Earnings Quality Assessment

When analysts question a firm’s earnings quality, it raises concerns regarding under or over aggressive accounting practices that may be allowing the firm to manipulate the earnings. Earnings quality is defined as the strength of the current earnings in being used to predict future earnings and cash flows. Since earning quality is indicative of future performance, analysts are more likely to address issues that have substantial impact on the earnings quality. An issue arises when the nature of the earnings is questioned. While permanent earnings are part of normal operations, any irregular, one time earnings can skew the earnings, making the firm look more profitable than it is. This is due to the inability to recreate similar one-time transactions that will give rise to such numbers. Investors prefer predictable

The auditor’s report is a major source of information that officially evaluations an entity's financial status. In conjunction with the auditor’s official evaluation of the entity’s financial status, the auditor provides an assessment of the firm’s monetary position and future. Auditors can provide four types of reports: unqualified opinion, qualified opinion, adverse opinion, and a disclaimer of an opinion. An unqualified opinion (clean report) which is issued in most cases expresses the opinion that financial statements are presented in accordance with general accepted accounting principles and is void of misrepresentations. The unqualified

An assessment of the company’s financial statements will highlight the firm’s management of its risk and opportunities.

To consider this we need net credit sales and average receivable balance. This ratio indicates average collection period should be consistent with corporate credit policy. An increase suggests a decline in financial health of customers.

Furthermore, when the internal control is fixed, the outside auditor can rely on the clients system and less audit testing can be conducted. When everything is improved, the management letter is given to the organization’s top management and not disclosed to the public, (Finkler, S. A., Ward, D. M., & Calabrese, T. D., 2013). Next, is the auditor’s report that entails the opinion letter usually written in three paragraphs and given to the board of trustees. Then, the opinion paragraph is added on to state the organizations financial statements are in accordance of the financial position and followed through with (GAAP). The clean opinion addresses the opinion of the auditor and the overall exercising of professionalism. Also, the complete opinion of the financial statements is to give a representation of the organization. All other opinions may be included and can be addressed by adverse opinions if (GAAP) was not in accordance. A qualified opinion can be added if a specific area wasn’t included in the financial statement when needed. Finally, the management reports are conducted by the management team and not the auditors. The management report is the annual report the topics included in the report are the internal control system and the responsibility of the audit committee.

3. In the auditor 's report the financial statements on which the opinion is being expressed

1. Based on your review of the most recent annual financial statements and notes only, briefly assess the company’s performance for this potential investor. (Analyze based on data from Financial reports P71, 73, 74)

Financial statements are used to determine the business activities of a firm and the role of accounting analysis is to determine the accuracy and quality of the information provided. This analysis would look into the degree of its accounting figures captures its business reality through the policies used and its resulting noise, potential forecast errors and its impact on Myer’s profit.

The auditors also report that they have evaluated the internal controls system of the company and according to them there is no material weakness in its system and hence they give an unqualified opinion.

This frequently puts the auditor in the position, in effect, of deciding whether a company is able to obtain the funds it needs to continue operating. Thus, the auditor’s qualification tends to be a self-fulfilling prophecy. The auditor’s expression of uncertainty about the company’s ability to continue may contribute to making it a certainty.

Information given by an entity 's financial performance grant users of the financial statements to assess:-

This research paper pinpoints the financial analysis of Pepsi Co, Inc., namely its profitability; liquidity; solvency and operating outcome with respect to its competitors, Coca-Cola Inc., and Dr. Pepper Snapple Group. The upshot of Pepsi’s financial breakdown will assist the soda drink maker to improve its production approach and keep its flagship brand aggressive and competitive.

Further, the company records their contingent liabilities based on the estimation on the amount likely to be incurred on clearing the contingency. Contingent liabilities are incurred on legal claims on intellectual properties, law suits and paying employee benefits.

For any company, the ability to meet its short-term and long-term financial goals is an essential factor in maintaining its operations and ensuring future growth. A company evaluation at regular time intervals helps to check its financial health, its capital structure and its potential to attract investors.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY In investigating PepsiCo’s accounting policies for G. D. Meyers and Company, we have focused on nine major areas of the annual report, comparing PepsiCo with Coca Cola throughout our analysis. Through the Balance Sheet, we focused on the major assets and major liabilities of each, and discovered that the primary difference is PepsiCo’s large balance of intangibles. In the Income Statement, we analyzed the major sources of revenue and expenses for