Disclosure Analysis Paper

Disclosure Analysis Paper

Name

ACC/422

Date

Facilitator

Disclosure Analysis Paper

Each year companies prepare financial reports available to the public to report such figures as their assets, liabilities, and stockholders equity. This financial information is reported on the company’s balance sheet, income statement, statement of cash flows, and the statement of stockholders equity.

Target is a department store offering a variety of products and has stores throughout the United States and Canada. Target’s annual report provides figures that show how the company has done financially and explains in disclosure notes reasons for figure changes. The 2012 annual report for Target shows a decline in cash and cash equivalents and receivables when compare to 2011 while their inventory remains at a steady increase when compared to a four year trend.

Cash and Cash Equivalents

Cash and equivalents are cash or cash equivalents that a company possesses at any given time. Cash and cash equivalents are Targets most liquid assets. According to Target’s disclosure notes in their annual reports for 2012, their period-end cash and cash equivalents balance was $784 million compared with $794 million in 2011. Short-term investments (highly liquid investments with an original maturity of three months or less from the time of purchase) of $130 million and $194 million were included in cash and cash equivalents at the end of 2012 and 2011, respectively. Cash equivalents also include amounts due from third-party financial institutions for credit and debit card transactions. Cash flow provided by operations was $5,325 million in 2012 compared with $5,434 million in 2011. A change in Target’s cash flow comes from a loss in accounts receivables.

Receivables

Target’s gross receivables were reported at $6.36 billion for 2012, which was lower than the $6.84 billion reported for 2011. Their bad debt/doubtful accounts showed a $260 million difference when comparing...