The following report contains an analysis with an overview of Wal-Mart Inc. and it’s financial statements. Wal-Mart, one of the biggest corporations and the largest employer in the world, has used exceptional ways of generating revenue and systems of tracking inventory, two very distinct characteristics of the company, while still maintaining a powerful imagine over all these years.
I. Inventory
In order to track such a large amount of inventory, Wal-Mart has employed the perpetual inventory system. This type of system consists of constantly recording the purchase and sale of products in the inventory and cost of goods sold accounts. In the year 2011, Wal-Mart's inventory totaled $36,437. In the following year, the company’s inventory
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This means that Wal-mart stocks and sells its inventory 8.34 times a year. The days to sell such inventory is about 44 which is computed by 365 days and dividing it by the turnover ratio = 365/8.34 = 43.7. As for Wal-Mart’s competitors, Target had a turnover ratio of 6.39 in 2012, and Sears had a ratio of 3.68, which makes Wal-Mart the winner among the following rivals. This concludes that Wal-Mart operates in a very productive manner, and acquires and sells its inventory quickly and efficiently.
II. Intangibles
Other types of assets that are important to a company like Wal-Mart are those not of physical nature, otherwise called intangible assets. Based on my analysis Wal-Mart has indicated that it uses Goodwill, definite and indefinite types of intangible assets. The company states in its financial report that it does not amortize Goodwill and indefinite assets, which is correct in accordance to GAAP standards and principles. The company evaluates such assets and analyzes the reduction of value and impairment on a yearly basis. Wal-Mart also includes that it amortizes its definite intangible using straight-line basis over the life of the project, or the amount of time that the service will last. In terms of the changes to the intangible assets, Walmart states that there were “no impairment changes related to indefinite intangible
The Wal-Mart company was established on July 2, 1962 in Rogers, Arkansas (History Timeline). The company was based on the vision of Sam Walton, who believed in giving his customers the lowest prices, anytime, anywhere. By 1967 the Walton family owned 27 different stores, and in 1969 they officially incorporated, becoming Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. Just a year later in 1970 Wal-Mart went National, proving the wide spread appeal of Sam Walton's beliefs (History). This same year Wal-Mart became a publicly traded company, with its first shares priced at 16.50. A short year later the company was listed in The New York Stock Exchange (History Timeline). The 80's were a major success for this company. In 1983 the first Sams Club opened, this was and still is a store that sells product in bulk to small businesses and individuals. In 1988 the first Wal-Mart Super center opened. The Super center combined a full scale supermarket with general merchandise to create one stop shopping convenience (History). In 1992 the company suffered a hard hit when Sam Walton passed away at the age of 74. Although they lost the man at the heart of the company they were determined to carry on with his vision, and so they did. In 1996 they opened their first stores in China (History Timeline). By 2002 they reach the top of the Fortune 500 ranking of Americas largest companies. In 2012 Wal-Mart celebrated 50 successful years of business. Today the company employs 2.2 million associates worldwide and serves
While inaccurate accounting can cause misleading information about the company, every successful company should develop an income statement and balance sheet when monitoring financial growth. Also, formulating a horizontal and ratio analysis creates an accurate trend of the company spending behavior and debt-to-ratio venerability. A balance sheet can be considered as the bloodline of the company, allowing a quick view of financial fluency which could be attractive to outside investors. Last but not least, the income statement presents a hard result of gains, liabilities, revenues and debt within a yearly
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. operates retail stores in various formats around the world and is committed to saving people money, so they can live better. Walmart earns the trust of the customers every day by providing a broad assortment of quality merchandise and services at everyday low prices, while fostering a culture that rewards and embraces mutual respect, integrity, and diversity. Walmart’s focus for Sam’s Club is to provide exceptional value on brand name merchandise at “members only” prices for both business and personal use. Industry Retail- Supermarket Current share price $53.480 52
He was known to prefer pickup trucks over limos and the company of his family and dogs over that of investment bankers (Huey, 1998). Sam died on April 5, 1992, leaving his approximated $100 billion fortune to his four children and his wife. Just before he died, President George Bush presented Sam Walton with the Medal of Freedom, the nation 's highest civilian award (Wal-Mart Stores, 2005).
Wal-Mart is a world-wide active American retail trade company and currently the largest retail company in the world. Beginning in 1962, Wal-Mart has made the transition from a small firm in Arkansas to the largest employer with 3, 800 store units in the United States with record revenues today. But nevertheless, since Wal-Mart launched its online branch, it had to suffer from substantial setbacks from competitors such as Amazon.com or Ebay.
In fiscal year 2012, Walmart had $54.975 billion in current assets and $62.6 billion in current liabilities. The current ratio for fiscal year 2012 is 0.882, which indicates that Walmart has $0.88 in current assets for each dollar of current liabilities. In fiscal year 2011, Walmart had $52.012 billion in current assets and $58.6 billion in current liabilities. The current ratio for fiscal year 2011 is 0.887, which indicates that Walmart has $0.89 in current assets for each dollar of current liabilities. Walmart’s quick ratio for fiscal year 2012 is 0.228, and their quick ratio for fiscal year 2011 is 0.266, which indicates that Walmart could pay off 22.8% of their liabilities by liquidating current assets in fiscal year 2012 and could pay off 26.6% of their liabilities by liquidating current assets in fiscal year 2011.
A few reasons as to why Wal-Mart became a leader in the retail industry is due to their practices in obtaining competitive advantage by offering the lowest prices for the market. Wal-Mart built their practices by giving suppliers transparency to meet the demand of customers and granting them long-term relationships by purchasing goods in bulks. In addition, their turn times on inventory are three-five days faster than regular competitors. The inventory shelves are similar to Honda since they only hold up to four hours of inventory in their manufacturing site. Also, Wal-Mart holds their own transportation which is why they can manage their costs efficiently for the company. Their transportations system constitutes links between suppliers, distribution centers and retail stores. They have restrictive criteria for drivers where in order for them to be hired they would have to be accident free for a consistency of minimum 300,000 miles accident free. The supply chain practice that they have gained since they began the business was strategically faster and cheaper than all competitors. 85% of Walmart’s inventory is taken care of by their own transportation system and only about fifteen percent is taken care of by the suppliers through cross-docking. Wal-Mart uses
In 1962, Wal-Mart was built sometime by Sam Walton in Roger, Arkansas. Wal-Mart has 5,100 stores and clubs all over the United States and a sum of 8,300 unit's global. The company was able to employ something like over 2 million associates from all over the world and about 2.4 million in the United States. Wal-Marts average annual total income rate was somewhat in excess of 10% for the three years from the fiscal year that is ending 2009 to the fiscal year ending 2011 (Blanchard, 2008). Research shows that they also had what was known as a stock split of 100 %; Wal-Mart was able to see this split 12 times all through the eras of 1973 through 2002. They have received many awards and were categorized 5th in Fortune magazine's "Global Most Well-regarded All-Stars" as the third most appreciated corporation in America (Wal-Mart, 2013)
Wal-Mart is the highest revenue generating organisation in the world (Forbes, 2014). According to WalMart’s annual report (2014), the company owns 6,100 stores in 27 countries. It employees 2.2 million
Wal-Mart was founded by businessman Sam Walton in 1962 as a small retail store in Arkansas, USA. From there it has grown to become the largest retail giant in the world. Ranked by Forbes 2000 list for 2011 as the 18th largest public corporation in the world, Wal-Mart is the highest revenue generating public entity in the world as of 31st January 2011, with gross revenue of 422 billion US Dollars (Walmart Annual Report, 2011). It is also noted for being the largest private employer in the world having just over 2 million employees serving in 8500 stores, in 15 different countries, under 55 different names, worldwide. (Daniel, 2010)
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. helps individuals around the globe spare cash and live better - at whatever time and anyplace - in retail locations, online and through their cell phones. Every week, more than 245 million clients and individuals visit our almost 11,000 stores under 65 flags in 28 nations and e-trade sites in 11 nations. With financial year 2015 net offers of $482.2 billion, Wal-Mart utilizes 2.2 million partners around the world. (Wal-Mart Corporate) Wal-Mart is a superpower in the business world and has been that way for 50+ years. Understanding how it got to this point and how it has maintained its successful business model starts with its
Walmart the supercenter giant was founded in Rogers, Arkansas in 1962(Walmart). Founded by Sam Walton with his visionary leadership and along with his associates they focused on helping consumers and communities to save money and live better (Walmart). The successful retail giant has been known to dominate markets and operate on global efficiencies. Walmart operates in 27 countries with more than 11,000 stores serving more than 2 million consumers worldwide (Walmart). The economic satisfaction encouraged Walmart to develop new strategies and methods that they are now using to help with management. The retail giant has been very successful with Inventory Management and there Forecasting methods. Some key tactics they incorporate within success of inventory management are strategic vendor partnerships, fewer links in the supply chain, cross docking and technology. In result to having such inventory system Walmart is able to forecast and plan for any unforeseen circumstances.
Inventory turnover (Net sales/ Inventory): Wal-Mart had reasonably high inventory turnover ratio of 11.5 which is significantly higher than their competitors namely Target Co, Amazon.com and Sears which had inventory turnover of 8.7, 6.2, and 4.7 respectively. However Kroger was the industry leader in inventory turnover attributed to their focus on highly perishable food items.
Wal-Mart is a company which operates in the service sector, more specifically in the “Discount, Variety Stores/Retail” industry. The company’s superior performance is demonstrated through the fact that it was America’s largest company (in terms of revenue) in 2002, and the reputation of the company is reflected in the opinion of “Fortune” who have identified Wal-Mart as one of the world’s most admired companies. In 2004 Wal-Mart had been hiring 1.4 million employees – making it the largest corporation in the world. Wal-Mart’s share prices have also been stable at time of stock market volatility. There are
The global player Wal-Mart operates in 14 different markets all around the world, serving 176 million customers every week. Today, the second biggest company of the world, concerning turnover which amounts to 312,427 million US-$, categorizes its operational facilities into five divisions. Among those divisions are the Wal-Mart discount stores, offering convenience and low-priced goods. Wal-Mart supercenters are the biggest stores, being open 24/7 hours and employing a workforce of 350 people, selling all kinds of groceries and general merchandise at the lowest possible price. Wal-Mart neighborhood markets are specified in