I am needing some much needed assistance on how to go about a following research assignment report that will consist of research and computations to format on both a word document and excel spreadsheet attachment. I have to do this for two competing companies of which I was assigned to do the Hershey Company & Tootsie Roll Company. Here are the following assignment breakdown:

Purpose of Assignment

The activity requires students to perform research and analysis on competing companies and the potential implications of international standards. This real-world analysis is key to understanding how a company’s profitability, liquidity, and solvency can be useful for all users. Students also learn to analyze financial statements and use managerial tools to make decisions from an investor’s and creditor’s standpoint.

Assignment Steps

Resources: U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), websites such as Annual Reports (AnnualReports.com)

Tutorial help on Excel^® and Word functions can be found on the Microsoft^® Office website. There are also additional tutorials via the web offering support for Office products.

Select two competing companies, one of which must be an international company, and locate annual reports for these two companies on the Internet. (Was assigned Hershey Company and Tootsie Roll Company)

Research the two companies on the Internet and download the Income Statement, Statement of Shareholders’ Equity, Balance Sheet, and Statement of Cash Flows. (Instructor is wanting us to submit in copies of those financial statements for the two competing companies that we are assigned).

Develop a 525-word or more examination of the financial statements and include the following:

• Introduction
• Make a 5-year trend analysis for each company, using 2011 as the base year, of:(format onto both word document & excel spreadsheet)
  • Net sales.
  • Net income. Discuss the significance of the trend results.
• Compute for 2015 and 2014 the:(format onto both word document & excel spreadsheet)
  • Debt to assets ratio.
  • Times interest earned. How would you evaluate each company’s solvency?
• Compute for 2015 and 2014 the:(format onto both word document & excel spreadsheet)
  • Profit margin.
  • Asset turnover.
  • Return on assets.
  • Return on common stockholders’ equity. How would you evaluate each company’s profitability?
• Evaluate the financial opportunity presented by the companies. If you were a creditor, which company would you be more likely to lend money to? Defend your decision.
• Which company would you recommend as an investment? Discuss the items that were considered in your decision.
• Research global implications for the international company selected. How might changing environmental factors affect organizational choices?
• Consider the ethical climate (internal or external) of your chosen companies. Describe the ethical issues and impact on the stakeholders. What has been/is being done to resolve these issues? Do you agree with these methods for resolution? If not, what might you do differently?
• Conclusion

Show your work in Microsoft^® Word or Excel^®.

Complete calculations/computations using Microsoft^® Word & Excel^®.

Include the four financial statements for each company (Hershey & Tootsie Roll) along with your assignment.

Format your assignment consistent with APA guidelines for references and proper data source citations used.

Side Note: Will be checked for plagiarism.