how to analyze HISCO’s financial      metrics specifically pre-tax and after-tax income.

Week 5 Discussions and Required Resources 

Assignment must be at least 200 words unless otherwise noted. Please read all attachments and follow ALL instructions.

To receive full credit you must include at least 2 citations of scholarly support to your answers for each discussion post (i.e. Discussion One – 2 citations, Discussion Two – 2 citations).  Citations should be within your post and include (Author, year, page number) if you are using a quote, page number is not required if you are paraphrasing.  Just listing references and not using them in your post does not count as a citation or support.  You can use your textbook as scholarly support and remember to include a reference for the support cited.

In your responses to the discussion questions, journals, assignments and the final paper please avoid contractions. Examples of contractions – I’m, I’ve, isn’t, hadn’t and all the rest. Also, avoid etc since we do not know what it is. Avoid starting a sentence with “And.” The usage of the above mentioned would result in a lower grade.

The simulation learning experience will consist of the following: You will be managing and leading a business, called HISCO (in the Medical Equipment Industry), for an entire year (four quarters) and will have to deal with numerous issues in balancing short- and long-term priorities. The terms Qtr. 1 and Q1 are used interchangeably throughout and refer to Quarter 1 of your business. You will have a wide variety of resources at your disposal (Help Desk, faculty, review videos, and data). There will be a pre-test to ensure that you are prepared for the year, Quarterly and Annual Operating/Business Reviews, and finally, the development of an annual report after you have lived the excitement of creating the results through your decisions each quarter. Playing a quarter competitively and analyzing results of your decisions will be the primary source of formal knowledge. Naturally, you will be expected to keep up with the weekly activities which build upon each other.

There is a need to present peer review Journal articles for the discussion questions, assignments and final paper.

NOTE FROM INSTRUCTOR: Pay special attention to the contractions and you must have peer review articles for the initial discussion question and your responses to your peers.

Key Learnings in You Annual Operating Review

Prior to beginning work in this discussion thread, read pages 51 through 80 of Understanding Corporate Annual Reports, Voluntary disclosures in corporate annual reports – More than meets the eye, and Integrated Performance Report. This is the time to share in discussion format your critical learnings and any details from your AOR. These thoughts should be qualitative, quantitative, generic, and specific. The learnings should be related to your AOR and what you can put to work in the short- and long-term in the real world. Please use 200 words or more.

NOTE: the link to the book listed above is in the Required Resources section.

Required Resources

Book

Stanko, B., & Zeller, T. L (2003). Understanding corporate annual reports: A user’s guide. Hoboken, N.J.: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. eBook., Database: eBook Collection (EBSCOhost).

• The full-text version of      this book is available through the EBSCOhost database in the Ashford      University Library. This book section provides information about      evaluation of company operations through the analysis of information      contained in annual reports and will assist you in your Key Learnings in      Your Annual Operating Review (AOR) discussion this week.

Articles

Bujaki, M., & McConomy, B. (2010, May). Voluntary disclosures in corporate annual reports — More than meets the eye. CMA Management, 84(3), 14-16.

• The full-length version of      this article is available through the Ebscohost database in the Ashford      University Library. This article provides information about the difference      between mandatory information in a annual report that is required by law      and voluntary information that the organization supplements the report      with and will assist you in your Key Learnings in Your Annual Operating      Review (AOR) discussion this week.

Medtronic. (2016). Integrated performance report (Links to an external site.). Retrieved from http://www.medtronic.com/content/dam/medtronic-com/us-en/corporate/documents/17267.MED.Sustainability.Report_4_FINAL%20NOV%208.pdf

• The full-length version of      this report is available through the Google database. This report provides      information about 2016 performance of Medtronic, a global medial      technology provider serving 160 countries and will assist you in your Key      Learnings in Your Annual Operating Review (AOR) discussion this week. The      report provides a real world example of a complete annual report in the      medical device field.

Multimedia

Cadrain, S. (2017). Pre-Tax Net Income Chart Explanation [Presentation Slides]. Retrieved from https://ashford.instructure.com

• This PowerPoint      presentation covers information about how to analyze HISCO’s financial      metrics specifically pre-tax and after-tax income. The presentation can be      used as a tool to better understand the “Pre-Tax Income: Year Plan vs.      Actual” graph located in the Grow Your Business” (GYB) simulation.