10k annual report for coca cola

Madison Conradis

Amazon

Page 2 of 46

Madison Conradis

Amazon

Annual Report Workbook

Getting under the hood of an Annuimage1.pngal Report

and knowing what’s inside

by Donald Bittar

Introduction

You can use this workbook for analyzing many companies and saving your analysis for each one, like many professionals. Just like them, over time, you can compare a company’s actual performance to your analysis and predictions. Saving your analysis sheets can help sharpen you analytical skills.

The questions in the workbook are numbered the same way as they are in the book, ‘Getting Under the Hood of an Annual Report’. As there are no questions in the first chapter of the book, the workbook starts with Chapter 2. It will make it easier for you to relate the questions in the workbook to those in the book.

Your input to the workbook will appear in a dark green font while the questions appear in blue. The different font colors can make it easier for you to see your work.

You’ll need to do some number crunching to complete your annual report analysis. The Big Calculating Tool, located on your CD, can save you a great deal of time and make the number crunching nearly painless. Every ratio and calculation for the book is included in the Big Calculating Tool. You’ll have more time for analysis if you use the Big Calculating Tool.

Table of Contents

5Chapter 2

Question 2.0 – What do you want to learn about company and why? 5

Question 2.1 - Fundamental Information Set For Your Company 5

Question 2.2 - The Marketplace Context 7

Question 2.3 - Challenges and Success for Your Company 8

Chapter 3 10

Question 3.1 – What is Management saying about your company? 10

Question 3.2 – What did the Chairman say? 11

Question 3.3 – Internal Controls and Auditors 12

Chapter 4 13

Question 4.0 – What is your company’s fiscal year 13

Question 4.1 – Current Assets 13

Question 4.2 – Property, Plant and Equipment 13

Question 4.3 – How good is the Goodwill 14

Question 4.4 – Current Liabilities 14

Question 4.5 – How much stock is there and who owns it? 15

Question 4.6 – Who owns the stock? 15

Question 4.7 – First look at the company’s strength 16

Question 4.8 – Significant changes in the balance sheet 17

Question 4.9 – Significant changes in the cash account 17

Question 4.10 – Debt to equity and the competition 17

Question 4.11 – ‘Income statement’. What’s in a name? 18

Question 4.12 – How does your company report the core business? 18

Question 4.13 – How does your company describe its business income? 18

Question 4.14 – Irregular items. Good or Bad? 19

Question 4.15 – The big questions. Are they makin’ money? Are they lookin’ good? 20

Question 4.16 – Which trend is important and why? 21

Question 4.17 – How strong is your company’s cash position? 21

Question 4.18 – How well can your company pay its bills? 22

Question 4.19 – How leveraged is your company? 22

Question 4.20 – How well does your company invest in its future? 24

Question 4.21 – Capital and Treasury Stock 24

Question 4.21 –Basic information about your company not found on the financial statement? 25

Question 4.22 –Other significant information about your company not found on the financial statement? 25

Chapter 5 27

Question 5.1 – Working Capital Balance 27

Question 5.2 – Acid Test or Quick Ratio 27

Question 5.3 – Current Ratio 28

Question 5.4 – Cash Ratio 29

Question 5.5 – Return on Sales Ratio 30

Question 5.6 – Return on Equity Ratio 30

Question 5.7 – Return on Assets Ratio 31

Question 5.8 – Asset Turn Ratio 32

Question 5.9 – Gross Profit Margin Ratio 32

Question 5.10 – Inventory Turnover Ratio 33

Question 5.11 – Days in Inventory Ratio 34

Question 5.12 – Accounts Receivable Turnover Ratio 34

Question 5.13 – Average Collection Period 35

Question 5.14 – Accounts Payable Turnover Ratio 36

Question 5.15 – Net Working Capital Turnover Ratio 37

Question 5.16 – Debt to Equity Ratio 38

Question 5.17 – Debt to Asset Ratio 38

Question 5.18 – Gearing Ratio or Long Term Debt to Shareholders’ Equity Ratio 39

Question 5.19 – Interest Coverage Ratio or Debt Service Ratio 40

Question 5.20 –Earnings per Share 41

Question 5.21 – Price/Earnings Ratio 41

Question 5.22 –Dividend per Share 42

Question 5.23 – Dividend Payout Ratio 43

Chapter 6 45

Question 6.0 – Calculate the Altman Z-Score 45

Question 6.1 - What did you learn about your company 45

Question 6.2 - Would you buy, sell, hold or stay away 45

Chapter 2
Question 2.0 – What do you want to learn about company and why?
2.0 - What You Want To Learn About the Company and Why?

Priority

What do you want to learn?

Why do you want to learn it?

A

If Amazon is financially stable.

This can help if I plan on investing in the future.

B

If Amazon can pay their Debts.

If I sell my old textbooks online I want to make sure I will get paid for them.

C

If Amazon is being effected by Apple store.

Mostly curiosity. Also if they are being affected how bad and will this potentially be detrimental to the company.

D

What Amazon is doing to separate themselves from their competitors such as Apple and the Apple Store.

This will show how they are taking the competition and how well the company can come past competition.

Question 2.1 - Fundamental Information Set For Your Company
The answer to the following questions may be found in either the Annual Report to Stockholders or on the SEC Form 10-K. It may also be necessary for you to use other sources. To fully answer the questions, you must identify the source for your information and also include the answer. If the question is not applicable to your company, place “NA” as the answer. To identify the source use “AR” for Annual Report to Stockholders and “10K” for the SEC Form 10-K. If something else, use “Other” and include the identification at the end of your answer.

2.1 - Fundamental Information Set For Your Company

Question

Source

Answer

A

What is the official company name?

10K

Amazon.com Inc

B

What is Company headquarters address?

10K

410 Terry Avenue North

Seattle, Washington 98109-5210

C

What is the Executive Office telephone number?

10K

206-266-1000

D

What is the Investor Relations telephone number?

Other

206-266-2171 which I found on the Amazon Investor Relations website after not being able to find it in the 10-K or Annual Report.

E

What is the official company website?

10K

The official website is www.Amazon.com.

F

What is the fiscal year ending date?

10K

Amazon’s Fiscal year ending date ends on December 31st of each year.

G

State of incorporation

10K

Delaware

H

What government agency, other than the SEC, has a significant impact on your Company?

Other

N/A

I

What is the trading symbol for your Company’s common stock?

10K

AMZN

J

Which stock exchange lists the common stock for your Company?

10K

Nasdaq Global Select Market (since May 1997)

K

What is the name of the stock transfer agent for your Company?

Other

BNY Mellon Share owner Service handles the stock transfer for Amazon. They also handle companies such as eBay, Burger King, Pepsi, Costco, American Express and much more. I found this information on Kabukencafe.com.

L

What is the Par Value for the common shares of your Company?

10K

$.01 par value per share

M

What is the number of common shares outstanding?

10K

As of January 19,2012, the number of common shares outstanding are 455,068,465.

N

In the past 3 years what is the highest trading price for the common stock for your company.

10K

246.71 in the 4th quarter of the year ending December 31, 2012

O

In the past 3 years what is the lowest trading price for the common stock for your company?

10K

105.80 in the third quarter of the year ending December 31,2010

P

How many members are on the Board of Directors?

10K

There are 9 people currently on the Board of Directors.

Q

How many Board Members are present or past employees of the Company?

10K

Jeffrey P. Bezos is currently the CEO and president of Amazon. He is also the only member of the board of director that is working or has worked for Amazon.com Inc.

R

How many are Board Members are from outside your Company?

10K

The other 8 board members of Amazon.com Inc are from outside of the company.

S

Which companies or institutions do the outside Board Members represent?

10K

Below is the list of names of the board members and who they represent:

Tom A. Alberg- Madrona Venture Group

John Seely Brown- University of Southern California

William B. Gordon- Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Beyers

Blake G. Krikorian- id8 Group Productions, Inc.

Alain Monie- Ingram Micro Inc.

Jonathan J. Rubinstein- Palm. Inc.

Thomas O. Ryder- Reader’s Digest Association

Patricia Q Stonesifer- Smithsonian Institution

T

How many subsidiaries are directly or indirectly controlled by your Company?

10K

Amazon.com Inc controls 9 subsidiaries.

U

How many subsidiaries have jurisdictions outside the United States?

10K

There are 2 subsidiaries that have jurisdiction outside of the United States. They are both over Luxembourg.

Question 2.2 - The Marketplace Context
If analyzing a company’s performance were only about the numbers, predicting the performance of a company would be easy. Performance, success and failure are outcomes that are affected by the marketplace. Your company does not exist inside a vacuum. It lives alongside other companies actively struggling to protect existing customer relationships and working to create new customers. Often companies will compete for the same customers. For some companies the competitors are easily identifiable. Your company’s SIC code can help you identify its competitors. They will have the same SIC code. Other companies compete indirectly with alternative products or technologies making it difficult to identify competitors. Consider FedEx with both direct and indirect competitors.

The answer to the following questions may be found in either the Annual Report to Stockholders or on the SEC Form 10-K. It may also be necessary for you to use other sources. To fully answer the questions, you must identify the source for your information and also include the answer. If the question is not applicable to your company, place “NA” as the answer. To identify the source use “AR” for Annual Report to Stockholders and “10K” for the SEC Form 10-K. If something else, use “Other” and include the identification at the end of your answer.

2.2 - The Marketplace Context

Question

Source

Answer

A

What is the Standard Industrial Classification and the SIC Code for your company? List all that may apply?

Other

The Standard Industrial Classification of Amazon is: Retail-Catalog & Mail Order Houses. The number is 5961. I obtained this information from sec.gov/archives.

B

What is the company’s primary product, product group or business segment?

10K

Amazon’s Primary source of revenue is from the sale of a wide range of products and services to customers.

C

Is there a single customer that accounts for more than 10% of total net sales?

10K

There is no single customer that accounts for more than 10% of total net sales, however Services sales is now more than 10% of net sales.

D

What is the major customer profile for your company?

10K

Amazon seeks to be Earth’s most customer-centric company for 4 customer sets:

1) Consumers

2) Sellers

3) Enterprises

4) Content Creators

E

Is there a competitor larger than your Company?

AR

Yes, There are competitors larger than Amazon. In the AR it states “many of our current and potential competitors have greater resources, longer histories, more customers, and greater brand recognition”. They do not go into who these competitors are but I have a pretty good idea of a few.

F

Which company is the most significant competitor for your Company?

Other

Apple. By looking at the direct competitor comparison on Yahoo Finance, it is obvious that Apple is Amazon’s most significant competitor.

G

What is the country of origin for this competitor?

Other

The country of origin for Apple Inc. is The United States. Being an avid Apple product user I already knew this. I confirmed it on theoriginof/com/apple.

H

During the past 2 years, has your Company launched a significant new product or service? If yes, what is the product or service?

Other

The past 2 years Amazon has launched many different Kindle Tablets. The newest was just launched last Thursday, September 16th 2012. The new upgrades on the kindle include HD, 62% more pixels, and touchscreen. Read on: http://www.cnn.com/2012/09/06/tech/mobile/amazon-kindle-event/index.html

I

During the past 2 years, has your company entered a new market? If yes, what is the market and where is located?

Other

In 2011, Amazon entered the tablet market directly competing with Apple. Both planned on selling the actual tablets as well as selling media for them. The market is located on the Wide World Web where anyone in the world can reach the products. An article I read on Amazon entering the tablet market can be found: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204138204576598670632549928.html

J

During the past 2 years, has your Company launched a new technology? If yes, what is it?

Other

N/A I do not believe that Amazon has innovated their own new technologies. Apple or another competitor is always one or two steps ahead of them. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing though. That means they can keep their prices lower by using others innovations.

K

What are the technological issues for your Company? How are they described?

Other

Interest outages are rare but possible at Amazon. About 2 years ago the website had an issue that was affecting orders to the site. This effected media sales as well as third party sales.

An article on the 2010 internet issue can be found at: online.wsj.com/article/sb10001424052748704103904575337430326186048.html

Question 2.3 - Challenges and Success for Your Company
Review the Annual Report for Stockholders and the Form 10-K for your company. Using the above list of Marketplace Issues, identify the marketplace issues affecting your company. Your company is large enough to be newsworthy. Most likely, the issue you identified in the Annual Report for Stockholders or the Form 10-K might be reported elsewhere. With research apart from the Annual Report for Stockholders and the Form 10-K you may be able to find additional information about the issue. There are several print media research sources available in the library:

1. Wall Street Journal

2. New York Times

3. Barron’s

4. Moody’s Complete Corporate Index

5. Standard and Poor’s Industry Guide

The Internet makes a vast universe of material available to you. It is fast and convenient. The chances are remote that you will not be able to discover sufficient information to satisfy your needs. Use your favorite search tool and start digging.

Your company is a good place to start. Their website may have relevant press releases about the issue. Some of the officers may have made speeches or written articles about it.

Describe the significant marketplace issues identified in the Annual Report for Stockholders and the Form 10-K for your company. For each issue:

1. Include the marketplace category.

2. The description of the issue as it appeared in the Annual Report for Stockholders and the Form 10-K for your company.

3. Your interpretation of its significance to the company, what the importance is to the company and if management is capable of creating a positive outcome.

2.3 - Challenges and Success for Your Company

Marketplace Issue

Description of the Issue

Significance

A

Customer Transparency

Transparency. They do not show the numbers of the Kindle. They just continue to say it “sold out” or “was more successful than they assumed”.

This could potentially hurt Amazon.com Inc. If users get the feeling that they are not being truthful to them it could hurt their reputations and sales. management could create an outcome of making them seem ethical by this issue.

B

Technical Issues

Amazon potentially having “outages” to their computer systems. They do not have many but when they do it is bad and could be detrimental.

I read an article which is linked below about in 2011 Amazon was having computer issues for 3 days. This is horrible for their business since it is an E-Commerce entity. Although with all technology, problems can happen but Amazon management could do better dealing with the issues. They did not comment or speak about the issues.

http://www.crainsnewyork.com/article/20110425/FREE/110429919

C

D

Chapter 3
Question 3.1 – What is Management saying about your company?
When reading the Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Operations and Financial Condition (MD&A) asking each of the following questions will help to identify a significant fact that will help you understand your annual report. Pick an item reported in the MD&A which you believe to be significant and ask yourself:

· What is it?

· When did it occur?

· Where did the action take place?

· Who was involved?

· Why did this happen?

· How did it happen

Answer as much of the five Ws and one H as you can from the annual report. Next, use the internet and other printed media sources to get additional information about the item. From the combined sources you should be able gather a reasonably complete assessment of the item.

Identify the source of your outside material.

Use the following template to complete your answers.

3.1.1 - What is Management saying about your company?

Copy the item from the MD&A and paste it below.

3.1.2

Five Ws and One H

Form 10-K MD&A

Outside Source Material

Paste information from the 10K in this column.

Paste information from outside sources in this column. Include the source link.

A

In your own words describe the item?

B

When did it occur?

C

Where did the action take place?

D

Who was involved?

E

Why did this happen?

F

How did it happen?

G

In your opinion, what do you believe is the importance of this item to your company? How will it impact the company?

Question 3.2 – What did the Chairman say?
Read the Chairman’s Message in the Annual Report to Stockholders for your company. You might also find the Chairman’s message in the company’s annual proxy statement. Identify the issues and events outlined in the Message. Highlighting the text of the issues and events can help assess their significance and prioritize them.

3.2.1 - What did the Chairman say?

A

In your opinion, what is the most significant issue in the Message?

B

Quote the Chairman’s description of the issue?

C

What is the significance of the issue for the company?

D

Did the Message include a solution for the issue? If yes, what was it?

E

Did the solution instill confidence in you?

F

If yes, why? If no, why?

The Chairman’s Message is read by a wide and diverse constituency. Select a group of constituents excluding stockholders, investors and financial analyst. Write your opinion of how you believe they will react to the Chairman’s message. Select one from the following constituents.

Creditors

Regulatory agencies

Competitors

Employees

Local and state governments

Suppliers

Salespeople

Foreign governments

Vendors

Franchisees

Environmental activists

Distributors

Unions

Consumer advocates

Customers

Human rights advocates

Press and media

Regulatory agencies

3.2.2 – What did the Chairman say?

A

Constituent’s name

B

With respect to the company, is the constituency supportive, neutral or adversarial?

C

What issue in the Chairman’s message will cause the greatest reaction?

D

How do you believe the constituency will react to the issue?

E

Why do you believe they will react that way?

F

Will their reaction create a positive or negative impact on the Company? What will be the impact and why?

Question 3.3 – Internal Controls and Auditors
Information about the company’s compliance with SOX can be found in SEC Form 10-K. The section called Controls and Procedures includes information about how the company is complying with the SOX reporting requirements. Generally preceding the section on Controls and Procedures is the Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm. It will also contain information about internal controls and auditors. Review these sections of your company’s SEC Form 10-K and answer the following questions.

3.3 – Internal Controls and Auditors

A

Who in your company is responsible for the internal disclosure controls and procedures?

B

Who are members of the Audit Committee?

C

What is the name of the independent auditor for your company?

D

What was the auditor’s opinion of the consolidated financial statement?

E

What was the auditor’s opinion of the internal disclosure controls and procedures?

Chapter 4
Question 4.0 – What is your company’s fiscal year
4.0 – What is your company’s fiscal year?

A

When does your company’s fiscal year end?

B

In your opinion, why did your company select this date to end its fiscal year?

Do competitors use the same fiscal year as your company?

Question 4.1 – Current Assets
Some companies have current assets other than Cash, Short Term Investments, Accounts Receivables and Inventories. Locate the Current Asset section of the Balance Sheet for your company and review the current asset categories.

What categories of current assets, other than Cash, Short Term Investments, Accounts Receivables and Inventories are reported by your company? What is their significance to the company? Mark your answer “NA” if your company does not report current asset categories other than Cash, Short Term Investments, Accounts Receivables and Inventories.

4.1 – Current Assets

Current Asset Category

Significance

A

B

C

D

Question 4.2 – Property, Plant and Equipment
Some companies have categories for Property, Plant and Equipment other than land, buildings, factories, furniture and equipment. What categories of Property Plant and Equipment other than land, buildings, factories, furniture and equipment are reported by your company? What is it their significance to the company? Mark your answer “NA” if your company does not report categories of Property Plant and Equipment other than land, buildings, factories, furniture and equipment.

4.2 – Property, Plant and Equipment?

Property Plant and Equipment Category

Significance

A

B

C

D

Question 4.3 – How good is the Goodwill
Goodwill is a balance sheet item reported by many companies. The details of the Goodwill are generally described in the Notes to the Financial Statement. Goodwill should reflect the strategic future value of an acquisition. Mark your answer “NA” if your company does not report Goodwill.

4.3 – How good is the Goodwill?

A

Does your company report Goodwill?

B

What is the value of the Goodwill?

C

What is the ratio of Goodwill to Total Assets (Goodwill ÷ Total Assets)?

D

In your opinion why is the ratio of Goodwill to Total Assets significant or insignificant?

E

What was the source of the Goodwill?

F

In your opinion why was the acquisition justified or not justified?

Question 4.4 – Current Liabilities
Some companies have current liabilities other than Accounts Payable, Accrued Salaries and Wages and Accrued Income Tax. Locate the Current Liabilities section of the Balance Sheet for your company and review the current liability categories.

What categories of current liabilities other than Accounts Payable, Accrued Salaries and Wages and Accrued Income Tax are reported by your company? What is it their significance to the company? Mark your answer “NA” if your company does not report current liability categories other than Accounts Payable, Accrued Salaries and Wages and Accrued Income Tax.

4.4 – Current Liabilities

Current Liability Category

Significance

A

B

C

D

Question 4.5 – How much stock is there and who owns it?
The equity structure is a significant aspect of a public company. It can have a dramatic impact on stock price movement and appreciation. Review the SEC Form 10-K and Annual Report to Stockholders and answer the following questions.

4.5 – How much stock is there and who owns it?

A

What is the par value of the common stock?

B

What is the number of shares outstanding?

C

What is the current listed market price for the common stock?

D

What is the number of common shares authorized?

E

What is the number of treasury shares?

Question 4.6 – Who owns the stock?
Knowing who owns large blocks of stock can be useful information when assessing the investment value of a company. The percent ownership of a company will determine the amount of control a shareholder has over the company. In a democratic election, each citizen has only one vote. In a corporate election, each shareholder gets one vote for each share of stock the shareholder owns. A shareholder with 1million share gets 1million votes while a shareholder with 10 shares gets only 10 votes. In a company with 3million shares outstanding, the shareholder with 1million shares has much more influence and power than the shareholder with 10 shares.

Proxy Statement
The company’s annual proxy statement will disclose the number of shares owned by the each member of the Board of Directors. It will also identify all shareholders who own 5% or more of the common stock and voting stock of the company. The annual proxy statement must be filed with the Securities Exchange Commission using Form DEF 14a, the definitive annual proxy statement.

4.6 – Who owns the stock?

A

How many shares are held by Officers and Directors? What does this tell you?

B

Who is the largest stockholder? What does this tell you about the company?

C

What other classes of stock are outstanding?

Question 4.7 – First look at the company’s strength
The balance sheet is a snapshot of the company financial strength. Endurance and strength are important when attempting to assess an athlete’s ability and it is the same for a public company. The first place to look for a company’s endurance and strength are the current and previous year balance sheets.

Calculate the percent increase or decrease in each of the following balance sheet accounts. Place the percentage in parenthesis is it is negative.

4.7 – First look at the company’s strength

Current Year

Previous Year

Percent Change

A

Cash and cash equivalents

B

Accounts Receivable

C

Inventory

D

Property, plant & equipment

E

Accounts Payable

F

Accrued Salaries

G

Accrued Income Tax

H

Long term debt

I

Common Stock

J

Treasury Stock

K

Retained Earnings

Question 4.8 – Significant changes in the balance sheet
In your opinion, what were the two most significant changes in the company’s balance sheet between the current year and the previous year? What were the two balance sheet accounts? Why do you believe they are significant?

4.8 – Significant changes in the balance sheet

Balance Sheet Account

Why the change was significant?

A

B

Question 4.9 – Significant changes in the cash account
Cash is an important part of a business. Some people say, “Cash is king.” Describe the change in the Cash and Cash Equivalent account between the current year and the previous year. In your opinion why was it or was it not significant?

4.9 – Significant changes in the cash account

Change in the account

Why the change was significant?

Question 4.10 – Debt to equity and the competition
The debt load for a company may or may not be a burden. It can become a competitive detriment when the debt service it too large or when the company’s ability to borrow is too retrained. It could also create vulnerability if the company’s chief competitor has the borrowing strength to “buy market share.” What is the current ratio of total debt to total stockholder’s equity for your company’s most significant competitor? What is the current ratio of total debt to total stockholder’s equity for your company? Has the ratio changed between the current year and the previous year for your company? Why or why not was the change in the ratio significant?

4.10 – Debt to equity and the competition

A

What is the current ratio of total debt to total stockholder’s equity for your company’s most significant competitor?

B

What is the current ratio of total debt to total stockholder’s equity for your company?

C

Has the ratio changed between the current year and the previous year for your company?

D

Why or why not was the change in the ratio significant?

Question 4.11 – ‘Income statement’. What’s in a name?
The income statement is a report of the company’s revenue and expenses. Companies have been using the report for almost a hundred years. Over the years, accountants have adopted different names for the income statement. What name does your company use for the income statement? In your opinion why do they use it instead of ‘income statement’?

4.11 – ‘Income statement’. What’s in a name?

A

What name does your company use for the ‘income statement’?

B

In your opinion, why do they use it?

Question 4.12 – How does your company report the core business?
Often, a company will use terms closely related to their core business when describing the line items in the operational section of the income statement. Some standard descriptions for the line items in the operational section of the income statement are:

· net sales

· cost of goods sold

· gross profit

· general administrative expense

· operating income

How does your company describe the items in its operating section of the income statement? Does the company use descriptions other than net sales, cost of goods sold, gross profit, general administrative expense and operating income? Why do you believe they use them? What does it tell you about the core business for the company? Mark your answer “NA” if your company did not unique operating section descriptions.

4.12 – How does your company report the core business?

Item descriptions

In your opinion, why is it used?

A

B

C

D

E

F

What does it tell you about the core business for the company?

Question 4.13 – How does your company describe its business income?
The way a company reports its income can help to better understand how the company prioritizes its revenue streams and how it perceives its core business. Does your company report revenues by business segment? What segments are individually identified? In your opinion, does the most significant business appear first? What is the most significant business segment and why? Mark your answer “NA” if your company did not report revenue by business segment.

4.13 – How does your company describe its business income?

Revenue segment descriptions

Identify the most significant segment and explain why it is the most significant.

A

B

C

D

E

Question 4.14 – Irregular items. Good or Bad?
While the term “irregular” is not intended as a value judgment, these items can have a positive or negative impact on the company. Review the income statement. Select the one irregular item on the income statement or in the notes section you believe is the most significant. Mark your answer “NA” if your company did not report an irregular item.

4.14 – Irregular items. Good or Bad?

A

How many irregular items were reported individually on the income statement?

B

Describe the irregular item you believe is most significant? Use the description as it appears on the income statement or in the notes.

C

What was the dollar value of the item?

D

Was the item reported individually as a separate line item on the income statement or in the notes section? In your opinion, why was it reported in the notes or as a line item?

E

Did the item have a positive, negative or neutral impact on the company?

F

In your opinion, why does the item have a positive, negative or neutral impact on the company?

G

In your opinion, will the impact be short term, ongoing or long term. Why?

Question 4.15 – The big questions. Are they makin’ money? Are they lookin’ good?
The answer to Benny’s question “Are they makin’ money?” cannot always be answered with a “yes” or a “no”. Whether your company is “lookin’ good” may be difficult to answered with a “yes” or a “no”. Understanding the income and expense trends will generally reveal enough information to answer “the big questions”. Review the three year period reported in your company’s income statement. Describe the trend for each of the major accounts on your company’s income statement. Describe the trend direction. Use phrases like: up only this year but level in previous years, consistently up, down only this year, consistently down or level for all years. Also, in your opinion is the trend positive, negative, insignificant? Your company may have different account descriptions and additional significant accounts. Modify the accounts to fit your company’s income statement. Enter the amounts in millions of dollars from the SEC Form 10K, for the current year, the previous year and the next previous year.

Question 4.15 – The big questions. Are they makin’ money? Are they lookin’ good?

Accounts

Current Yr

Previous Yr

Next Previous Yr

Trend Description

A

Net Sales

B

Cost of Goods Sold

C

Gross Profit

D

Operating Expense

E

Operating Income (loss)

F

Non-operating income (loss)

G

Income Tax

H

Net Income

I

J

K

L

M

Question 4.16 – Which trend is important and why?
The account with largest declining or increasing trend is not always the most significant trend on a company’s income statement. Of the trends you identified in the previous question, which account, in your opinion, has the most significant trend for your company? Why do you believe it to be the most significant? Trends generally do not remain constant forever. What might reverse the significant trend and how might the reversal affect your company?

4.16 – Which trend is important and why?

A

What account has the most significant trend for your company?

B

Why do you believe it is the most significant trend?

C

What might reverse this trend and how would the reversal impact the company?

Question 4.17 – How strong is your company’s cash position?
Enter the amounts for each cash flow account from your company’s Statement of Cash Flow.

Review the three year period reported in your company’s Statement of Cash Flow. Describe the trend for each of the major accounts. Describe the trend direction. Use phrases like: up only this year but level in previous years, consistently up, down only this year, consistently down or level for all years. Also, in your opinion is the trend positive, negative, insignificant? Your company may have different account descriptions and additional significant accounts. Modify the accounts to fit your company’s Statement of Cash Flow. Enter the amounts in millions of dollars from the SEC Form 10K, for the current year, the previous year and the next previous year.