Accounting 201 | ACC 201 Principles of Financial Accounting | Ashford University

In a three- to five-page paper (not including the title and reference pages) research and discuss how the SEC’s EDGAR | Search Tools improves how investors find and use financial information. In your paper,

• Explain how investors can use the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) database at EDGAR | Search Tools (Links to an external site.) to research a company’s operations and financial information.
• Assess the financial performance of Amazon.com, Inc. (AMZN) by determining the risk of investing in the company through financial statement analysis. To make the above assessment and determination, go to Amazon’s.com (Links to an external site.) official website, and locate the company’s Investor Relations link. Using the Investors Relations link, find financial information such as SEC Filings and Annual Reports.
• Conclude how investors can assess Amazon’s.com financial performance and risk using Annual Reports.
• Explain the content of each report listed below in detail and how it relates to your assessment of Amazon’s.com financial performance.
  • Form 10-K SEC filings
  • Annual Reports
  • Management Discussion and Analysis
  • Management’s Responsibility for Financial Reporting
  • Management’s Report on Internal Control over Financial Reporting
  • Auditors’ Report
  • Selected Financial Data

Amazon.com, Inc. (AMZN) is the world’s largest electronic commerce and cloud computing company measured by revenue and market capitalization. The following items were adapted from a recent Annual Report of Amazon.com (Links to an external site.) for the year ending December 31:

In millions

1.                   Accounts payable

$16,459

2.                   Accounts receivable

5,612

3.                   Cash

14,557

4.                   Cost of sales

62,752

5.                   Income tax expense

167

6.                   Interest expense

210

7.                   Inventories

8,299

8.                   Net cash provided by operating activities

6,842

9.                   Net cash flows used for investing activities

(5,065)

10.               Net sales

88,988

11.               Other expense

118

12.               Other income

76

13.               Property, plant, and other long-term assets

16,967

14.               Selling, general, and administrative expenses

26,058

15.               Retained earnings (Dec. 31)

2,190

• Indicate on which financial statement you would find each of the preceding items using the following notations (note: an item may appear on more than one statement):
  • IS Income statement
  • SE Statement of stockholders’ equity
  • BS Balance sheet
  • SCF Statement of cash flow
• Prepare an income statement for the year ending December 31, based on the com, Inc. financial statement data shown above.

The Final Paper: SEC Filings and the EDGAR Database

• Must be three to five double-spaced pages in length (not including title and references pages) and formatted according to APA style as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center’s APA Style (Links to an external site.)
• Must include a separate title page with the following:
  • Title of paper
  • Student’s name
  • Course name and number
  • Instructor’s name
  • Date submitted

For further assistance with the formatting and the title page, refer to APA Formatting for Word 2013 (Links to an external site.).

• Must utilize academic voice. See the Academic Voice (Links to an external site.) resource for additional guidance.
• Must include an introduction and conclusion paragraph. Your introduction paragraph needs to end with a clear thesis statement that indicates the purpose of your paper.
• Must add an APA heading (Level 1 or Level 2) for each one of the topics discussed in the research paper as shown:
  • SEC EDGAR Database Level 1Amazon’s.com financial performance Level 1
  • Form 10-K SEC Filings Level 2
  • Annual Reports Level 2
  • Management Discussion and Analysis Level 2
  • Management’s Responsibility for Financial Reporting Level 2
  • Management’s Report on Internal Control over Financial Reporting Level 2
  • Auditors’ Report Level 2
  • Selected Financial Data Level 2
  • Financial Statement Notations (IS, SE, BS, SCF) Level 1Amazon’s.com Income Statement Level 1

Use the following APA Style blog to read about the APA Five Levels of Headings (Links to an external site.)

• Must use at least 14 scholarly and/or credible articles from ProQuest Business, Industry Databases: Nasdaq.com, EY.com, and Comprehensive Accounting Databases: FASB codification, AICPA, and SEC reference library sources in addition to the course text.
• Must document any information used from sources in APA style as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center’s Citing Within Your Paper (Links to an external site.)
• Must include a separate references page that is formatted according to APA style as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center. See the Formatting Your References List (Links to an external site.) resource in the Ashford Writing Center for specifications.

Carefully review the Grading Rubric (Links to an external site.) for the criteria that will be used to evaluate your assignment.