Assignment: Financial Report Analysis (Partial Exam 1)

Worth: 10 points

Format: Individual or group work

Overview

You will write a 2-3 page financial analysis report about a publicly traded company using their most recent quarterly financial statements. This assignment builds on our Week 5 work with financial terminology and prepares you for translating business documents in your future career.

Remember: This is your first partial exam, so focus on clear communication and demonstrating your understanding of financial concepts we’ve studied in class.

Learning Objectives

By completing this assignment, you will:

Navigate SEC filing systems to locate financial statements
Extract key financial data from balance sheets and income statements
Compare financial performance between time periods
Write a professional business report in English
Build vocabulary essential for business translation work

Report Requirements

Structure (2-3 pages, double-spaced)

Introduction (1 paragraph)
- Name the company and describe what business they operate
- If the company has multiple entries in the CIK, differentiate the one you analyzed from the others
- Explain which financial statements you analyzed (which quarter/year)
Balance Sheet Summary (1 paragraph + 1 table)
- Create a simple table showing key balance sheet items
- Compare two time periods (current vs. previous)
- Explain whether assets and liabilities increased or decreased
- Calculate the current ratio (current assets ÷ current liabilities) for both periods
Income Statement Summary (1 paragraph + 1 table)
- Create a simple table showing key income statement items
- Compare the same quarter from two different years
- Explain whether revenue and profits increased or decreased
- Calculate at least one profit margin (net income ÷ revenue)
Synthesis of Your Analysis (1 paragraph)
- Based on your analysis, is the company’s financial health improving or declining?
- What does this tell you about the company’s business performance?
- Include one insight from outside research about how analysts view this company
Conclusion (1 paragraph)
- Summarize your main findings
- Reflect on what you learned about financial analysis
- Connect this to your future work in translation/localization
Works Consulted
- List SEC filings and any additional research sources

Company Selection

Choose one company from this list. Each group must select a different company.

Available Companies:

Nike, Inc.
The Coca-Cola Company
Nvidia Corporation
Pfizer Inc.
The Walt Disney Company
McDonald’s Corporation
HubSpot, Inc.
Xcel Energy Inc.
eBay Inc.
Datadog, Inc.
Netflix.com, Inc.
Airbnb, Inc.

Alternative Option: You may propose a different company by selecting one that has financial statements available on the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission website. Companies listed on the NASDAQ may be a good starting point for your search.

Step-by-Step Instructions

Step 1: Find Your Company’s Financial Statements

Go to the SEC CIK Lookup: https://www.sec.gov/search-filings/cik-lookup
Search for your company name
Click on the CIK code in the results
Find the most recent 10-Q (quarterly report)
Open the 10-Q and locate:
- Consolidated Balance Sheets
- Consolidated Statements of Income (or Operations)

Step 2: Extract Financial Data

For Balance Sheet - find these items:

Current Assets
Total Assets
Current Liabilities
Total Liabilities
Total Equity

For Income Statement - find these items:

Total Revenue (or Net Sales)
Gross Profit
Operating Income
Net Income

Create simple tables like this:

Balance Sheet Item	Current Period	Previous Period	Change
Current Assets	$X,XXX	$X,XXX	+X%
Total Assets	$X,XXX	$X,XXX	+X%
Current Liabilities	$X,XXX	$X,XXX	+X%

Step 3: Do Basic Calculations

Current Ratio = Current Assets ÷ Current Liabilities

Above 1.0 = company can pay short-term debts
Compare both time periods

Net Profit Margin = Net Income ÷ Total Revenue × 100

Shows what percentage of sales becomes profit
Compare both time periods

Step 4: Research Context

Look up recent news articles or analyst reports about your company to understand:

How experts view the company’s performance
Any major business developments affecting financial results
Industry trends that might explain the numbers you found

Step 5: Write Your Report

Follow the instructions on report structure above to write a report containing these sections:

Introduction
Balance Sheet Summary
Income Statement Summary
Synthesis of Your Analysis
Conclusion
Works Consulted

Last step: Submit your report

File Format: MS Word (.docx)
File Name: LastNames1_LastNames2_[Company]-Financial-Report.docx (list all team members’ last names separated by underscores)
- For example: Brandt_MartínezWilliams_MercadoLibre-Financial-Report.docx
Due Date: End of week

Remember: This is Partial Exam 1, so be sure you submit polished work!

Example Report Structure

See the MercadoLibre Financial Analysis Example on the next page for a model of:

Professional tone appropriate for business writing
How to present financial data in tables
How to explain financial changes in simple terms
How to draw reasonable conclusions from data

Assessment Criteria (10 points total)

Completeness (Instructions Followed) (2 points)

All required sections included in report
At least one calculation made per statement type (ratio, profit margin) for the correct period
At least one insight from outside research included (also in Works Consulted)
File named correctly according to the instructions

Content Understanding & Accuracy (3 points)

Correctly extracted financial data from SEC filings
Accurate calculations of ratios and percentages
Tables and data presented clearly

Communication Effectiveness (3 points)

Clear explanation of what the numbers mean
Reasonable conclusions about company performance
Evidence of understanding financial concepts from class

Professionalism (2 points)

Well-organized report structure
Proper grammar and vocabulary usage
Clear, professional English appropriate for business contexts

📥 Download this Content

Find this file on our repo and download it.

🤖 GAI Study Prompts

Copy the downloaded content and try it with these prompts:

“Help me turn this screenshot of a balance sheet into an editable table for my report”
“Explain what [specific financial term] means in simple business English”
“Based on this financial data, help me understand if the company’s performance is improving or declining”
“Help me find recent news about [company name] financial performance”

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