Question:
The purpose of this assignment is to test your ability to research, analyze and present financial information. You are required to research key financial data, analyze the information, apply the appropriate financial concepts and formulas and prepare a credible management level financial report addressing a specific request.
The Financial Research Report must be posted in your LEO Student Assignments folder as an attachment(s) not later than (5/1/16). This report must be 8 -10 double-spaced typewritten pages, excluding any attached tables and graphs. Note, you are expected to adhere rigidly to this page limit. Plus or minus one page is acceptable however excess length is both discouraged and penalized as one objective of this project is your ability to condense the key information into a concise management report. It is suggested that you use references to attached enclosures and/or summary short tables to support your arguments within the body of the report.
Objective:
The specific objective of this graded written research project is to prepare an "executive level financial report" to the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of New Technology Incorporated (NTI), a mythical company in which you are employed as a senior financial analyst. This report will pertain to a financial analysis of a publicly-traded company, MicroStrategy, Inc., a Vienna, Virginia headquartered corporation ( www.microstrategy.com ), which, in turn, will require you to undertake independent financial research (web-based or library), conduct a careful financial analysis, and apply the proper selection of key financial theories and formulas.
Situation:
You are a financial analyst with the mythical New Technology Incorporated (NTI); NTI is an established manufacturer of a line of fully-integrated wireless communication products, which services an international market. A competitive technical product evaluation has determined that MicroStrategy represents the best potential candidates for a long-term software security partnership with NTI. However, based on some serious general concerns about the fallout of companies in the software industry in general, the CFO has asked you to conduct a comparative financial analysis of MicroStrategy to determine if the company is financially sound. The cost of adopting a new software system is significant and any interruption in software or software support during the next few years would adversely affect NTI''s performance and profit.
Specific Assignment:
The Specific questions you are to answer are: (1) "what is the relative financial viability of MicroStrategy? And (2) is MicroStrategy recommended from the financial standpoint for a partnership?"
This assignment requires you to research, analyze, and prepare a report for the CFO on the actual financial performance of MicroStrategy for the last three years. Your report is to consist of four parts:
(1) An evaluation of MicroStrategy's income statement trends for the last three years.
(2) An evaluation of MicroStrategy's Balance Sheet trends for the last three years.
(3) An evaluation of MicroStrategy's cash flow trends for the last three years.
(4) An evaluation of MicroStrategy's s key Financial Ratios trends for the last three years.
These evaluations are to be followed by
(5) A specific recommendation with supporting rationale as to MicroStrategy's financial
suitability for a long term software partnership with NIT.
To assist you in your task, the CFO has provided the following general guidance: She views it very important to identify and evaluate the MicroStrategy's trends over the last three years in the following financial areas:
Annual Balance Sheets for the last three years.
. Annual Income Statements for the last three years.
. Annual Cash Flow Statements for the last three years
. Annual Financial ratios compared to industry averages
Your primary source of information for this effort should be
. MicroStrategy Annual reports, 10K SEC Reports
Using the above financial research information, develop an evaluation of the financial performance of MicroStrategy's using the rubric provided in the syllabus. You can guide on the rubric for an outline of your report format.
The Financial report must be posted to your LEO Student Assignment folder as attachments. The attachments are limited to a maximum two files in either doc, docx, xls, xlsx, or rtf formats. All OTHER FORMATS ARE NOT ACCEPTABLE, and will not be reviewed and graded. Pdf. files will not be accepted or graded.
All work, except supporting attachments, must be word processed; handwritten and scanned work will not be accepted and graded. This report is must be researched, developed and prepared by you. All questions related to this assignment, should be referred to the mythical NTI CFO (i.e., your instructor).