Homework: Analytics Recommendation
• Your deliverable will be in PowerPoint. Practicing your style and skills in communicating messages and stories via PowerPoint is important as this remains the primary presentation tool in US business environment.
• Select from the same companies as homework: Disney, Bio Rad Laboratories, Albertsons, Williams-Sonoma, Invitae, Seer, Air B&B.
• Perform the following steps and analysis and communicate the results in your PowerPoint slides. Read the most recent 10-K and
o Identify and list the primary competitors of your company
o Identify and develop a recommendation of an area where the company would benefit from allocating budget (time and funds) to developing an analytics project. This should be an analytics project that is repeatable, has a cost-benefit ratio of supporting the allocation of budget, and you will explain the reasons why in your PowerPoint. This should be based on financial data (recall from our course that all financial data is not directly from the face of the financial statements. See also the BDO presentation on Power BI). Consider for example high volume transactions, cash needs, risk of fraud, or other factors. Include in your explanation who the audience/users would be of the output (Internal Audit as users, sales department, executives, Controller's group, etc). The analytics should be based on INTERNAL data.
o Include in your rationale why this matters in the competitive landscape. Come up with an analytic that is EXTERNAL to the company (comparing to competitors or economic data) for the same financial statement data.
o State in the presentation whether there is significant focus on this area in the financials (is it identified in the Auditor's opinion as a CRITICAL AUDIT MATTER? Is it clearly a line item in the nonGAAP EBITDA presented in the 10-K? Is there a discussion of this area? If not, point out that while not specifically discussed or disclosed in the 10-K, why your assessment in (b) remains critical).
o Include in the recommendation a software tool that can be used and why you believe it is the best choice to use for the analysis.
Format your homework according to the give formatting requirements:
• The answer must be using Times New Roman font (size 12), double spaced, and typed, with one-inch margins on all sides.
• The response also includes a cover page containing the student's name, the title of the homework, the course title, and the date. The cover page is not included in the required page length.
• Also include a reference page. The references and Citations should follow APA format. The reference page is not included in the required page length.