The purpose of this assignment is to expose you to the basic process involved in the analysis of the cash flow statement and the interrelationship of financial statements.  The assignment requires obtaining information that appears on the  (1) Consolidated Statements of Operations (2) Consolidated Balance Sheets, and (3) Consolidated Statement of Cash Flows for Apple, Inc.

Assignment Steps 

Resources: Appendix A of Financial Accounting: Tools for Business Decision Making

Note: This is a two- part assignment.Both parts will be combined and submitted in one 1500- 1900- word essay saved as a MS Office Word attachment. 

Part 1

Answer questions A-F in problem CT12-1 in Financial Accounting (p. 640).

Section headings are required for this assignment.   Identify the first section heading as Statement of Cash Flows.   This section will follow the essay introduction paragraph.  Under this section discuss your answers for questions (a) -(f).  Conclude this section with an analysis of the company's management of cash based on your discussion regarding the statement of cash flows.

Enter your answers and supporting calculations on the provided Excel® Workbook.

Part 2

The second section heading for your essay will be identified as Common Stock (after the first section heading, Statement of Cash Flows).  In this section answer and discuss the following questions.

• What is the par or stated value per share of Apple's common stock?
• What percentage of Apple's authorized common stock was issued at September 27, 2014?
• How many shares of common stock were outstanding at September 28, 2013, and at September 27, 2014?

The third section heading for your essay will be identified as Ratio Analysis (after the section heading, Common Stock).  Answer and discuss the questions below.

• Calculate the payout ratio, earnings per share, and return on common stockholders' equity for 2014. 
• What do these ratios indicate about the financial performance of the company?

The essay will comply with APA formatting guidelines.  Introduction and conclusion paragraphs are required.  As noted above, the essay will have the following section headings: (1) Statement of Cash Flows, (2) Common Stock, and (3) Ratio Analysis.   The questions above are not to be used as section headings.

Use the Week 1 Excel® Workbook (provided with the assignment instructions) to show the answers and supporting calculations for Part 1.

(a) What was the amount of net cash provided by operating activities for the year ended September 27, 2014? For the year ended September 28, 2013?

(b) What was the amount of increase or decrease in cash and cash equivalents for the year ended September 27, 2014?

(c) Which method of computing net cash provided by operating activities does Apple use?

(d) From your analysis of the September 27, 2014, statement of cash flows, was the change in accounts receivable a decrease or an increase? Was the change in inventories a decrease or an increase? Was the change in accounts payable a decrease or an increase?

(e) What was the net cash used by investing activities for the year ended September 27, 2014?

(f) What was the amount of interest paid in the year ended September 27, 2014? What was the amount of income taxes paid for the same period?