Let It Snow Executive Summary

RETURN ON ASSETS (ROA) Formula Description: You determine return on assets by dividing net profit by your total asset base. What Does Return On Assets Tell You?

Total asset turnover : This ratio measures the efficiency of a company’s use of its assets

David Sedaris’ essay, “Let It Snow” is a reflection of Sedaris’ past. A single day from his childhood in North Carolina where Sedaris and his siblings were home due to school being closed for few days because of bad weather. The story reflects solely on the relationship that Sedaris’ mother had with him and his sisters, and how it was affected by her drinking problem. Although the story revolved around the children the mother was the main character.

Liquidity is important for any firm as it is an assessment of the ability to pay its' liabilities in the short term. There are two main liquidity ratios: the current and the quick ratio. The current ratios divides the current assets by the current liabilities to assess how many times the current assets can pay the current liabilities (Elliott and Elliott, 2011). Traditional ratios are usually in the region of 1.5, but this may vary depending on the industry and nature of the business (Elliott and Elliott, 2011). The current ratio is shown in table 1.

ROA is considered the best overall indicator of the efficiency of assets used in a company. Home Depot and Lowe’s ROA ratio both moved down due to the downturn in the industry but Home Depot was able to improve 2010.

One’s wellbeing is determined by physical and emotional health. In health sciences students learn about body and brain functioning. Emotions,stress and decision-making have a significant impact on mental and physical health. Alcoholism is often a coping mechanism resulting in negative health consequences. David Sedaris’ mother is probably and alcohol, and her addiction has a negative impact on herself and her family. A common trope in pop culture is the drink a mother or a father pour themselves after a long day to relieve some of the stress of a daily routine . In fact, many studied have shown that in moderation, alcohol can actually have health benefits. However, when one abuses alcohol, the consequences are oftentimes disastrous and the repercussions of alcohol abuse are longterm. In his essay ”Let it snow”, David Sedaris demonstrates the consequences of his mother’s alcoholism. The emotional, physical and long-term effects of alcoholism are central to his family’s health.

Carmen is a second-grade student, she is currently having challenges reading and is performing at a kindergarten reading level. Knowing that Carmen is reading at a kindergarten level she began reading the passages that were below her reading level. Carmen was able to read two passages, Walk in the Fall and The First Snow. She demonstrated improvement in her reading based on reading techniques she implemented when reading. Her level of independent/instructional reading was the Walk in the Fall passage because she was able to read the passage with minimal challenges.

This ratio is similar to current ratio, except that it excludes inventory from current assets. Inventory is subtracted because it is considered to be less liquid than other current assets, that is, it cannot be easily used to pay for the company’s current liabilities. A company having a quick ratio of at least 1.0, is considered to be financially stable. It has sufficient liquid assets and hence, it will be able to pay back its debts easily (Qasim Saleem et al., 2011).

The Quick Ratio also known as Acid Ratio is used by firms to determine liquidity position. It explains if the firm is able to pay all of their current debt liabilities. (Dyson, 2010) The graph above illustrates that over the period from 2007 to 2011 quick ratio was not more that 1, which means that their debts might not be covered all. The graph also indicates that a peak was in 2011.

During this period, the Return on Assets increased from 5.7% in 2012 to 34.6% in 2013. This implies the number of cents earned on each dollar of assets increased from 2012 to 2013. This shows that the business has become more profitable. Equally, the Return on Equity also increased from 12.0% in 2012 to 46.5% in 2013. This similarly implies that the company in 2013 was more efficient in generating income from new investment. This, also can be attributed to the sale of the Digital Business Brand which enabled the company appraise its strategic plan.

Operating profit margin figures in the table above show the return from net sales[13]. However profit margin ratios are high enough for the 3 years, there is a fall from 12.86% to 11.26% during 2011-12. Sales revenue increases with a higher rate than gross profit so there is a poor

These ratios help company in determining its capability to pay short-term debts. Liquidity ratios inform about, how quickly a firm can obtain cash by liquidating its current assets in order to pay its liabilities. General liquidity ratios are: current ratio and quick ratio. Current ration can be obtain by dividing company’s current assets by its’ current liabilities. Generally a current ratio of two is considered as good (Cleverley et al., 2011). Quick ratio also known as acid test determines company’s liabilities that need to be fulfilled on urgent basis. Quick ratio can be obtained by dividing quick assets by current liabilities. Quick ratio is considered as stricter because it excludes inventories from current assets. Generally a quick ratio of 1:1 is considered as good for the company. Higher quick

Profitability ratios refer to the relative measure to what an actual created profit. Through these ratios the company is allowed to see how profitable the company. In addition it can serve as an examination of the overall performance of the company’s operations and how do these compare to past performances or other companies. The ratios in which accounting measures the profitability of a company are Profit Margin, Price over Earnings, Return on Equity and Return on

Asset turnover ratio is also increasing in 1994. It shows that total assets are being efficiently used in producing revenues.

Current ratio of Company X and Y is 1.80, and 2.55 respectively. This ratio presents the proportion of current assets to current liabilities. This ratio provided a measure of degree to which current assets cover current liabilities. Since both companies have excess of current assets over their current liabilities, they met basic requirement of safety margin against uncertainty in realization of current assets and funds flows. Generally, it is suggested that a firm should have neither a very high ratio nor a very low ratio. Very high ratio implies heavy investments in current assets reflecting under utilization of the resources. A very low ratio endangers the business in to risks of not being able to pay short term requirements. Normally, it is advocated to have the current ratio as 2:1 (Baker and Powell, 2009).