, it cannot pay all its suppliers. In the past year, it did not provide annual audited financial statements, which indicates it is performing poorly financially.

 

The most profitable investment for me would be Alaska Air Group. The company has the highest projected sales revenue and profit margin in the coming year amongst the three, despite its unstable profits currently. It is also anticipated to have a growing earning per share. It portrays capital efficiency and sustainability with its high return on capital which surpasses the industry ratio. The company does not have excessive debt compared to the other two.

References

https://www.reuters.com/finance/stocks/companyProfile/ALK

https://www.reuters.com/finance/stocks/overview/GM.N

Posner, E. A. (2018). Last resort: The financial crisis and the future of bailouts. Retrieved

from https://www.press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/L/bo25006217.html

Module 2 - Assignment 1: Discussion—Frequently used Financial Reports

As a small business owner in today’s economy:

· What three financial reports would you use on a regular basis?

· What information would you find on each statement?

· What decisions might each statement help you make?

Please provide specific examples.

Response:

As a small business owner in today’s economy: What three financial reports would you use on a regular basis? What information would you find on each statement? What decisions might each statement help you make? Please provide specific examples

The three financial reports I would use on a regular basis would be the balance sheet, profit and loss statement, and cash flow statement. For a small business and at large other businesses, these three financial reports are critical in business management.

Cash Flow Statement

This financial report indicates in detail every transaction the business makes in terms of money coming in and cash outflow. It shows how the business is making money and how it spends money. It has three sections namely operations, investing and financing. It can be used to make marketing decisions. Cash flow statement information can also be used to make cost-adjustment decisions for example, reduction of operational expense (Vincent, 1971)

Profit & Loss Statement

Profit and loss statement is a financial report that shows a business’s revenue, cost, and expenses over a given period. It is the best view of a business’s bottom-line or what we call net income. The profits and loss statement can be used to convince lenders and investors to lend or invest in the business. Profit and loss statement shows the financial health of a business on whether the business is making profits or losses. This information can also be used to make operational decisions that seek to better performance for example, ways of maximizing production.

Balance Sheet

The balance sheet is the financial report that shows the financial health of a business in real time. Unlike, the profit and loss statement, the balance sheet is two-sided with three components; assets, liabilities, and equity. One side shows what the business owns and the other side shows what the business owes. The total sum of both sides should be equal to ensure that the sheet balances. This information can be used to develop capital structures for example, a structure that outlines how the business borrows and pay back its debts (Vincent, 1971).

References

Scarborough, N. M. (2016). Essentials of entrepreneurship and small business management.

Pearson.

Vincent, V. H. (1971). Financial Statements of Small Business. Journal of Small Business

Management (pre-1986), 9, 42.

Module 2 - Assignment 2: Discussion—Financial Statements

This module you are learning about the four required financial statements and what each tells the user about a company. Locate three publicly traded companies’ financial statements. Discuss the companies you located and describe what each of the four required financial statements tells you about the company. Also, briefly describe at least two interesting pieces of information located in the notes following the financial statements.

You are looking for a company’s annual report. There are many reports filed by companies each year. The annual report is called the 10K. There are several ways to locate financial statements. You can go to the company’s website and look for financial or investor information. You can go directly to the company’s filing section of the SEC website. You can also use the Argosy University online library resources. The library subscribes to Hoover’s database, which contains companies’ financial filings. This site is easier to use than the SEC website. You locate the filings by going to the Argosy University online library through the Academic Resources page under the top-navigation Help menu. Then follow these steps:

Click on Library -> Launch Library -> Business -> Hoover’s Academic -> Continue -> All Categories -> type the name of your chosen company -> Financials -> SEC filings

Note: If there is no link to SEC filings, the company is not a public company and you may not use it for this project.

Response:

Four Financial Statements

The Financial Statements are formal record of financial activities for a company. The records qualify the financial strengths, performance and company liquidity. They reflect on the financial effects the business transaction and other activities of the company (Cao et al., 2015). In this paper, the financial statements that are identified and reported about the entities are Income Statement, Balance Sheet, Statement of Shareholders’ Equity and Cash Flow Statement. The entities identified are Invesco QQQ Trust, Advanced Micro Devices, Inc., Flex Ltd and PowerShares QQQ TrustSM, Series 1 (QQQ).

The INVESCO QQQ Trust Income Statement indicated that the entity attained income of $71,794,600. On the balance sheet, the entity indicated Assets of $ 74.10 B, liabilities of and equity was $45,456. The Statement of Shareholders Equity was standing at $395.45 M. According to the Cash Flow Statement, income was $65.91 B expenses ration of 20% and profits of $150.13 (Du et al., 2018).

The Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. Income Statement indicated that the entity attained income of $5,329,000 from sales and shares. On the balance sheet, the entity indicated Assets of liabilities and equity was $43,000. The Statement of Shareholders Equity was standing at $7,000. According to the Cash Flow Statement, income was $5,329,000, total expenses $3,506,000 and profits of $1,823,000 (Du et al., 2018).

The Flex Ltd Income Statement indicated that the entity attained income of USD 25,441 M on the balance sheet, the entity indicated Assets of, liabilities and equity was USD 79 M. The Statement of Shareholders Equity was standing at 1,200 M According to the Cash Flow Statement; income was USD 1,563 M expenses USD 1,019 M and profits of USD 544 M (Du et al., 2018).

The PowerShares QQQ TrustSM, Series 1 (QQQ) Income Statement indicated 50,000 shares sold in the fiscal year 2017 through in-kind basis. According to its Balance Sheet, PowerShares QQQ TrustSM had total assets of $54,228,710,761 and 52,177,634,729 total liabilities. This indicated that the entity had spent more money in operational liabilities unlike the money used to acquire more assets that can be used for generation of income. In the Statement of Shareholders’ Equity, the PowerShares QQQ TrustSM was standing at 1.3% in the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. This translated into $358,550,000. Much of the financial flow of the PowerShares QQQ TrustSM is from shares sales and investments in its operations. In 2017 fiscal period, the entity was attained 32.72% cash flow from share sales and the rest through production and distribution of the products (Du et al., 2018).

References

Cao, M., Chychyla, R., & Stewart, T. (2015). Big Data analytics in financial statement audits.

Accounting Horizons, 29(2), 423-429.

Du, X., Deng, L., & Qian, K. (2018). Current Market Top Business Scopes Trend—A Concurrent

Text and Time Series Active Learning Study of NASDAQ and NYSE Stocks from 2012 to

2017. Applied Sciences (2076-3417), 8(5).

Module 3 – Assignment 1: Discussion

Managers use a variety of tools to analyze a company’s financial position. Horizontal, vertical, and ratio analyses are three important tools.

· Describe how each contributes to the analysis process.

· Discuss both the mechanics of the method as well as the information gleaned.

· Please give an example of how each method might be used to make a business decision.

· Be sure to discuss what the company’s information should be compared against to determine the financial health of the company.

Response:

Financial Position Analysis Tools

Horizontal analysis analyses various financial statement items and their changes over two or more accounting periods. This contributes to the analysis process by helping to identify trends. The vertical analysis makes a report of one financial statement item in relation to another and it helps give information on various accounts of a financial statement. This form of comparison helps to make an analysis of a company’s figures in relation to the averages of the industry and it helps to show trends over time (Nikolai, Bazley & Jones, 2010). Finally, the ratio process is one the ratio of two components in the same or different financial statement is computed to help inform on how key financial areas are performing.

For horizontal analysis, no computation is done since one only requires looking at the figure in one period’s financial statement and comparing it with the same item for other period’s statements. Vertical analysis requires that one item on a financial statement is taken as the base and for example, total sales in the incomes statement and total assets in the balance sheet are taken as being 100 percent and the proportions of all other items can be calculated with that as the base. Finally, for ratios, the different figures are extracted from the financial statements depending on the ration being calculated and then the two figures are divided accordingly. For example to calculate the profitability ratio is calculated by diving the gross sales with the net profits where a ration is obtained. This can also be multiplied by a hundred to obtain a percentage (Warren, Reeve & Duchac, 2009).

The horizontal analysis can be used to tell how a component of the statements for example sales is faring over the years. The vertical analysis can help an organization see whether or not they are meeting industry standards of averages. The ratios help to inform on specific financial areas such as the level of profitability. All this information can help an organization make decisions on what to do going forward depending on how they are faring.

References

Nikolai, L., Bazley, J. & Jones, J. (2010). Intermediate accounting. Australia Mason, OH: South-

Western/Cengage Learning.

Warren, C., Reeve, J. & Duchac, J. (2009). Accounting. Mason, OH: South-Western Cengage

Learning.

Module 3 – Assignment 2: Discussion—Applied Ratio Analysis

This module you are using financial analysis tools to evaluate the financial health of companies. One tool you are learning about is financial ratios and you can use this summary of financial ratios as a guide. You will be combining your findings from this discussion response into your final course project paper in Module 5.

There are three categories of financial ratios: liquidity, solvency, and profitability.

· Describe what each category tells the user about the financial health of a company.

· Choose three ratios in each category and describe what the ratios tell the user about the company. How are financial ratios used to evaluate a company?

· Discuss what the numbers would be compared against for analysis.

· Calculate each ratio for your companies. What do the ratios tell you about each of your companies?

Be sure to cite any sources using APA style.

Response:

Applied Ratio Analysis

There are three categories of financial ratios: liquidity, solvency, and profitability. Describe what each category tells the user about the financial health of a company.

The liquidity ratio is the ratio of the liquid assets of the organization against the liabilities. They help to tell the ability of an organization to pay back their debtors without their liquid assets (Goel, 2016). The solvency ratio gauges whether the cash flow of a company can meet their debt obligations both in the long run. Profitability ratios tell us how well a company is able to make profits.

Choose three ratios in each category and describe what the ratios tell the user about the company.

Examples of liquidity ratios are current ratio, operating cash flow ratio, and the quick ratio. The current ratio tells of the ability of an organization to meet its liabilities due in the short term. The quick ratio gives information of the liquidity of an organization in the short term and therefore showing how well an organization can pay short-term liabilities using the liquid assets. Finally operating cash flow ration tells how well a company covers their current liabilities with their current cash flow.

Solvency ratios include debt to equity ratio, which shows the levels of capital in a company from creditors and the level from investors. Equity ratio is another solvency ratio, which tells the amount of assets funded by investors, and finally the debt ratio, which tell the amount of assets funded by creditors. Profitability ratios include Gross margin ratio which informs on the ability of a firm to make their inventory sales to profits, return ratio which gauges how well the company is well to generate returns for investors and gross profit ratio which gauges the amount of profits a business earns after all expenses have been met.

How are financial ratios used to evaluate a company?

They compare two or more components of the financial statement for example the net income and net sales for the gross profit ration to help inform on the financial condition of the firm.

Discuss what the numbers would be compared against for analysis.

It would be compared against benchmarks in the industry to help tell whether a company is performing well or not (Goel, 2016).

Calculate each ratio for your companies. What do the ratios tell you about each of your companies?

INVESCO QQQ Trust

Profitability ratio: 0.8 (The business is profitable)

Solvency ratio: 1.4 (company can adequately meet its debt and other obligations)Liquidity ratio: 1.6 (The company has good liquidity to meet its obligations)

Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.

Profitability ratio: 0.7 (The business is profitable)

Solvency ratio: 0.7 (Company’s ability to meet debt and other obligations is relatively low)

Liquidity ratio: 3.1 (The company has great liquidity to meet its obligations)

Flex Ltd

Profitability ratio: 0.8 (The business is profitable)

Solvency ratio: 1.9 (company can adequately meet its debt and other obligations)

Liquidity ratio: 0.6 (The company has relatively low liquidity levels to meet its obligations)

PowerShares QQQ TrustSM

Profitability ratio: 0.82 (The business is profitable)

Solvency ratio: 1.6 (company can adequately meet its debt and other obligations)

Liquidity ratio: 1.04 (The company has good liquidity to meet its obligations)

References

Du, X., Deng, L., & Qian, K. (2018). Current Market Top Business Scopes Trend—A Concurrent

Text and Time Series Active Learning Study of NASDAQ and NYSE Stocks from 2012 to

2017. Applied Sciences (2076-3417), 8(5).

Goel, S. (2016). Financial ratios. New York, New York (222 East 46th Street, New York, NY

10017: Business Expert Press.

Module 4 – Assignment 1: Discussion— The Accounting Equation

The accounting equation is assets = liabilities + owner’s equity.

Please explain the relationship between economic resources and claims to economic resources.

· Why must this equation always balance?

· What transactions increase or decrease owner’s equity?

· How does net income or loss affect owner’s equity?

· Provide an example of a transaction, applied to the accounting equation.

Response:

Why must this equation always balance?

The items on the right and the left of the accounting equation must be the same because every business transaction affects two items in the balance sheet. If the deal affects two items on the same side of the balance sheet, then one decreases while the other increases in the same proportion. In case the transaction affects two items on the different side of the balance sheet then, either increases or decreases thus bringing the balance in the accounting equation (Arora, 2008).

What transactions increase or decrease owner’s equity?

Four business transactions affect the owner's equity either positively or negatively. Drawings and losses decrease the owner's equity. When losses and drawings from the business occur the organization losses some value of assets and as a result lower the owner’s equity. Profits and additional investments increase the owner’s equity. When profits are earned, or additional investment occurs, the organization receives new assets that boost the level of the owner’s equity (Arora, 2008).

How does net income or loss affect owner’s equity?

Net income is the amount retained after the subtraction of the business expenses. The net incomes increase the value of the assets in the organization and as a result, raise the owner's equity. The loss is realized when the gross income recognized is less compared to the expenses incurred. The business is forced to use its resources to settle the costs thus reducing the assets of the company. The reduction of business assets reduces the owner's equity (Arora, 2008).

Provide an example of a transaction, applied to the accounting equation:

Mr. Joe starts a business at a cost of $100,000 and a vehicle worth $30,000. The business receives $ 20,000 as loan from a bank. The accounting equation is stated as:

Assets = liabilities + owner’s equity

Total assets = 100,000 + 30,000 + 30,000 = 150,000

Owner’s equity = 100,000 + 30,000 = 130,000

Liabilities = 20,000

Owner’s equity + liability = 150,000 which is equivalent to the total of assets (Kaplan & Atkinson, 2015).

References

Arora, M. N. (2008). Cost and Management Accounting. Himalaya Publishing House.

Kaplan, R. S., & Atkinson, A. A. (2015). Advanced management accounting. PHI Learning.

Module 4 – Assignment 2: Discussion—Financial Analysis

You have conducted a significant amount of research about how to analyze the financial health of a company. Now you are going to put all of your research and discussion into practice. Choose three ratios from each category (liquidity, solvency, and profitability). Calculate the financial ratios for each of your companies. Describe what the results of your calculations reveal about each of your three companies when compared with one another. Answer the following questions with clear explanations as to how you arrived at the answers:

1. Which company is more liquid?

2. Which company has the strongest net income?

3. Which company has the strongest solvency?

4. Which company is most profitable?

5. Which company would be the most solid financial investment? Why?

Be sure to cite any sources using APA style.

Response:

Ration	formula	General Motors	Alaska	Rue21
Working capital	C. Assets – C. Liabilities	68,744,000 – 76,890,000 = -8,146,000	2,146,000 - 2,700,000 = 554,000	251,160,000-154,345,000 = 96,815,000
Current ratio	Total Current assets/Total current liabilities	68,744,000/76,890,000 = 0.9	2,146,000 / 2,700,000 = 0.79	251,160,000/ 154,345,000 = 1.63
Quick Ratio	(Total Current assets – inventories)/Total current liabilities	58,081,000/76,890,000 = 0.76	2,089,000/ 2,700,000 = 0.77	93,890 /154,345,000 = 0.61
Solvency ratio	After Tax Net Profit + Depreciation) / Total liabilities	-3,864,000/176,282,000 = - 0.022	1,034,000/7,019,000 = 0.15	8,317,000/ 221,200,000 = 0.038
Profit margin ratio	Net profit/total sales	-3,864,000/145,588,000 = - 0.027	1,034,000/7,933,000 = 0.13	8,317,000/ 233,104,000 = 0.036
Return on equity	Net Income /  Shareholders' Equity	-3,864,000/ 35,001,000 = - 0.11	1,034,000/ 3,721,000 = 0.28	8,317,000/26,930,000 = 0.31

1. Which company is more liquid?

Rue 21 is the most liquid firm among the three because of its high working capital. Working capital is the amount that is used to meet the daily obligations of the organization equity (Said & Saucier, 2003).

2. Which company has the strongest net income?

The firm with the strongest is Alaska Air group which has the highest return profit margin. The profit margin is determined by dividing the net profit by the total assets of the organization (White, Sondh & Fried, 2005).

3. Which company has the strongest solvency?

Solvency ratio is the ability of the firm to meet its current obligations and debt. Alaska has the strongest solvency ratio at 0.15 after dividing the net income by the total liabilities equity (Said & Saucier, 2003).

4. Which company is most profitable?

Alaska Air group is the most profitable company among the three because of its profit margin at 0.13. Net profit margin is determined by dividing the net income by the revenue (White, Sondh & Fried, 2005).

5. Which company would be the most solid financial investment? Why?

The most company with the solid financial investment is the Rue21. The financial solidity of an investment is determined by net income by the shareholders’ equity (Said & Saucier, 2003).

References

Said, M., & Saucier, P. (2003). Liquidity, solvency, and efficiency: An empirical analysis of

Japanese banks' distress. Journal of Oxford, 5(3), 354-358.

White, G. L., Sondh, A. C., & Fried, D. (2005). Analysis of Financial Statements. Analysis.

Module 5 – Assignment 1: Discussion—Depreciation

· Discuss how an asset’s cost is determined as well as the two methods of depreciation discussed in your readings.

· Provide an example of an asset that would be depreciated and demonstrate how the expense would be calculated and reported on the financial statements.

Be sure to cite any sources using APA style.

Response:

· Discuss how an asset’s cost is determined as well as the two methods of depreciation discussed in your readings.

· Provide an example of an asset that would be depreciated and demonstrate how the expense would be calculated and reported on the financial statements.

Every asset has its own cost. Thus, every patent, vehicle or any other kind of machine has its individual set of issues, which are in addition to the items original purchase price (Loughran, 2012). When one is calculating the cost, which is often referred to as the original cost, or the historical cost, one has to include every expense, which is in connection to the land, machinery or any other kind of asset.

For example, an organization may buy a new steamroller at the price of $60,000, the delivery fee to the company may be about $900 and the warranty cost maybe $2000. The titles as well as tags of the state, for instance, Colorado may be a total of $1500. Thus the original cost of the steamroller may be $60,000+$900+$2000+$1500 which is equal to $64400.

With time, the asset tends to depreciate due to wearing out, maintenance required or due being outdated. This where the accountants come in because they need to record the amount of money that is lost in depreciation in every accounting period. The accounts use two techniques to determine the amount of money lost during depreciation. The methods are the units of production method and the straight-line depreciation method.

The straight-line depreciation techniques tend to assume that every asset will benefit equally in all periods as well as the cost needs to be recorded equally in all the accounting periods. In straight-line depreciation method, the Annual depreciation= Cost- Salvage value/ estimated useful life.

The other depreciation technique is the units of production method, this method bases its depreciation rates on how much the asset was used to perform tasks and it is used on vehicles or pieces of machinery. Depreciation is calculated as follows:

Cost - Salvage value/Total estimated life in units, hours, or miles × hours driven during the year = Current year’s depreciation expense

Reference

Loughran, M. (2012). Intermediate Accounting For Dummies. John Wiley & Sons.

Module 5 – Assignment 2: Submission—Course Project

For your course project, do the following:

· Combine all of the analysis from the discussions into an executive summary not to exceed one page.

· Follow that with 3 pages of narrative discussing your analysis and summarizing your opinion of the financial health of the three companies.

· Describe the three ratio categories.

· Explain the financial ratios calculated.

· Work in the answers to the questions from your Module 4 discussion:

1. Which company is more liquid?

2. Which company has the strongest net income?

3. Which company has the strongest solvency?

4. Which company is most profitable?

5. Which company would be the most solid financial investment?

· Conclude with a summary of your findings and a recommendation, with supporting evidence, identifying which company is the most solid financial investment.

· Include an abstract at the beginning of your paper.

· Be sure to format your paper and cite any sources using APA style.

· You may use this APA Citation Helper as a guide.

· This APA formatting handout will help you set up your essay using APA style.

Save your paper as a Microsoft Word document named LastnameFirst Initial_ACC201_M5A2.