ACCOUNTING

The purpose of a corporate annual report is to communicate to stockholders and other interested parties its financial statements. The annual report is a summary of the corporation’s operations over the previous 12-month time period and states the corporation’s plans for the future. Many annual reports are created to resemble a corporate brochure, using lots of pictures, color, charts, and graphs. Despite the fancy look, the main purpose of the report is to provide the year’s financial data, which comes from the corporation’s accounting system.
Instructions:
Obtain a current annual report for any U.S. company you are interested in analyzing. You may download it from its Website or from the LRC database called Mergent Online. Each student must choose a different company to analyze; therefore students must receive approval of the selected company from the professor by Week 5 of the class.
Write a 2-3 page paper in which you:
1. Identify and explain the main sections of the annual report.
2. Discuss the key factors that influenced the company’s financial performance during the year.
3. Discuss the primary assets held by the company.
4. Explain how management characterizes the internal control environment of the company.
Your assignment must:
? Be typed, double spaced, using Times New Roman font (size 12), with one-inch margins on all sides; references must follow APA or school-specific format. Check with your professor for any additional instructions.
? Include a cover page containing the tile of the assignment, the student’s name, the professor’s name, the course title, and the date. State the company name and reporting period on which you will be reporting on the cover page, such as “Coca-Cola, Fiscal Year 2010” The cover page and the reference page are not included in the required page length.
The specific course learning outcomes associated with this assignment are:
? Identify and explain the fundamental concepts and principles in accounting, the components of the accounting equation, the primary financial accounting equation, and financial statements and reports.
? Analyze the basic concepts related to accounting information systems.
? Use technology and information resources to research issues in financial accounting.
? Write clearly and concisely about financial accounting using proper writing mechanics.
Grading for this assignment will be based on answer quality, logic/organization of the paper, and language and writing skills, using the following rubric

Accounting

1. Graph the share price of BHP Billiton Ltd from 2006 – 2015, and interpret the results. (3 marks)
2. Graph the market capitalisation from 2006 – 2015, and interpret the results. (3 marks)
3. Graph the Earnings per Share, from 2006 – 2014 and interpret the results. (3 marks)
4. Graph and interpret the level of short term and long term debt. (3 marks)
5. Investigate the types of debt (e.g. bonds) that BHP uses and where they raise the funds from
2009 – 2014. (5 marks)
6. From 2009 – 2014 investigate and report the dividend policy(ies) and if there were any share
issues or share buybacks. (5 marks)
7. Conclusion about the financing of BHP Billiton Ltd from your periods examined and likely
strategies into the future. (8 marks)
Formatting requirements:
1. Please include an abstract, which states what your report is about and YOUR major findings. No more than 5 sentences.
2. Table of contents (after the Abstract) with page numbering.
3. Requirements as above.
4. Conclusion.
5. References