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Dell Computer Corporation And The Figures From Their Financial Statements Essay

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For the final week’s Apply assignment, we are given the scenario of Dell Computer Corporation and the figures from their 2010 financial statements. In particular, we are given the information on their investments. We have been assigned the tasks of determining where the various line items would appear on Dell’s financial statements, finding the value of the first two items on Dell’s balance sheet, and finally exploring impairments and how they differ from unrealized losses on long-term investments. This assignment is intended to determine our grasp of the principles taught and included in the Financial Accounting course over the last 6 weeks, including our knowledge of the text.
Where would you find each of the above items in Dell 's financial statements?
Short-term investments, also called marketable securities, have a “maturity of more than 90 days but are intended to be held only until cash is needed for current operations” (Needles, Powers 2012). This can be a bit confusing because investments that are less than 90 days are just considered as cash equivalents. Short-term investments can be found on the balance sheet. The accounting balance sheet is “one of the major financial statements used by accountants and business owners [and it] is also referred to as the statement of financial position” (AccountingCoach.com). In other words, it’s a snapshot of the companies finances for a specific period of time.
Long-term investments, like short-term investments, appear on the

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