I have a project for my cost accounting class that I’m doing individually. I have covid this period of time and severe lower back pain. I can’t really work on this project fully and I have to choose a topic by the 27th of October to notify my professor and the project is due on December 6th. Below are some of the instructions. 

Resources and Tips

Your favorite search engine will be very useful in finding information for this project, and possibly also in selecting a topic. You can search for news articles related to a specific news item, or more broadly to find a topic. A general search may yield results that are not credible, citable sources, but that give you some ideas for topics. Examples of search terms that you can build on to find a topic:

Specific: “XYZ & Co.’s store closures 2018”

General: “recent outsourcing”

• General: “dropped product line”
• Of course you can narrow these down by specifying an industry, year, or any other criterion you choose. Once you have identified a company decision to analyze, find the company’s website and look over its annual report for that year and if relevant, prior and subsequent years. Search the company’s press releases for relevant information. Tips on this are shown below.
• News agencies and investors may have taken an interest in the decision you have chosen to analyze. Return to the search engine to find their opinions of the decision. Did they doubt the company’s explanation? Did they see the decision as a good or bad sign for the company’s future earnings and competitiveness?

Before You Begin

Read the grading rubric provided with the Assignment. Be familiar with how the project will be graded to assure you select a topic that will allow you to meet all assigned criteria.

Financial Statements and Press Releases

See the document linked hereDownload here for tips and examples of how to find corporate financial statements and press releases.

Writing Your Analysis

Proofreading your own work can be difficult so rely on others. Consider any errors your word processing software identifies. Have someone with a sharp eye proofread for professional language. To determine whether your explanations are thorough, have someone read your write-up who is unfamiliar with your research. If the reader does not understand your conclusions,  he or she may be able to point you to areas to expand.

Links

Website credibility: Los Rios librariesLinks to an external site.

Plagiarism: ARC Library

Topic

Each student or group must choose a unique topic. Notify the instructor of your topic no later than Thursday, October 27. It is strongly advised that before selecting your topic, you identify sufficient sources to meet the requirements described below.

Project

Select a publicly traded U.S.-based company that made a significant make-it or buy-it decision or a decision to add or drop a product line or close a business unit within the last ten years. A public company is one whose stock traded at the time of the decision on a stock exchange such as the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) or NASDAQ, and therefore has financial statements available. The decision must represent an actual change, not a decision to maintain the status quo. An example of maintaining the status quo would be continuing to buy a component after analyzing the costs of making the component.

Research the company for the year of the change and as necessary, prior and subsequent years, to understand why the company made this decision. Review and describe the information obtained from, at a minimum:

Company’s annual report for the year of the decision

One company press release from around the time of the decision, describing the reason(s) for the decision

Two credible online sources that discuss the reason(s) for the decision and/or expected effects of the change, from sources that are not affiliated with the company or with each other (the Los Rios libraries have additional information about website credibilityLinks to an external site.)

Analyze financial data from the annual report, considering segment data if available, and non-financial considerations.

Fully and clearly explain your findings in writing, regarding the reason(s) for the decision and its effects on the company. Did new competitors enter the market? Did a product line become obsolete? Did regulations or taxes change? Analyze financial and non-financial data and describe what you see. What, if anything, can you infer about fixed and variable costs from your research? Was it a good decision? Explain how your research supports your conclusions. If information from different sources conflicts, describe the differences and explain which information you believe is most credible and why. Write professionally. Avoid redundancy and ornate language.