SEC 10-K Paper
Selecting Your Company
Access the most recent SEC 10-K filing of a publicly traded company that has inventory and
accounts receivable. The company must sell a tangible product, so do not select hotels, financial
services, or other service-oriented businesses. In addition you company should be headquartered
in the United States to avoid any currency translation or IFRS issues. Post the name of your
company in the SEC 10-K conference for approval. You must select a company that has not been
previously selected by another student.
Accessing and Reading the SEC 10-K for Your Company
Access the most recent SEC 10-K filing for your company by using the EDGAR database on the
SEC website or your company’s website under Investor Relations (or a title similar). If you’ve
never used the EDGAR database before, the SEC provides a guide on how to use the database:
Researching Public Companies Through EDGAR: A Guide for Investors. In addition, the SEC
provides a very useful guide named How to Read an SEC 10-K Report that you should read
before beginning your project. If you’d like a PDF of the guide, you can download it from here.
Topical Requirements
Specific topics that you should address in your paper include the following:
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Brief description of company;
Major competitors;
Brief summary of current events affecting the company;
Vertical Analysis of the Balance Sheet (Income Statement is optional);
Horizontal Analysis of the Income Statement (Balance Sheet is optional);
Analysis of the Statement of Cash Flows including operating, investing, and financing
activities sections; and
Financial ratios, computation, and interpretation (see Illustration 18-27 on pages 843 and
844 of the textbook for a list of ratios to compute and interpret);
If you’re an overachiever, you can include more topics than the ones above.
Formatting and Citation Requirements
The paper should be two to three pages in length, single-spaced, with one-inch margins on all
sides and 12-point font-size. Use headings for each section of your paper, and use a 12-point font
size. Use these subheadings to organize your paper:
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Company Description and Major Competitors
Current Events Summary
Vertical Analysis of the Balance Sheet
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Horizontal Analysis of the Income Statement
Analysis of the Statement of Cash Flows
Ratio Analysis
Do not copy and paste material from the 10-K because doing so would be considered plagiarism.
Avoid issues of academic dishonesty by citing all of your sources in a works cited list, which
should include the web address for your SEC 10-K. Your works cited list should also include our
textbook. You must use APA style for in-text citations and your works cited list.
The UMUC Library has a good website with citation resources and APA citation examples. Two
additional resources are the online tutorial, The Basics of APA Style Tutorial and the APA Style
resources by the Purdue Online Writing Lab.
Due Date and Submission
Name your paper “Last Name, First Name (SEC).doc” and submit it as a PDF or Microsoft Word
document to the WebTycho Assignment folder by Sunday, April 28 at 11:00 p.m. eastern
time. (If you save your paper as a PDF, it will have “.pdf” as the file extension, i.e., “Last Name,
First Name (SEC).pdf”. Likewise, if you’re using a new version of Microsoft Word, the file
extension will be “.docx”, i.e., “Last Name, First Name (SEC).docx”.)
SEC 10-K PowerPoint Presentation
Topical Requirements
Your PowerPoint presentation should summarize your paper and include tables, graphs, and/or
charts of the following:
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Vertical Analysis of the Balance Sheet (Income Statement is optional);
Horizontal Analysis of the Income Statement (Balance Sheet is optional);
Analysis of the Statement of Cash Flows including operating, investing, and financing
activities sections; and
Financial ratios, computations, explanations, and interpretations.
Formatting Requirements
Your presentation should be between six to ten slides in length not including a cover slide and a
works cited slide. Do not copy and paste your paper onto the SEC 10-K presentation slides. This
will be very difficult to read, so use bullets points to summarize your paper instead.
Rough Draft Due Date and Submission
Name your rough draft “Last Name, First Name (draft).ppt” and post it to the SEC 10-K
Conference for review by your classmates by Sunday, April 21 at 11:00 p.m. eastern time.
Provide feedback to at least one classmate. If you see that some classmates have not received any
feedback, be a friend and take the initiative to offer them some comments.
Final Draft Due Date and Submission
Name your final draft “Last Name, First Name (final).ppt” and post it to the SEC 10-K
discussion conference and to the WebTycho Assignment folder by Sunday, April 28 at 11:00
p.m. eastern time. Post comments for at least one other classmate. (If you’re using a new
version of Microsoft PowerPoint, the file extension will be “.pptx”, i.e., “Last Name, First Name
(SEC).pptx”.)