ACCT 301 UMUC Accounting for Nonaccounting Managers Walmart Company Case Discussion

Part 1 THE COMPANY IS WALMART – WMT –

SCENARIO:  You are a new hire for a major corporation completing your eight-week rotation relating to accounting, financial reporting, budgeting, cost control, and profit maximization. As part of your rotation you are learning how accounting information is used by managers throughout the organization to make managerial decisions.  This report will address the below topics, providing senior management a report introducing, explaining, and providing analysis of the financial reports.   Assume senior management does not understand basic accounting concepts and unable to read and interpret the reports without your assistance.  Incorporate and explain accounting concepts learned within the course material (readings and discussions) and provide financial analysis as completed within the SEC10K discussion posts. 

REQUIREMENT:  Prepare a report for your chosen corporation’s senior managers to interpret and explain the SEC10K financial reports.  The report should be one to two full in pages in length: single spaced, 12 pt. font, one-inch margins, and in your own words.  Make note of the grading rubric which requires you to address project questions, display critical thinking, analysis, research, application of course concepts, write in your own words, and demonstrate a high degree of effective communication (i.e., formal business writing with proper grammar and punctuation).

The following are concepts you should incorporate for discussion within your report:

• Review      the financial statements as whole, including the Notes to the Financial      Statements to learn more about your company.   Discuss types of      information contained with and the reason for the incorporation of      financial statement footnotes.
• Review the      Statement of Comprehensive Income.  What items are displayed in Other      Comprehensive Income?  What is the importance of providing this      financial report?
• Does      your company own treasury stock (sometimes called “repurchase of stock”)      in the owners’ equity section (Statement of Retained Earnings)? Is this      value increasing or decreasing?  Consider the journal entry approach      to the purchase of treasury stock.  Treasury stock is displayed on      the retained earnings statement/balance sheet as a negative value in      owners’ equity.  Explain treasury stock, and why treasury stock      decreases stockholders equity.   Why would a company purchase      Treasury Stock?  (Hint:  Review the www.principlesofaccounting.com      website for Treasury Stock concepts.  You can list  the reasons      in an enumerated list.)

Part 2 

The following are concepts you should consider for discussion within your report:

• Compare      and contrast financial accounting and managerial accounting.  
• Consider      the concept of break even analysis and target income.  
  • In       order to apply break even analysis, why would the expenses reported in       external financial reports need to be reorganized into categories based       on cost behavior?
  • How do       these analytical tools relate to product pricing and cost management       (i.e., why would this analysis be useful to management)?
• Why      would a company seek to position their products as low priced or high      priced item in the market place?  How might this affect sales      dollars, sales volume, and profits?
• Search      and review your course materials for pricing strategies.  Search      specifically for the word pricing. Summarize the concepts and issues from      the course materials.  Explain the interrelationships with      accounting, information systems, and sales, marketing, and profit      planning.