Costco

by | Mar 6, 2018 | Essays

 

A fictional company, the Granada Corporation, has hired you as an outside consultant to its investment committee, and has requested that you thoroughly analyze a company of your own choosing as a potential investment for the Granada Corporation. You are to use an Annual Report or a 10K from your selected company as the basis for your analysis as well as any other information that might be available – newspapers, magazines, the Internet including peer group data from Dun & Bradstreet, Moody’s, Standard & Poor’s. Don’t overlook other SEC disclosures such as information included in 8K filings.
Assume that the Granada Corporation is a national, publicly owned food products company, which is based outside Dallas, Texas. For 2017, it earned approximately $72,000,000 on sales of $500,000,000. At 12/31/17 its investments in marketable securities were $32,000,000 which represented 8% of total assets of $400,000,000.
The final product to be delivered to the investment committee of the Granada Corporation shall consist of the following:

Part I
A letter to the investment committee of the Granada Corporation with a recommendation as to whether the company that you have analyzed would be considered a safe and viable investment option. The letter should summarize the main reasons for your conclusion with detailed support to follow. In the letter speculate on the amount of earnings/loss for your company that you would expect to see in the near future. Also, give your impression of the three most important issues your company will face in the coming year. These are not restricted to the financial arena, but could be the result of changes in technology, the environment, health care, the legislative process, etc.

Part II
A thumbnail sketch of the company you have selected to include who the CEO and CFO are (a little of their background), headquarters, year founded, fiscal period, independent auditors, related parties etc.

Part III – Main Support
A. Financial statement analysis to include ratios and trends. Select only those ratios that are
relevant. You financial statement analysis should include a summary highlighting positive
and negative trends or strengths and weaknesses that you have identified.
B. Footnote analysis – comment on areas of concern based on your understanding of the
footnotes. (Hint – you may need to “read between the lines”.
C. Auditor’s Report – identify whether it’s the standard unqualified opinion or if it has been modified. If there has been a modification, discuss the nature of it.
D. Management’s Discussion and Analysis –state how you feel about MD&A. Does it seem to
be a fair representation of the company or do you think that it presents an inaccurate picture?
I want your opinion? Need horizontal
and vertical
analysis for income
statement and
balance sheet for
part A.
My Company is Costco
E. Current Events – Is your company currently in the news? Identify issues currently affecting
companies, which are similar to your company, which have the potential to affect your
company as well. (Look at the BIG PICTURE and BE CREATIVE)
F. Social Responsibility – In what ways does the company you selected have a responsibility to
society? (e.g. Tobacco industry and consumer product safety) Does social responsibility
present a problem to your company?
Part IV – Non Financial
Investment decisions can be influenced by more than just financial results. Identify any non-financial issues facing your company, which tempered your conclusion.

Examples:
1.Technological4.Marketing
2.Environmental5.Major competitors
3.Largest customer6.Employee issues
Remember that the letter to the investment committee of the Granada Corporation is the finished product. Make it persuasive and professional looking. The paper should be typed (double-spaced) and about 10 pages in length. You will be graded on your writing skills, the strength of your analysis, critical thinking skills, and the overall effectiveness of your presentation.
The information that I have provided to you should be used only as a guide, leaving much room for interpretation. I like ingenuity. Have fun and good luck!

 

Sample Solution

Sample solution

Dante Alighieri played a critical role in the literature world through his poem Divine Comedy that was written in the 14th century. The poem contains Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso. The Inferno is a description of the nine circles of torment that are found on the earth. It depicts the realms of the people that have gone against the spiritual values and who, instead, have chosen bestial appetite, violence, or fraud and malice. The nine circles of hell are limbo, lust, gluttony, greed and wrath. Others are heresy, violence, fraud, and treachery. The purpose of this paper is to examine the Dante’s Inferno in the perspective of its portrayal of God’s image and the justification of hell. 

In this epic poem, God is portrayed as a super being guilty of multiple weaknesses including being egotistic, unjust, and hypocritical. Dante, in this poem, depicts God as being more human than divine by challenging God’s omnipotence. Additionally, the manner in which Dante describes Hell is in full contradiction to the morals of God as written in the Bible. When god arranges Hell to flatter Himself, He commits egotism, a sin that is common among human beings (Cheney, 2016). The weakness is depicted in Limbo and on the Gate of Hell where, for instance, God sends those who do not worship Him to Hell. This implies that failure to worship Him is a sin.


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God is also depicted as lacking justice in His actions thus removing the godly image. The injustice is portrayed by the manner in which the sodomites and opportunists are treated. The opportunists are subjected to banner chasing in their lives after death followed by being stung by insects and maggots. They are known to having done neither good nor bad during their lifetimes and, therefore, justice could have demanded that they be granted a neutral punishment having lived a neutral life. The sodomites are also punished unfairly by God when Brunetto Lattini is condemned to hell despite being a good leader (Babor, T. F., McGovern, T., & Robaina, K. (2017). While he commited sodomy, God chooses to ignore all the other good deeds that Brunetto did.

Finally, God is also portrayed as being hypocritical in His actions, a sin that further diminishes His godliness and makes Him more human. A case in point is when God condemns the sin of egotism and goes ahead to commit it repeatedly. Proverbs 29:23 states that “arrogance will bring your downfall, but if you are humble, you will be respected.” When Slattery condemns Dante’s human state as being weak, doubtful, and limited, he is proving God’s hypocrisy because He is also human (Verdicchio, 2015). The actions of God in Hell as portrayed by Dante are inconsistent with the Biblical literature. Both Dante and God are prone to making mistakes, something common among human beings thus making God more human.

To wrap it up, Dante portrays God is more human since He commits the same sins that humans commit: egotism, hypocrisy, and injustice. Hell is justified as being a destination for victims of the mistakes committed by God. The Hell is presented as being a totally different place as compared to what is written about it in the Bible. As a result, reading through the text gives an image of God who is prone to the very mistakes common to humans thus ripping Him off His lofty status of divine and, instead, making Him a mere human. Whether or not Dante did it intentionally is subject to debate but one thing is clear in the poem: the misconstrued notion of God is revealed to future generations.

 

References

Babor, T. F., McGovern, T., & Robaina, K. (2017). Dante’s inferno: Seven deadly sins in scientific publishing and how to avoid them. Addiction Science: A Guide for the Perplexed, 267.

Cheney, L. D. G. (2016). Illustrations for Dante’s Inferno: A Comparative Study of Sandro Botticelli, Giovanni Stradano, and Federico Zuccaro. Cultural and Religious Studies, 4(8), 487.

Verdicchio, M. (2015). Irony and Desire in Dante’s” Inferno” 27. Italica, 285-297.

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