Accounting

Find financial information From the set of financial statements acquired for E1.1, determine the following: a. Who is the chief financial officer? b. What are the names of the directors? c. Which firm conducted the audit? Have the auditors reviewed the entire report? d. What are the names of the financial statements provided? e. How many pages of notes accompany the financial statements? f. In addition to the financial statements, are there other reports? If so, what are they? Reference Exercise 1.1: Obtain an annual report Throughout this course, you will be asked to relate the material being studied to actual financial statements. After you complete this course, you will be able to use an organization's financial statements to make decisions and informed judgments about that organization. The purpose of this assignment is to provide the experience of obtaining a company's annual report. You may want to refer to the financial statements in the report during the rest of the course. Required: Obtain the most recently issued annual report of a publicly owned manufacturing or merchandising corporation of your choice. Do not select a bank, insurance company, financial institution, or public utility. It would be appropriate to select a firm that you know something about or have an interest in. Type firmname.com or use a search engine to locate your chosen company's website and then scan your firm's home page for information about annual report ordering. If you don't see a direct link to Investor Relations or Investors on the home page, look for links such as Our Company, About Us, or Site Map that may lead you to SEC Filings, Financial Information, or Annual Reports. Most companies allow you to save or print an Adobe Acrobat version of their annual reports.

Obtain an annual report Throughout this course, you will be asked to relate the material being studied to actual financial statements. After you complete this course, you will be able to use an organization's financial statements to make decisions and informed judgments about that organization. The purpose of this assignment is to provide the experience of obtaining a company's annual report. You may want to refer to the financial statements in the report during the rest of the course. Required: Obtain the most recently issued annual report of a publicly owned manufacturing or merchandising corporation of your choice. Do not select a bank, insurance company, financial institution, or public utility. It would be appropriate to select a firm that you know something about or have an interest in. Type firmname.com or use a search engine to locate your chosen company's website and then scan your firm's home page for information about annual report ordering. If you don't see a direct link to Investor Relations or Investors on the home page, look for links such as Our Company, About Us, or Site Map that may lead you to SEC Filings, Financial Information, or Annual Reports. Most companies allow you to save or print an Adobe Acrobat version of their annual reports.

Auditor independence Using the search engine you are most comfortable with, identify at least five sources concerning the general topic of auditor independence. Write a brief memo to provide an update on the current status of the auditor independence standard-setting process. The Business in Practice box on page 13 should serve as the starting point for this exercise. Note: You might find it useful to contrast the opinions expressed by any of the Big 4 accounting firms to those expressed by nonaccounting professionals. Reference of Practice Box:

Your ideas about accounting Write a paragraph describing your perceptions of what accounting is all about and the work that accountants do.

Read and outline an article The accounting profession is frequently in the news, not always in the most positive light. The purpose of this assignment is to increase your awareness of an issue facing the profession. Required: Find, read, outline, and prepare to discuss a brief article from a general audience or business audience publication about accounting and/or the accounting profession. The article should have been published within the past eight months and should relate to accounting or the accounting profession in general; it should not be about some technical accounting issue. The appropriate search terms to use are "accountants," "accounting," and/or "accounting (specific topic)."

Identify factors in an ethical decision Jim Hurley is an accountant for a local manufacturing company. Jim's good friend, Mike Kotowski, has been operating a retail sporting goods store for about a year. The store has been moderately successful, and Mike needs a bank loan to help finance the next stage of his store's growth. He has asked Jim to prepare financial statements that the banker will use to help decide whether to grant the loan. Mike has proposed that the fee he will pay for Jim's accounting work should be contingent upon his receiving the loan. Required: What factors should Jim consider when making his decision about whether to prepare the financial statements for Mike's store?

Identify information used in making an informed decision Rick and Margaret Berry have owned and operated a retail furniture store for more than 30 years. They have employed an independent CPA during this time to prepare various sales tax, payroll tax, and income tax returns, as well as financial statements for themselves and the bank from which they have borrowed money from time to time. They are considering selling the store but are uncertain about how to establish an asking price. Required: What type of information is likely to be included in the material prepared by the CPA that may help Mr. and Mrs. Berry establish an asking price for the store?

Your expectations for this course Write a statement identifying the expectations you have for this course.