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.
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.
Write a short paper that introduces the business you chose for your final project.
Specifically, you must address the following rubric criteria:
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.
| Criteria | Proficient (100%) | Needs Improvement (70%) | Not Complete (0%) | Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Business Selection | Describes the business chosen, including the business name and what the business offers consumers | Shows progress toward proficiency, but with errors or omissions; areas for improvement may include describing in more detail the business chosen, including the business name or what the business offers consumers | Does not attempt criterion | 15 |
| Financial Statements | Uses the financial statements for the latest fiscal quarter for the chosen business and accurately reports the values requested | Shows progress toward proficiency, but with errors or omissions; areas for improvement may include accurately reporting the values or not reporting all the values requested | Does not attempt criterion | 15 |
| Financial Statement Role | Explains why financial statements are important to a business and how they help a business figure out its financial health | Shows progress toward proficiency, but with errors or omissions; areas for improvement may include explaining in more detail why financial statements are important to a business and how they help a business figure out its financial health | Does not attempt criterion | 25 |
| Cash Flow Management | Uses 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 | Shows progress toward proficiency, but with errors or omissions; areas for improvement may include using more detail when using a financial news story from the past two months to explain why cash flow management is important to a business and its financial health | Does not attempt criterion | 25 |
| Articulation of Response | Clearly conveys meaning with correct grammar, sentence structure, and spelling, demonstrating an understanding of audience and purpose | Shows progress toward proficiency, but with errors in grammar, sentence structure, and spelling, negatively impacting readability | Submission has critical errors in grammar, sentence structure, and spelling, preventing understanding of ideas | 10 |
| Citations and Attributions | Uses citations for ideas requiring attribution, with few or no minor errors | Uses citations for ideas requiring attribution, with major errors | Does not use citations for ideas requiring attribution | 10 |
| Total: | 100% | |||