ACCOUNTING-Financial Statement Analysis Project—A Comparative Analysis of Oracle Corporation

Your Course Project
Financial Statement
Analysis Project—A Comparative Analysis of Oracle Corporation and Microsoft
Corporation

Here is the link for the financial
statements for Oracle Corporation for the fiscal year ending 2011. First,
select 2011 using the drop-down arrow labeled Year on the right-hand side of
the page, and then select Annual Reports using the drop-down arrow labeled
Filing Type on the left-hand side of the page.

You should select the 10k dated
6/28/2011 and choose to download in PDF, Word, or Excel format.

.oracle.com/us/corporate/investor-relations/sec/index.html”>http://www.oracle.com/us/corporate/investor-relations/sec/index.html

Here is the link for the financial
statements for Microsoft Corporation for the fiscal year ending 2011. You need
to press the word Go on the left-hand
side of the page. Then you should select the 10k dated 7/28/2011 and choose to
download in Word or Excel format.

.microsoft.com/investor/SEC/default.aspx?year=2011&filing=annual”>http://www.microsoft.com/investor/SEC/default.aspx?year=2011&filing=annual

A sample project template is
available for download in Doc Sharing. The sample project compares the ratio
performance of Tootsie Roll and Hershey using the 2012 financial statements of
Tootsie Roll and Hershey provided at their websites.

Description

This course contains a Course Project.
You will be required to submit one draft of the project at the end of Week 5
and the final, completed project at the end of Week 7. Using the financial
statements for Oracle Corporation and Microsoft Corporation, respectively,
you will calculate and compare the financial ratios listed further down this
documentfor the fiscal year ending 2011 and prepare your comments about the two companies’performance
based on your ratio calculations.The entire project will be graded
by the instructor at the end of the final submission in Week 7, and one grade
will be assigned for the entire project.

Overall Requirements

For the Final Submission

Your
final Excel workbook submission should contain the following items. You cannot
use any software but Excel to complete this project.
1. A completed worksheet title page
tab, which is really a coversheet with your name, the course, the date, your
instructor’s name, and the title for the project.
2. A completed worksheet profiles tab that
contains a one-paragraph description regarding each company with information
about their histories, what products they sell, where they are located,and so
on.
3. All 16 ratios
for each company, with the supporting calculations and commentary on your
worksheet ratio tab. Supporting calculations must be shown either as a formula
or as text typed into a different cell. The ratios are listed further down this
document. Your comments for each ratio should include more than just a
definition of the ratio. You should focus on interpreting each ratio
number for each company and support your comments with the numbers found
in the ratios.
4. The Summary and Conclusions
worksheet tab is an overall comparison of how each company compares in terms of
the major category of ratios described in Chapter 13 of your textbook. A nice
way to conclude is to state which company you think is the better investment
and why.
5. The Bibliography worksheet tab must
contain at least your textbook as a reference. Any other information you use to
profile the companies should also be cited as a reference.
Required Ratios for Final Project
Submission
1.
Earnings per Share of Common Stock

Current Ratio

Gross Profit Margin
Rate of
Return on Sales (Net Profit Margin)
Inventory Turnover

Days’
Inventory Outstanding (DIO)

7.
Accounts Receivable Turnover
8.
Days’ Sales Outstanding (DSO)

AssetTurnover

Rate of
Return on Total Assets (ROA)
Debt Ratio

Times Interest
Earned Ratio
Dividend
Yield (For the purposes of this
ratio, use Yahoo Finance to look up current dividend yield and stock
price; just note the date that you looked up this information.)
Rate of Return
on Common Stockholders’ Equity (ROE)
Free Cash Flow
Price/Earnings Ratio (Multiple)(For the purpose of this ratio, for
Oracle, use the market price per share on May 30, 2011 and for Microsoft,
use the market price per share on June 30, 2011.)

The
Excel files uploaded in the Dropboxes should not include any unnecessary
numbers or information (such as previous years’ ratios, ratios that were not
specifically asked for in the project, etc.).

Please
upload your final submission to the Week 7 Dropbox by the Sunday ending Week 7.
For
the Draft

Create an Excel spreadsheet or use
the project template to show your computations for the first 10 ratios listed
above. The more you can complete regarding the other requirements, the closer
you will be to completion when Week 7 arrives. Supporting calculations must be
shown either as a formula or as text typed into a different cell. If you plan
on creating your own spreadsheet, please follow the format provided in the
Tootsie Roll and Hershey template file.

Please upload your draft submission
to the Week 5 Dropbox by the Sunday at the end of Week 5.

Other
Helpful information

If you feel uncomfortable with
Excel, you can find many helpful references on Excel by performing a Google
search.

Chapter 13 contains ratio
calculations and comparison comments related to Apple and Dell; you will likely
find this information helpful.

BigCharts.com provides historical
stock quotes.

Either APA or MLA style can be used
to complete the references on your Bibliography tab. There is a tutorial for
APA and MLA style within the Syllabus.

Grade Information

The entire
project will be graded by the instructor at the end of the final submission in Week
7, and one grade will be assigned for the entire project. The project will count for 18% of your overall course
grade.

Category

Points

%

Description

Documentation
and Formatting

9

5%

The report will be submitted in
the form of an Excel Workbook, with each page (worksheet) of the workbook
named appropriately.Please do not use any other software (such as MS Works or
Lotus) to complete the project.
A quality report will include a title worksheet tab, a worksheet tab for
theprofile of the two companies, a worksheet tab for the ratio calculations
and comments, a worksheet tab for the summary and conclusion, proper
citations if applicable, and a bibliography worksheet tab for the references.

Organization
and Cohesiveness

9

5%

A quality report will include
the contentdescribed above in the documentation and formatting section.
The ratios should be listed in the same order in which they appear in the
project information above.

Editing

18

10%

A quality report will be free
of any spelling, punctuation, or grammatical errors. Sentences and paragraphs
will be clear, concise, and factually correct.Ratios will be expressed as
numbers or percentages, depending on what is appropriate, as is
shown in the textbook.Note that not
all ratios are shown as percentages. Two decimal places are sufficient for
each of the ratios.

Content

144

80%

A quality report will
have correct ratio calculations and accurate supporting commentary. Any
assumptions, if made, should be spelled out clearly. Supporting calculations
must be shown either as a formula or as text typed into a different cell.

Total

180

100%

A quality report will meet or
exceed all of the above requirements.