Purpose of Assignment

The purpose of this assignment is to evaluate the inventory section of two companies using basic comparative analysis, and to interpret the data to gain insight about the company’s inventory management.

Assignment Steps

Write a 1,050-word comparative analysis using the financial statements of Amazon.com, Inc. presented in Appendix D, and the financial statements for Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., presented in Appendix E, including the following:

• Compute these 2014 values for each company based on the information in the financial statements:
  • Inventory turnover (Use cost of sales and inventories)
  • Days of inventory

• Conclusions concerning the management of the inventory can you draw from this data.

Show work on Excel® spreadsheet and submit with analysis.

The following are Amazon’s financial statements as presented in the company’s 2014 annual report. To access Amazon’s complete annual report, including notes to the financial statements, follow these steps: Go to www.amazon.com. Select the Investor Relations link at the bottom of the page and then select the 2014 Annual Report under Annual Reports and Proxies. The Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements begin on page 43.

The following are Wal‐Mart Stores, Inc.‘s financial statements as presented in the company’s 2015 annual report. To access Wal‐Mart’s complete annual report, including notes to the financial statements, follow these steps:

1. Go to http://corporate.walmart.com.
2. Select Financial Information and then Annual Reports & Proxies under the Investors tab.
3. Select the 2015 Annual Report (Wal‐Mart’s fiscal year ends January 31).
4. The Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements begin on page 40.

I can attach images of the statements — or it says you can pull from their site.