Accounting writing assignments - Essay Example

Annual Report Analysis I have selected Ford Motor Company for annual report analysis as it is a well established car manufacturer in the automobile industry that started operations in 1903. Ford is the US’ second largest and world’s fifth largest automaker on the basis of annual vehicle sales. Ford Motor Company is one of the members of the group “Big Three” including Chrysler and General Motors as the other members. The Ford introduced the first “dominant design” in automobiles and it became the fundamental framework for other manufacturers to design their models.

In order to obtain detailed financial information about the company, it is necessary to analyse consolidated balance sheet and other financial statements of the company. The company’s financial data clearly indicates that Ford has achieved $128,954 million in sales for the fiscal year 2010. The company could effectively survive the impacts of 2009 global financial crisis and it attained a net income of $6,561 million in 2010. The annual report 2011 shows that the company’s earnings per share is $1.

66 although it has not issued dividends to shareholders. The consolidated balance sheet of the company illustrates that Ford’s total assets/total liabilities for the fiscal 2010 were $164,687 million. In addition, total shareholders’ equity of Ford was $-642 million.According to the “management’s discussion and analysis of financial condition and results of operations”, most powerful feature of the Ford is its flexibility to integrate with various market situations (Ford Motor Company).

The company distributes its costs and expenses under two categories such as cost of sales and selling, administrative and other expenses. This section clearly reflects that effective cost monitoring and control mechanisms have assisted the company to improve its profitability. The management report indicates that the ongoing global economic recovery has greatly benefited the company to improve its financial condition, which was very weak in the previous year (Ford Motor Company). In addition, the Ford possesses an efficient management team that effectively forecasts changing consumer tastes and specifications and thereby greatly aids R&D team to design innovative car models.

The general tone of the management’s comments points that the company is passing through an economic recovery phase, and the micro-macro environments of the Ford offers potential opportunities to the company for the upcoming years (Ford Motor Company). At the same time, intense market competition is raising serious threats to the company. However, the Ford’s management strongly believes that the company has a prosperous future regardless of the current market issues. In my opinion, the fiscal year 2010 was good for the Ford Motor Company.

The Ford’s financial statements for the fiscal 2010 were audited by the PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, which has issued an unqualified audit report to the company (Ford Motor Company). The audit report specifically affirms that the financial statement of the company express a true and clear view of current status of the company according to the generally accepted accounting principles in the United States. From the analysis of annual report 2010, it is not the right time for potential investment.

The company has not fully survived the effects of 2009 global recession although it returned back to profitability.Works CitedONE Ford: Ford Motor Company, 2010 Annual report. Web 3 Nov 2011http://corporate.ford.com/doc/ir_2010_annual_report.pdf