Companies that are publicly traded and regulated by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) must publish their financial statements each year. The statements, along with their notes and annual and quarterly reports to the SEC (Form 10-K and Form 10-Q), will contain information on the capital structure, retained earnings, and long-term liabilities. Companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange are all publicly traded and regulated by the SEC. The Fortune 500 lists the 500 largest companies based on revenues.
Using the list of Fortune 500 companies for 2009 and the list of companies on the New York Stock Exchange as of same year, select two companies on both lists: Choose one large company with revenues of more than $50 million dollars and one small company with revenues of less than $50 million dollars. Review the financial statements for the companies you selected by visiting their corporate websites, and ensure they list retained earnings and long-term liabilities in either the notes and/or on the face of the financial statements. If any of these items are missing, select another company. You will use these companies in several assignments throughout the course.
Fortune 500
http://money.cnn.com/ magazines/fortune/fortune500/ 2009/full_list/
This source shows the 500 companies that drew the most revenue in 2009.
Directory of NYSE Listed Companies Links
http://www.cerritos.edu/hohly/ complist.htm
This list shows publicly traded companies.
With these thoughts in mind:
Write at least 200 words answering the following questions:
The capital structure might vary from entity to entity depending upon its needs and goals. In your opinion, what are some of the factors that might influence how a company will build its capital structure? Are some factors more important than others?
What effect does the size of an organization have on its capital structure? Consider a large corporation such as Microsoft, compared to a small manufacturing company with a few employees. Do you think the capital structure might be different? Explain.
What differences have you identified in the capital structures of the two companies that you selected?
What factors do you think a company should consider in deciding what classes of stock it should issue?
Welcome to Legit Writing
