Accounting ratios

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. 

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. 

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 document for 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- 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
2.	Current Ratio 
3.	Gross Profit Margin 
4.	Rate of Return on Sales (Net Profit Margin)  
5.	Inventory Turnover 
6.	Days’ Inventory Outstanding (DIO) 
7.	Accounts Receivable Turnover 
8.	Days’ Sales Outstanding (DSO) 
9.	Asset Turnover 
10.	Rate of Return on Total Assets (ROA) 
11.	Debt Ratio 
12.	Times Interest Earned Ratio
13.	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.)
14.	Rate of Return on Common Stockholders’ Equity (ROE)
15.	Free Cash Flow
16.	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.