Step 1: financing the junior accounting team has assembled a
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Assignment 2
FINANCE & ACCOUNTING – SENIOR ACCOUNTANT Analysis
Due Date: Week 5
Note: While representative of possible situations faced by SunsTruck Sunglasses, all scenarios in this assignment are fictional.
Real Business
Large discount retailers like Target and Walmart employ large teams of Finance and Accounting professionals to help measure and understand the financial health of the business. Financial and accounting information helps these businesses make educated financial decisions, such as whether or not to continue partnering with a retail supplier. While often smaller businesses, it is equally important for these retail suppliers to use financial and accounting data to make educated decisions, such as the best approach to gaining additional funding.
Your Role
This week, you’ll assume the role of Senior Accountant with SunsTruck Sunglasses.
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What Is a SENIOR ACCOUNTANT? Senior accountants take ownership of reporting costs, profitability, margins and expenditures for a given business. They use the principles of accounting to analyze sales information, create financial reports, make recommendations about the financial health of the company, and more. They are also responsible for training junior accounting staff. |
For the last six months, SunsTruck has partnered with the discount retail store to run a pop-up sunglasses stand in their stores for a big summer promotion. Due to the high customer purchase rate, the store has requested stock for five additional stores. SunsTruck needs to increase its capacity to meet the additional demand. In order to do so, SunsTruck needs additional money.
In this assignment, you will need to help determine which type of financing option is best for your company and train your junior accountants on the accounting cycle and financial statements.
Instructions
The junior accounting team has assembled a Financing Report that (a) offers three options for securing the additional funds required to meet the new order; and (b) details the criteria Shaun, the owner of SunsTruck, would like you to consider when choosing one of the three options. Based on this report:
Write 2-5 sentences explaining the rationale for your decision.
Note: You should complete Steps 2 & 3 after reading the material in Week 5.
Step 2: ACCOUNTING CYCLE
A junior accountant is working to get everything in order for the new financing and has come to you with a question about what do next in the accounting cycle.
Step 3: FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
A potential investor has been identified, but before it is willing to commit, it has requested information about SunsTruck’s current debt from the junior accountants.
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Income Statement
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Balance Sheet
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Cash Flow Statement
Write 1-3 sentences to explain to your junior accountants why you are giving them this financial statement and where the debt information is located.
SHAUN’S CRITERIA
Hi Team,
I wanted to provide you some guidelines as you determine how we’ll finance our expansion. Please give this careful consideration, as we need to get this right.
1. I estimate we’ll need $150,000 to increase capacity in order to stock the five additional pop-up stands
2. We’ll need to make sure we have additional funds available to increase our marketing efforts to stimulate demand
3. Cash flow is going to be tight, so I’d like to minimize interest payments
4. I’d like to maintain or increase our profit margins
5. Since I don’t have a lot of experience with big discount retailers, I’d like to add a thought partner with experience in this channel
6. If we’re successful over the next two years, we’ll likely seek additional capital to expand into more stores, so I’d like to do all we can now to enhance our credibility
We need to move on this quickly, so I’d like an answer by the end of the week.
-Shaun
