2 parts
Week 1 – Assignment 1: Assess the Goals of Financial Management and Ethical Reporting
Instructions
Part 1
This week, you learned about financial management for goal setting and ethical reporting. Write a short paper discussing the importance of using financial reporting to formulate a firm’s goals. Additionally, provide a summary of how ethics and SOX compliance play a role in financial reporting. Address your paper to the ethics of properly reporting earning, debt, and cash flow. As you continue in the course, you will learn about the value of financial statements as they connect with strategic planning internally for the company and how these statements affect stock valuation. Company valuation and stock valuation are related and companies are often measured against their competitors in the marketplace. If companies provide ethical and honest reporting of earnings, then investors have the information needed to successfully invest in stocks. The measure of one company’s stock is measured in conjunction with other companies in groups or indexes of stocks. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is just one of the indexes that rely on the honest and ethical reporting of corporate earnings.
Your response should demonstrate thoughtful consideration of the ideas and concepts presented in the course and provide new thoughts and insights relating directly to this topic. Your response should reflect scholarly writing and current APA standards.
Length: 2-3 pages (not including cover page and references)
References: Your paper should include no less than five references. For this week’s assignments, use the references supplied above. If you chose to do so, you may include additional references.
Part 2
Week 1 – Assignment 2: Investigate the Meaning and Importance of the Dow Jones Industrial Average
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) is the most widely published and best-known stock market indicator in the world. The DJIA appears daily in nearly every major newspaper around the globe, is the bases for most financial newscasts, and is the most common and leading indicator of the state of the economy. When the DJIA is rising, the U.S. economy is generally healthy and when the DJIA crashes, a recession is usually on the horizon. The effect of DJIA’s downturn is typically has a global impact.
Although most Americans have heard of the DJIA, it is amazing how few actually know how it is calculated or exactly what it means. For this assignment, you will research and write a paper about the calculation, composition, and history of the Dow Jones Industrial Average. To facilitate your research, begin by investigating Shuman’s (2013) review of the Dow Jones Industrial Average. Also, consider reviewing other resources in the NCU online library.
After you learn about the DJIA, find and read at least one additional scholarly article discussing the index. Then, share in a short video what you learned about the DJIA—its history, composition (what is included in the index), value, and shortcomings. Your goal is to provide a brief history of the index and in straightforward terms to someone with little or no background in finance or business. Additionally, critically evaluate the DJIA in light of the fact that it is a price-weighted index (as opposed to a more robust value weighted measure like the S&P 500 Index), and then determine how it is comprised of such a limited number of stocks.
Video Presentation:
For this assignment, you are expected to create a short video between 3 to 5 minutes in length. In your video presentation, you will share what you learned about the DJIA, its history, composition (what is included in the index), its market value, and its shortcomings. Your goal is to provide a brief history and explanation of the index in straightforward terms to someone with little or no background in finance or business. Additionally, provide at least one critical evaluation of the DJIA in light of the fact that it is a price-weighted index (as opposed to a more robust value weighted measure like the S&P 500 Index) and how it is comprised of such a limited number of stocks.
Length: 3 to a 5-minute video presentation
For this assignment, you will create a video presentation of you speaking to a camera with no slides or you may record your voice with a PowerPoint presentation with only audio. For this assignment, you may use Kaltura Capture Space. If you choose another method to record your video, such as on a personal YouTube channel, you must provide a working URL (web address) so that your work can be viewed publicly.
