Overview
This milestone is the first in a series of connected assignments leading up to your Final Project. In Milestone One, you’ll analyze and evaluate a business’s financial health and recommend financing options that can improve it. Use the Final Project Business Options List to choose the business that you’ll examine in your Final Project. Then use Mergent Online to locate the latest quarterly financial statements for the business: the balance sheet, the income statement, and the cash flow statement.
Scenario
The CFO of your company has asked for your support in preparing a report for the business’s board of directors. Many of the board members are new, and some of them have little background in finance. With this in mind, you will need to write a report that all board members can easily understand.
Directions
Write a short paper that introduces the business you chose for your final project.
Choose one of the following businesses to use for your final project. You’ll also use this business in Final
Project Milestone One and Final Project Milestone Two.
Business Options
• Johnson and Johnson (JNJ)
• Meta Platforms Inc. (META)
• Tesla (TSLA)
• Microsoft (MSFT)
• Chipotle Mexican Grill (CMG)
Specifically, you must address the following rubric criteria:
Business Selection: Select a company from the Final Project Business Options List and describe the business you chose, including the business name and what the business offers consumers.
Financial Statements: Using Mergent Online, look up the balance sheet, the income statement, and the cash flow statement for the latest fiscal quarter for the business you chose. Use these statements to accurately report the following values:
Total assets
Total liabilities
Current assets
Current liabilities
Net income
Shares outstanding
Earnings per share (EPS)
Total revenue
Shareholders’ equity
Financial Statement Role: Explain why financial statements are important to a business and how they help a business determine its financial health.
Cash Flow Management: Use a financial news story from the past two months as an example to explain why cash flow management is important to a business and its financial health.
What to Submit
Your submission should be a 4- to 5-paragraph Microsoft Word document with 12-point Times New Roman font, double spacing, and one-inch margins. All sources should be cited using APA style. Include the Balance Sheet and Income Statement from Mergent Online with your submission.
