pick a company  in the S&P 500 and answer the following four  questions. Please do not use Amazon

Each question should be a page and  a half long

 1. Lots of businesses today are leveraging  “data” to help make good decisions. But if the right kind of data is not  collected, these efforts could be in vain. First, research and describe  how your chosen company is using data for workforce management  purposes. Then, explain how you would handle it differently (if at all)  if you were in charge of Human Resources and Workforce Management for  the same company. What is one question related to workforce management  that you would want to study? And what data would you want to collect to  measure it? As examples, you might choose to look at employee  satisfaction, or production, or burnout, or turnover, or work-life  balance, etc.

2.  Some businesses try to be proactive with  change initiatives. Others, however, seem to be mainly reactionary. But  time marches on, and one of the biggest shifts in work forces today is  the impact of technology and automation. First, research and describe  how your chosen company is handling the impact of technology on their  workforce. Then, explain how you would handle it differently (if at all)  if you were in charge of Human Resources and Workforce Management for  the same company. What technology and/or automation risks and  opportunities would you project for your company? Do you anticipate a  shrinking, expanding, or static workforce over the next several years as  technology becomes more superfluous and capable? Explain your answers. 

3.  The COVID-19 pandemic tested the  resilience and ingenuity of all businesses around the world. But the  virus affected different industries in different ways, and each business  ultimately decided on their own response strategy. First, research and  describe how your chosen company handled the COVID-19 pandemic when it  was at its worst. Then, explain how you would have handled it  differently (if at all) if you were in charge of Human Resources and  Workforce Management for the same company. Suppose that a new variant  emerges which is more contagious and more serious than anything we’ve  seen previously. How would you respond? What would this mean for your  company? Could your workforce and operations survive it? 

4.  Advanced statistics offer tools that  allow us to explore cause and effect relationships in unique ways so as  to make smarter decisions. But different tools can tell us different  things about the data we look at. First, research and describe how your  chosen company is using statistics (if at all) for workforce management.  Then, explain how you would handle it differently (if at all) if you  were in charge of Human Resources and Workforce Management for the same  company. What is one phenomenon that you would want to run a linear  regression analysis for? What would your dependent variable be? What  would your independent variable(s) be? What would you expect (or  hypothesize) to be the result? How and why would the output be useful to  your company? 

 should also include a minimum of eight (8) sources (one for each of the questions)  

pick a company  in the S&P 500 and answer the following four  questions. Please do not use Amazon

Each question should be a page and  a half long

 1. Lots of businesses today are leveraging  “data” to help make good decisions. But if the right kind of data is not  collected, these efforts could be in vain. First, research and describe  how your chosen company is using data for workforce management  purposes. Then, explain how you would handle it differently (if at all)  if you were in charge of Human Resources and Workforce Management for  the same company. What is one question related to workforce management  that you would want to study? And what data would you want to collect to  measure it? As examples, you might choose to look at employee  satisfaction, or production, or burnout, or turnover, or work-life  balance, etc.

2.  Some businesses try to be proactive with  change initiatives. Others, however, seem to be mainly reactionary. But  time marches on, and one of the biggest shifts in work forces today is  the impact of technology and automation. First, research and describe  how your chosen company is handling the impact of technology on their  workforce. Then, explain how you would handle it differently (if at all)  if you were in charge of Human Resources and Workforce Management for  the same company. What technology and/or automation risks and  opportunities would you project for your company? Do you anticipate a  shrinking, expanding, or static workforce over the next several years as  technology becomes more superfluous and capable? Explain your answers. 

3.  The COVID-19 pandemic tested the  resilience and ingenuity of all businesses around the world. But the  virus affected different industries in different ways, and each business  ultimately decided on their own response strategy. First, research and  describe how your chosen company handled the COVID-19 pandemic when it  was at its worst. Then, explain how you would have handled it  differently (if at all) if you were in charge of Human Resources and  Workforce Management for the same company. Suppose that a new variant  emerges which is more contagious and more serious than anything we’ve  seen previously. How would you respond? What would this mean for your  company? Could your workforce and operations survive it? 

4.  Advanced statistics offer tools that  allow us to explore cause and effect relationships in unique ways so as  to make smarter decisions. But different tools can tell us different  things about the data we look at. First, research and describe how your  chosen company is using statistics (if at all) for workforce management.  Then, explain how you would handle it differently (if at all) if you  were in charge of Human Resources and Workforce Management for the same  company. What is one phenomenon that you would want to run a linear  regression analysis for? What would your dependent variable be? What  would your independent variable(s) be? What would you expect (or  hypothesize) to be the result? How and why would the output be useful to  your company? 

 should also include a minimum of eight (8) sources (one for each of the questions)  

 
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ACCT 370
Page 1 of 4
EXCEL PROJECT: COMPETITOR ANALYSIS ASSIGNMENT INSTRUCTIONS
OVERVIEW
Competitor #1 Income Statement (Tab 5), Competitor #1 Balance Sheet (Tab 6), Competitor #1
Cash Flows (Tab 7), Competitor #2 Income Statement (Tab 8), Competitor #2 Balance Sheet
(Tab 9), Competitor #2 Cash Flows (Tab 10), Historical and Competitor Ratios (Tab 11)
INSTRUCTIONS
 Continue in the same Excel workbook prepared in Module 2: Week 2, adding the following
tabs:
o The 5th tab and 8th tabs in your Financial Statement Analysis Template must be
labeled (Competitor Company Name) Income Statements.  (Replace
“Competitor Company Name” with the name of the competitor.)
 Include  the  latest  three  years  of  income  statements  for  your  competitor
based on SEC filings.
 Ensure that the worksheet includes a header with:
 Company Name
 Financial Statement Name (Income Statements)
 Financial Statement Dates
 Denomination level ($s in millions or thousands, etc.)
o The 6th and 9th tabs in your Financial Statement Analysis Template must be labeled
(Competitor Company Name) Balance Sheets.  (Replace “Competitor
Company Name” with the name of the competitor.)
 Include  the  latest  three  years  of  balance  sheets  for  your  first  competitor
based on SEC (10-K) filings.  (Note: Some 10-Ks only provided 2 years of
balance sheet data.  You may need to download the second most recent 10-K
for your company in order to obtain 3 years of balance sheet data.)
 Ensure that the worksheet includes a header with:
 Company Name
 Financial Statement Name
 Financial Statement Dates
 Denomination level ($s in millions or thousands, etc.)
o The  7th  and  10th  tabs  in  your  Financial  Statement  Analysis  Template  must  be
labeled  (Competitor  Company  Name)  Cash  Flows.    (Replace  “Competitor
Company Name” with the name of the competitor.)
 Include the latest three years based on SEC (10-K) filings.
 Make  sure  that  the  Income  Statement,  Balance  Sheet,  and  Cash  Flows
Statement tie in as follows:ACCT 370
Page 2 of 4
 Net Income from Income statement agrees with Net Income on the
Statement of Cash Flows
 Ending  Cash  Balance  from  Statement  of  Cash  Flows  agrees  with
Cash in the Balance Sheet
o The  11th  tab  in  your  Financial  Statement  Analysis  Template  must  be  labeled
Historical and Competitor Ratios
 The  list  of  ratios  to  be  included  are  as  follows.    They  should  be  grouped
under the headings, as shown:
 Liquidity Ratios
o Current Ratio
o Quick Ratio
 Leverage Ratios
o Debt to Total Assets Ratio
o Debt Equity Ratio
o Long-Term Debt to Equity
o Times Interest Earned Ratio
 Activity Ratios
o Inventory Turnover
o Fixed Assets Turnover
o Total Assets Turnover
o Accounts Receivable Turnover
o Average Collection Period
 Profitability Ratios
o Gross Profit Margin
o Operating Profit Margin
o Net Profit Margin
o Return on Total Assets (ROA)
o Return on Stockholders’ Equity (ROE)
o Earnings Per Share (EPS)
o Price Earnings Ratio
 Calculate the ratios for your chosen company for the last three years, linking
the ratio calculations back to the historical financial statement tabs (Tabs 2-
4) using formulas.ACCT 370
Page 3 of 4
 Calculate  the  ratios  for  each  of  your  company’s  competitors  (most  recent
year only), linking the ratio calculations to the competitor financial
statements shown in Tabs 5-10 using formulas.
 Using the internet, locate the industry averages for the ratios listed above,
and include them in the final column of the ratio tab.  Include a footnote on
the tab to identify the source of the industry averages.
o Other instructions:
 The Excel workbook should be professionally formatted.  Professional
formatting includes:
 All numbers are formatted similarly.  The use of decimals, commas
for thousands, and other formatting is consistent.
 Dollar  signs  are  included  in  the  first  and  last  numbers  of  each
column.
 Subtotals and totals are preceded by a single underline.  Totals are
followed by a double underline.
 Line  descriptions  are  indented/bolded  in  a  manner  that  makes  the
spreadsheet easy to read.  
 All totals and subtotals in the competitor financial statements as well as the
ratio calculations should be calculated using formulas.  
Note: Your assignment will be checked for originality via the Turnitin plagiarism tool.ACCT 370
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