Academic Essays

how the SEC’s EDGAR

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In a three- to five-page paper (not including the title and reference pages) research and discuss how the SEC’s EDGAR | Search Tools improves how investors find and use financial information. In your paper,

  • Explain how investors can use the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) database at EDGAR | Search Tools (Links to an external site.) to research a company’s operations and financial information.
  • Assess the financial performance of Amazon.com, Inc. (AMZN) by determining the risk of investing in the company through financial statement analysis. To make the above assessment and determination, go to Amazon’s.com (Links to an external site.) official website, and locate the company’s Investor Relations link. Using the Investors Relations link, find financial information such as SEC Filings and Annual Reports.
  • Conclude how investors can assess Amazon’s.com financial performance and risk using Annual Reports.
  • Explain the content of each report listed below in detail and how it relates to your assessment of Amazon’s.com financial performance.
    • Form 10-K SEC filings
    • Annual Reports
    • Management Discussion and Analysis
    • Management’s Responsibility for Financial Reporting
    • Management’s Report on Internal Control over Financial Reporting
    • Auditors’ Report
    • Selected Financial Data

Amazon.com, Inc. (AMZN) is the world’s largest electronic commerce and cloud computing company measured by revenue and market capitalization. The following items were adapted from a recent Annual Report of Amazon.com (Links to an external site.) for the year ending December 31:

In millions

1.                   Accounts payable

$16,459

2.                   Accounts receivable

5,612

3.                   Cash

14,557

4.                   Cost of sales

62,752

5.                   Income tax expense

167

6.                   Interest expense

210

7.                   Inventories

8,299

8.                   Net cash provided by operating activities

6,842

9.                   Net cash flows used for investing activities

(5,065)

10.               Net sales

88,988

11.               Other expense

118

12.               Other income

76

13.               Property, plant, and other long-term assets

16,967

14.               Selling, general, and administrative expenses

26,058

15.               Retained earnings (Dec. 31)

2,190

  • Indicate on which financial statement you would find each of the preceding items using the following notations (note: an item may appear on more than one statement):
    • IS Income statement
    • SE Statement of stockholders’ equity
    • BS Balance sheet
    • SCF Statement of cash flow
  • Prepare an income statement for the year ending December 31, based on the com, Inc. financial statement data shown above.

The Final Paper: SEC Filings and the EDGAR Database

  • Must be three to five double-spaced pages in length (not including title and references pages) and formatted according to APA style as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center’s APA Style (Links to an external site.)
  • 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 Word 2013 (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.
  • Must add an APA heading (Level 1 or Level 2) for each one of the topics discussed in the research paper as shown:
    • SEC EDGAR Database Level 1Amazon’s.com financial performance Level 1
    • Form 10-K SEC Filings Level 2
    • Annual Reports Level 2
    • Management Discussion and Analysis Level 2
    • Management’s Responsibility for Financial Reporting Level 2
    • Management’s Report on Internal Control over Financial Reporting Level 2
    • Auditors’ Report Level 2
    • Selected Financial Data Level 2
    • Financial Statement Notations (IS, SE, BS, SCF) Level 1Amazon’s.com Income Statement Level 1

Use the following APA Style blog to read about the APA Five Levels of Headings (Links to an external site.)

  • Must use at least 14 scholarly and/or credible articles from ProQuest Business, Industry Databases: Nasdaq.com, EY.com, and Comprehensive Accounting Databases: FASB codification, AICPA, and SEC reference library sources in addition to the course text.
  • Must document any information used from sources in APA style as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center’s Citing Within Your Paper (Links to an external site.)
  • Must include a separate references page that is formatted according to APA style as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center. See the Formatting Your References List (Links to an external site.) resource in the Ashford Writing Center for specifications.

Carefully review the Grading Rubric (Links to an external site.) for the criteria that will be used to evaluate your assignment.

Emerging new creative technologies and what they will require organizations to do differently.”

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Prepare a 5- to 7-page paper in accordance with the following Assignment Expectations, on the topic:
“Emerging new creative technologies and what they will require organizations to do differently.”

Discuss at least three specific new technological developments that you know about personally or can research using the Internet. Describe them in some detail and provide references to them. Think about what they will require of their users that is not being done now, and how organizations might have to change to incorporate them. Estimate their long-term effects and what further developments they might stimulate. Conclude with a couple of paragraphs summarizing your conclusions across all the cases you have discussed.

Management’s Report on Internal Control Over Financial Reporting

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Review the Form 10-K for the company selected for team assignments.

Write a 1,050- to 1,400-word paper on the following:

  1. Management’s Report on Internal Control Over Financial Reporting
  2. The Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm’s Report on Internal Control Over Financial Reporting
  3. The Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm’s Report on the Financial Statements

Explain the purpose and content of each of these reports.

Assuming the report you review is an Unqualified Opinion, express your thoughts on other types of financial statement reports such as Qualified Opinions, Adverse Opinions, and Disclaimer of Opinions.

Contributed Capital & Treasury Stock

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“Contributed Capital & Treasury Stock”

  • The Contributed Capital section of Shareholders Equity of the financial statement usually includes the capital stock and additional paid in capital.  Discuss the FASB rationale for requiring additional disclosures regarding capital stock and additional paid in capital
  • Accounting for Treasury Stock:  What are treasury stocks?  Why would a Corporation want to buy back its stock?  Discuss the Cost Method and the Par Value Method for accounting for Treasury Stock.

“Case C15-8: Compensatory Share Option Plans”

  • Prepare a memo that explains the issues involved in the terms used in this plan.  Discuss the accounting for the terms of this type of compensatory share option plan.

investigative methods/techniques

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For both scenarios below, devise a fraud investigation plan by answering the following questions:

  1. Discuss the appropriate investigative methods/techniques that you would suggest.
  2. Provide a detailed plan on how you would develop and carry out the investigation.
  3. Provide support (including the use of external citations) for why the method/technique would be useful in the situation.
  4. Prepare a plan for collecting evidence.

Burger Palace

Assume you are a Burger Palace restaurant franchiser with four restaurants operated by restaurant managers in the Charlotte metropolitan area. After initially planning and launching a location, the managers are generally able to follow franchise processes and procedures and run their locations without your oversight. As a result, you are not involved in the day-to-day activities of each restaurant.

You were initially pleased with the growth and overall performance of the most recent launch in Huntersville. The restaurant generated consistent margins on sales growth of 8% plus month-over-month, which exceeded your initial expectations. However, things appeared to shift slightly over the last quarter. Sales growth has remained strong (only slightly down from the initial growth, which is typical in the restaurant business). However, you have noticed a reduction in your margins. One of the causes appears to be an increased inventory burn in your gourmet coffee line of products, which is out of line with the sales growth figures. You have recently brought this matter to the attention of the restaurant manager, who has assured you that this type of margin decline is normal (and expected) as the increased volume has led to more waste due to drink ordering errors while handling peak-level volumes. Your manager also explained that the increased volume has led to hiring needs, which have been filled by inexperienced assistant managers, which is also leading to further product waste.

Your experience suggests that the explanation provided does not adequately explain the situation. You suspect that fraudulent activity, such as free product or non-register sales, may be occurring at the Huntersville restaurant.

The Zippy Mart

The downtown Arlington Zippy Mart gas station and convenience store operates largely on a cash basis, with more than 2/3 of all transactions occurring with cash. The assistant manager has reported a discrepancy between the daily cash receipts and week-end fuel inventory. She is not sure if there is a theft issue, faulty fuel measurements, tank leakage, or if the fuel delivery trucks are shorting them fuel.

Requirements:

  • Write a paper of 4-6 pages in length (double-spaced), not counting the title and reference pages, which you must include.
  • Use terms, evidence, and concepts from class readings, including professional business language.
  • Cite at least 3 sources for this assignment