Week 2 Course Project Information Attached is an outline for your individual project. ?This is really a

Week 2 Course Project Information
Attached is an outline for your individual project.  This is really a continuation of material from FIN 305 as I am asking you to analyze a company using the traditional tools of ratios and a common size Income Statement.  Additionally, you will see that I have asked you to evaluate the firm's capital structure (the proportion of debt vs.. equity).

Your report must be a PowerPoint presentation – use as many slides as necessary but please don't get carried away.  Also remember that PowerPoints are not meant to be "paragraph after paragraph" of writing, but rather the highlights of your findings which will be mostly in bullet-point format.  You may need to explain some of your findings in more detail of course and I am looking for an analysis that would include the "so what" of your findings.

The project is to be posted on the Week 6 Discussion Board no later than Wednesday of Week 6 at 11:59pm. Now there is a second part of this assignment.  You are to review/critique/analyze one other PowerPoint presentation.  You may ask questions of the presenter, add additional information concerning the company and its performance  the presenter may have omitted, or take issue with the presenter concerning any item of the presentation including the presenter's analysis and conclusions.  You comments – posted under the presentation you are evaluating is due no later than Sunday of week 6 at 11:59pm.   Should a classmate comment on your presentation, ask questions of you or challenge your analysis or conclusions, you will have until the following Wednesday (week 7) to reply.  Note your analysis/critique of one other presentation is part of your grade.

For those who may no longer have access to their FIN 305 text, I shall post the sample Income Statement, Balance Sheet, Common Size Income Statement, and ratio analysis that were used in the FIN 305 text in Course Documents no later than next week.

If you have any questions – and I'm assuming some will – please email me.

What you should do this week is select the two publicly-traded companies you will be using for your project.  Try not to use Financial Institutions.  Also please do not use Wal-Mart, K-mart, Coke or Pepsi.  Please review the attachment.