This is the second milestone leading up to your final project. In Final Project Milestone One, you introduced the business you chose. You examined its financial statements and financial health and reported its financial values. In Final Project Milestone Two, you will make calculations based on the latest information found using Mergent Online about your company and compare the totals with those of one year ago. You will then use these figures to decide whether short-term financing is needed to improve your company’s financial health. Before moving forward, review your instructor’s feedback for Milestone One and incorporate any suggestions.
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.
For the company you chose for your final project, open the following documents:
Use the documents to calculate key financial ratios.
Then open the following documents:
Use the documents to calculate the same financial ratios. Finally, compare those ratios and analyze your results.
Specifically, you must address the following rubric criteria:
Your submission should be a 2- to 3-page Word document (not including title and resource pages) with 12-point Times New Roman font, double spacing, and one-inch margins. All sources should be cited using APA style. You must also use the Final Project Financial Formulas workbook and submit the following worksheets:
The following resources can help you complete this milestone:
Video: Mergent Online: Public Company Financials (4:46)
Watch this video from the Shapiro Library to learn more about how to access and use Mergent Online. This video shows information on the As Reported Currency page within the Company Financials tab. For the purposes of this course, however, the best way to see financial data is to click Standardized beneath the Company Financials tab. This will allow you to access the Standardized Annual Balance Sheet.
Shapiro Library FAQ: How Do I Cite a Company Profile From Mergent Online in APA Style?
Use this resource to help answer any questions you have about citing from Mergent Online.
| Criteria | Exemplary | Proficient | Needs Improvement | Not Evident | Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Financial Calculations | N/A | Calculates accurate financial formulas to assess the business’s current financial health (100%) | Shows progress toward proficiency, but with errors or omissions; areas for improvement may include calculating more accurate financial formulas to assess the business’s current financial health (85%) | Does not attempt criterion (0%) | 21 |
| Fiscal Quarter Comparison | Exceeds proficiency in an exceptionally clear, insightful, sophisticated, or creative manner (100%) | Summarizes the differences between the results from the financial calculations of the most recent fiscal quarter and the results of the same financial calculations of the same fiscal quarter from one year ago (85%) | Shows progress toward proficiency, but with errors or omissions; areas for improvement may include summarizing in more detail the differences between the results from the financial calculations of the most recent fiscal quarter and the results of the same financial calculations of the same fiscal quarter from one year ago (55%) | Does not attempt criterion (0%) | 21 |
| Comparison Analysis | Exceeds proficiency in an exceptionally clear, insightful, sophisticated, or creative manner (100%) | Explains what the calculations and the comparison show about the business’s current financial health, giving examples to support the explanation (85%) | Shows progress toward proficiency, but with errors or omissions; areas for improvement may include explaining in more detail what the calculations and the comparison show about the business’s current financial health or giving examples to support the explanation (55%) | Does not attempt criterion (0%) | 22 |
| Short-Term Financing | Exceeds proficiency in an exceptionally clear, insightful, sophisticated, or creative manner (100%) | Explains how potential short-term financing sources could help the business raise funds needed to improve its financial health, based on the business’s current financial information (85%) | Shows progress toward proficiency, but with errors or omissions; areas for improvement may include explaining in more detail how potential short-term financing sources could help the business raise funds needed to improve its financial health, based on the business’s current financial information (55%) | Does not attempt criterion (0%) | 21 |
| Articulation of Response | Exceeds proficiency in an exceptionally clear, insightful, sophisticated, or creative manner (100%) | Clearly conveys meaning with correct grammar, sentence structure, and spelling, demonstrating an understanding of audience and purpose (85%) | Shows progress toward proficiency, but with errors in grammar, sentence structure, and spelling, negatively impacting readability (55%) | Submission has critical errors in grammar, sentence structure, and spelling, preventing understanding of ideas (0%) | 10 |
| Citations and Attributions | Uses citations for ideas requiring attribution, with few or no minor errors (100%) | Uses citations for ideas requiring attribution, with consistent minor errors (85%) | Uses citations for ideas requiring attribution, with major errors (55%) | Does not use citations for ideas requiring attribution (0%) | 5 |
| Total: | 100% | ||||