Sales and Inventory

Question 1

Purpose of Assignment

The purpose of this assignment is to evaluate the inventory section of two companies using basic comparative analysis, and to interpret the data to gain insight about the company’s inventory management.

Assignment Steps

Resources: Appendices D and E located in Financial Accounting: Tools for Business Decision Making

Note: While the data are not from the same year, inferences can be drawn regarding inventory management of the two companies.

Write a 1,050-word comparative analysis using the financial statements of Amazon.com, Inc. presented in Appendix D, and the financial statements for Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., presented in Appendix E, including the following:

• Compute the 2014 values for Amazon.com and the 2015 values for Wal-Mart based on the information in the financial statements:
  • Inventory turnover (Use cost of sales and inventories)
  • Days of inventory

• Conclusions concerning the management of the inventory can you draw from this data.

Show work on Excel^® spreadsheet and submit with analysis.

Question 2

DQ 1

Managerial decision-making is forward-looking and predictive.

Predictive power suggests certain results. Whether building a stock model intended to predict stock price or a business decision model, economic models are more an art than a science.

Provide examples of different Excel-type models used by companies to make economic-type decisions.

DQ 2

Regression analysis is a tool for building statistical models that characterize relationships among a dependent variable [sales, for example] and one or more independent variables [price, for example].

Find real world data, perhaps from a company’s annual report or from government sources, then use Excel to develop a simple or multiple regression analysis with a dependent and an independent variable.

Describe, explain, discuss, and comment on the regression’s predictive, strategic value.