Balance Sheet Analysis and Recommendation

Prior to beginning work on this assignment, read Chapter 2 in the textbook, which explains the contents of balance sheets and gives you a foundation of knowledge to complete this assignment. Next, review the article, Reading a Balance Sheet. Also, you might want to review How to Read a 10-K before beginning.

Choose a publicly held corporation and find the balance sheet and notes to the financial statements in the most recent Form 10-K. The Form 10-K can be located by going to the home page of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (Links to an external site.) and locating the SEC EDGAR Database. Look under the Filings tab for EDGAR search tools. If you need help, try the tutorial, How Do I Use EDGAR? (Links to an external site.)

Write a three to four-page, APA-formatted paper that reviews the current assets, accounts receivable, other current assets, equipment, property, current liabilities, long-term debt, and stockholders’ equity of the company you chose. Based on your review, present a recommendation to a friend who is thinking about investing in the company. What are the strengths and weaknesses and what strategy would you recommend? Use and cite three credible and relevant resources (plus the textbook) in your evaluation and recommendation.

In your paper,

Analyze a company’s Balance Sheet and notes as found in the company's Form 10-K.
Evaluate the company’s strengths and weaknesses.
Describe a strategy for investment.
Use three credible and relevant resources (plus the textbook) to support recommendations.
The Balance Sheet Analysis and Recommendation assignment

Must be three to four double-spaced pages in length (not including title and references pages) and formatted according to APA style as outlined in the Writing Center’s APA Style (Links to an external site.) resource.
Must include a separate title page with the following:
Title of paper
Student’s name
Course name and number
Instructor’s name
Date submitted
For further assistance with the formatting and the title page, refer to APA Formatting for Microsoft Word (Links to an external site.).

Must utilize academic voice. See the Academic Voice (Links to an external site.) resource for additional guidance.
Must include an introduction and conclusion paragraph. Your introduction paragraph needs to end with a clear thesis statement that indicates the purpose of your paper.
For assistance on writing Introductions & Conclusions (Links to an external site.) as well as Writing a Thesis Statement (Links to an external site.), refer to the Writing Center resources.
Must use at least three credible sources in addition to the course text.
The Scholarly, Peer Reviewed, and Other Credible Sources (Links to an external site.)✎ EditSign 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.