Sunday, September 16, 2018

Can I get help with this accounting assignment please?: Elect a publicly traded US corporation of your choice and download the corporation’s most recent Form 10-K. Finding this document will require some research and digging in the corporation’s website. You will probably be looking for Investor’s Information or Investor’s Relations. Review the detailed financial statements (balance sheet, income statement, and statement of cash flows) to become familiar with the layout and presentation. Submit an initial post that identifies your company and provides a brief synopsis of the management, discussion, and analysis section of the Form 10-K.

From the context of the question, this is a question to be posted to a discussion room for an online financial course. The 10-K form is filed with the SEC annually and is a tool to inform investors of significant changes in the corporation's financial position and why those changes occurred. Potential investors use the 10-K as one of many decision-making tools to determine if the company is a good fit in their investment portfolios.
The marketing department of the company is aware of this, and although the form is a legal document, it is written in a format that investors can quickly summarize as well as comprehend. Keep in mind the annual report of a company contains much of the same information, just in a more readable format. All of the elements in your assignment are found in the 10-K, and many will have subtitles on the sections that are similar to the items in your assignment.
Since it is an initial post, this suggests the instructor of your class is trying to introduce how to read a basic financial report and have you familiarize yourself with terminology associated with the class. Most of the information you are seeking is found in the summary sections which 10-K reports most always have. Most investors have no interest in the fine points but are thinking more broadly. I have assigned similar assignments to students, and here are some of the suggestions I provide to students to assist them that you may find beneficial.
1. Pick a public company you know. Don't randomly choose a company. Pick a company that you are familiar with; preferably a local one. For example, if you wear a particular brand of shoe or clothing, choose that company for your assignment. As a consumer, you have a personal awareness of the brand and are able to confirm the veracity of the claims in the report.
2. Skim the annual report. The annual report contains much of the same information as the 10-K. The annual report differs in that much of the finer details of a 10-K are summarized and written in a more consumer-friendly format. The annual report will provide context to the financial detail of the 10-K.
3. Look at more than one year's report. You are looking for trends. For example, you note that one of the claims in the report is the company has increased profitability by a large percentage over the previous year. Only by review of the previous year do you see the increase in profitability was the result of the sale of some assets. Selling assets means either the company is trying to increase cash flow, preparing to sell, or planning a merger.
4. Use professionals. Public traded companies are represented by large financial brokers and institutions. All of the large investment firms produce an analysis of the 10-K and other factors which they are more than glad to provide you upon request. You can compare your analysis with a person who does this every day. The internet is full of credible sources for investor information by financial institutions.
5. Read the summary first. Most of the information you need for this assignment is in the summary. Once you read the summary, then you can examine the details of the 10-K to support your response to the question.
6. Ask yourself, if I had a $100,000 to invest, would I invest in this company based on the information in the 10-K? The more you can personalize the information, the easier the assignment will be. The information found in the 10-K provides some clues as to the financial position, potential growth, and marketing strategy of a company. However, it is not the only document or source of information on a company that can support your response to the question posed in your class.
These are the suggestions that seem to be of the most help to my students and I hope will work for you. The links provided will help you as well.
https://www.barrons.com/articles/understanding-10-k-annual-report-51552084536

https://www.sec.gov/fast-answers/answersreada10khtm.html

https://www.thebalance.com/what-is-a-10-k-and-why-should-an-investor-read-it-357303

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