*Microsoft’s Financial Reporting Strategy 1. What are the factors that likely explain the difference between Microsoft’s market value of equity and its reported book value of equity? The most obvious reason for the difference between the market value of equity and the book value of equity is the inability to record certain intangible assets such as brand value, customer loyalty, and perhaps most importantly, human capital. These intangible assets are likely to provide tremendous earnings growth in the future which determines the company’s market value. Notice also that the company’s choice of conservative accounting policies has the effect of depressing the company’s book value of equity. 2. What effect did Microsoft’s …show more content…
3. What effect did Microsoft’s revenue recognition policy have on its financial statements? Ignore any potential tax effects. a. Estimate the amount of revenue that Microsoft would have been reported in each year from 1996 through 1999 if Microsoft had not adopted its new revenue recognition policy in 1996. [pic] b. Why do you think Microsoft decided to defer a portion of its revenues in fiscal 1996? The company’s decision to defer revenues came at a time of significant growth in revenues—suggesting that the company’s decision to defer revenues was partially to dampen or “smooth” the company’s revenue growth. The company’s decision to defer revenue had the effect of reducing reported revenue growth from 88% to 64% in the first quarter of 1996 and increasing revenue growth from 4% to 15% in the first quarter of 1997. Even as reported the first quarter of 1997 represented the lowest quarterly revenue growth in the company’s history. While the timing of the company’s decision to defer revenues appears particularly opportune, the introduction of Windows 95 to the market provides a legitimate reason for the decision. As described in the case, the company expected to integrate its Internet technologies into both Windows 95 and Office 97 “at no additional cost to customers.” Arguably, then, sales of these products were improved by these
2. If a company had sales of $2,587,643 in 1998 and sales of $3,213,456 in 2003, by what percentage did sales change during this time period? 24.18%
1. Describe the impact the three proposed accounting methods (full revenue recognition, deferral of revenue, and partial revenue recognition) would have on the company’s financial statements: 1) at the time of the sale, and 2) in future periods.
Capital; expenditures decline from 45.8% of revenues in 1995 to 10.8% of revenues by 2001 (also close to Microsoft’s experience);
1. This question addresses the effect of Microsoft’s software capitalization policy on its financial statements. Ignore any potential tax effects.
* Microsoft has retained $18.9 billion in earning over the years. It has over 2.5 times that amount in stockholder equity ($47.29 billion), no
Microsoft is in an industry that makes it more difficult to apply DuPont analysis averages to determine its financial health. Microsoft obviously operates
Another question posed by the case was whether or not Microsoft’s conduct benefitted consumers. The senior group vice president of Microsoft, Paul Maritz believes Microsoft operations did benefit consumers, stating that Window’s popularity was due to Microsoft’s “efforts to innovate, evangelize and license the software cheaply” (Baron, p. 317). Microsoft’s alleged monopoly did benefit consumers when price and compatibility are considered, as the operating software was cheap and accessible by most consumers, especially given the fact so many applications were written specifically to interact with
Cost accounting is a type of accounting process that aims to capture a company's costs of production by assessing the input costs of each step of production as well as fixed costs such as depreciation of capital equipment. Cost accounting will first measure and record these costs individually, then compare input results to output or actual results to aid company management in measuring financial performance (Cost Accounting, n.d.).
According to Deloitte & Touché LLP in its “report of independent registered public accounting firm”, the accompanying consolidated balance sheets of Microsoft Corporation, which were the responsibility of management of the company and includes statements of income and cash flows and shareholders' equity, was audited by Deloitte & Touché LLP to express based on an opinion on these financial statements. The audits were conducted in accordance with the standards of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States) to be sure that all the financial statements were free of material misstatement. In all material respects, the results of their operations and their cash flows are accepted generally by accounting principles in the United
3. Refer to the monthly sales forecasts given in the first Table. Assume that these amounts are realized and that the firm’s customers pay exactly as predicted.
While calculating the Nike’s cost of capital using both the book value (Exhibit 1.1) and the market value (Exhibit 1.2), I could notice the mistake Cohen made finding the equity value. Cohen used the book value to reflect equity value. Although the book value is an accepted measure to estimate the debt value, the equity’s book value is an inaccurate measure of the value perceived by the shareholders. Since Nike is a publicly traded company, market value is the better method in reflecting Nike’s equity value.
Attached is an Income Statement from 2005 to 2007 (Microsoft Corporation Annual Report, 2008). As you can see, revenues and net income have continued to increase over the years. Earnings per share have increased as well. This shows that Microsoft is in a good financial standing. This means they are able to pay their shareholders and increase what they
This report is issued in order to inform the public about Microsoft Corporation. We analyzed the profitability and liquidity of this company. In addition, we were able to provide recommendations for investments or credits in Microsoft for the best interest of the public.
The three statements that were provided in this section provide possible investors, competitors, and even those within the company with useful information to make important decisions that could affect their livelihood or the livelihood of Microsoft. Keep in mind that even though financial statements are a solid indicator of how a company is performing, one key principle about must be known when viewing them to make decisions. They do not always provide all of the information that you may need. There are usually underlying topics that could affect the company that are not necessarily showing up on their financial statements. These topics are discussed in other sections of this report on Microsoft.
The methods for valuing companies can be classified in six groups: MAIN VALUATION METHODS BALANCE INCOME MIXED CASH FLOW VALUE OPTIONS SHEET STATEMENT (GOODWILL) DISCOUNTING CREATION .Book value . Multiples Classic Equity cash flow EVA Black and .Adjusted .PER Union of Dividends Economic Scholes . Sales Free cash flow Investment value European profit .Liquidation .P/E EBITDA Accounting Capital cash flow Cash value option value .Other Experts APV added Expand .Substantial multiples Abbreviated CFROI the project value income Delay the others investment Alternative uses 2.1 Balance sheets – Based methods (shareholders’Equity) These methods seek to determine the company’s value by estimating the value of its assets. These are traditionally used methods that consider that a company’s value lies basically in its balance sheet. They determine the value from a static viewpoint, which, therefore, does not take into account the company’s possible future evolution or money’s temporary value. Neither do they take into account other factors that also affect the value such as: the industry’s current situation, human resources or organization problems, contracts, etc. that do not appear in the accounting statements. Some of these methods are the following: Book value, adjusted book value,