Assignment
Final Paper: Financial Analysis of an Organization and Recommendations
Thus far, in the learning activities of this course, you have addressed various concepts and principles of financial management. However, one important criterion for consummating knowledge in any domain is to be able to integrate the learning. This Final Project is an ideal exercise to demonstrate your ability to integrate the knowledge you have attained thus far in this course.
For the Final Paper, select a publicly traded company. Be sure that it is large enough so it contains a lot of easily found financial information. Using the financial information you find, you will develop a report that analyzes the company's current finances and makes recommendations for the future.
Your Final Paper should be 2,000-2,500 words and follow the Final Paper Template found in this week's Learning Resources. It should contain the following elements:
• Executive Summary (250 words)
• SWOT Analysis (250 words): Use sources such as Yahoo Finance, company annual reports, and other financial sources to develop your SWOT Analysis.
• Recommendations and Justifications (1,250 words)
• Concluding Thoughts (250 words): Your concluding thoughts on the future of your chosen company.
Note: See the Final Paper area of the course navigation menu for a detailed explanation of the all the requirements for the Final Paper.
Required Resources
Readings
• Ross, S. A., Westerfield, R. W., & Jordan, B. D. (2012). Essentials of corporate finance (8th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill/Irwin.
o Chapter 8, "Net Present Value and Other Investment Criteria" (pp. 238-274)
o Chapter 9, "Making Capital Investment Decisions" (pp. 275-309)
• University of Kansas. (2013). Chapter 3, Section 14: SWOT analysis: Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Retrieved from https://ctb.ku.edu/en/table-of-contents/assessment/assessing-community-needs-and-resources/swot-analysis/main
Optional Resources
• Ward. S. (2014a). How to do SWOT analysis for your business. Retrieved fromhttps://sbinfocanada.about.com/od/businessplanning/a/How-To-Do-Swot-Analysis.htm
• Ward, S. (2014b). SWOT example. Retrieved fromhttps://sbinfocanada.about.com/od/businessplanning/a/Swot-Example.htm