Accounting 201

In a three- to five-page paper (not including the title and reference pages) research and discuss how the SEC’s EDGAR | Search Tools improves how investors find and use financial information. In your paper,

Explain how investors can use the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) database at EDGAR | Search Tools (Links to an external site.) to research a company’s operations and financial information.
Assess the financial performance of Amazon.com, Inc. (AMZN) by determining the risk of investing in the company through financial statement analysis. To make the above assessment and determination, go to Amazon’s.com (Links to an external site.) official website, and locate the company’s Investor Relations link. Using the Investors Relations link, find financial information such as SEC Filings and Annual Reports.
Conclude how investors can assess Amazon’s.com financial performance and risk using Annual Reports.
Explain the content of each report listed below in detail and how it relates to your assessment of Amazon’s.com financial performance.

Form 10-K SEC filings
Annual Reports
Management Discussion and Analysis
Management’s Responsibility for Financial Reporting
Management’s Report on Internal Control over Financial Reporting
Auditors’ Report
Selected Financial Data

Amazon.com, Inc. (AMZN) is the world’s largest electronic commerce and cloud computing company measured by revenue and market capitalization. The following items were adapted from a recent Annual Report of Amazon.com (Links to an external site.) for the year ending December 31:
In millions
1.                   Accounts payable
$16,459
2.                   Accounts receivable
5,612
3.                   Cash
14,557
4.                   Cost of sales
62,752
5.                   Income tax expense
167
6.                   Interest expense
210
7.                   Inventories
8,299
8.                   Net cash provided by operating activities
6,842
9.                   Net cash flows used for investing activities
(5,065)
10.               Net sales
88,988
11.               Other expense
118
12.               Other income
76
13.               Property, plant, and other long-term assets
16,967
14.               Selling, general, and administrative expenses
26,058
15.               Retained earnings (Dec. 31)
2,190

Indicate on which financial statement you would find each of the preceding items using the following notations (note: an item may appear on more than one statement):

IS Income statement
SE Statement of stockholders’ equity
BS Balance sheet
SCF Statement of cash flow

Prepare an income statement for the year ending December 31, based on the com, Inc. financial statement data shown above.

The Final Paper: SEC Filings and the EDGAR Database

Must be three to five double-spaced pages in length (not including title and references pages) and formatted according to APA style as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center’s APA Style (Links to an external site.)
Must include a separate title page with the following:

Title of paper
Student’s name
Course name and number
Instructor’s name
Date submitted

For further assistance with the formatting and the title page, refer to APA Formatting for Word 2013 (Links to an external site.).

Must utilize academic voice. See the Academic Voice (Links to an external site.) resource for additional guidance.
Must include an introduction and conclusion paragraph. Your introduction paragraph needs to end with a clear thesis statement that indicates the purpose of your paper.

For assistance on writing Introductions & Conclusions (Links to an external site.) as well as Writing a Thesis Statement (Links to an external site.), refer to the Ashford Writing Center resources.

Must add an APA heading (Level 1 or Level 2) for each one of the topics discussed in the research paper as shown:

SEC EDGAR Database Level 1Amazon’s.com financial performance Level 1
Form 10-K SEC Filings Level 2
Annual Reports Level 2
Management Discussion and Analysis Level 2
Management’s Responsibility for Financial Reporting Level 2
Management’s Report on Internal Control over Financial Reporting Level 2
Auditors’ Report Level 2
Selected Financial Data Level 2
Financial Statement Notations (IS, SE, BS, SCF) Level 1Amazon’s.com Income Statement Level 1

Use the following APA Style blog to read about the APA Five Levels of Headings (Links to an external site.)

Must use at least 14 scholarly and/or credible articles from ProQuest Business, Industry Databases: Nasdaq.com, EY.com, and Comprehensive Accounting Databases: FASB codification, AICPA, and SEC reference library sources in addition to the course text.

The Scholarly, Peer Reviewed, and Other Credible Sources (Links to an external site.) table offers additional guidance on appropriate source types. If you have questions about whether a specific source is appropriate for this assignment, please contact your instructor. Your instructor has the final say about the appropriateness of a specific source for a particular assignment.

Must document any information used from sources in APA style as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center’s Citing Within Your Paper (Links to an external site.)
Must include a separate references page that is formatted according to APA style as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center. See the Formatting Your References List (Links to an external site.) resource in the Ashford Writing Center for specifications.

Carefully review the Grading Rubric (Links to an external site.) for the criteria that will be used to evaluate your assignment.