MBA 520 Milestone One Guidelines and Rubric
Overview: This milestone assignment covers critical element II (Financial Performance and Health) of the final project. It is an opportunity to draft this section of
the final project and get your instructor’s feedback before submitting the final version.
For this milestone, you will conduct an analysis of your chosen company’s financial statements for the last three consecutive years. Your analysis should include
the review and interpretation of data from the following financial statements: the income statement, balance sheet, statement of cash flow, and statement of
retained earnings. Using your review of these statements, you will assess the organization’s financial performance and financial health. Provide quantitative and
qualitative support for your assessment.
Prompt: As a newly hired manager at your chosen company, you have the first task of reviewing the company’s past and current financial documents and
making initial financial projections so that the company can begin planning for the upcoming year. Your report will include several tables, along with a
comprehensive narrative describing the organization’s financial performance and health. Note that, in addition to the organization’s financial statements and
website, other authoritative news sources—such as annual reports and external sites like Bloomberg—may offer insights that facilitate analysis or provide
information on the organization’s priorities and challenges.
Specifically, you must address the following critical elements from section II of the final project:
A. Organizational Context
1. What key goods or services does your organization provide, and for whom, where, and why? How do these features of the organization
(e.g., major products or services, customers, location) help set the boundaries for business decisions?
2. How is the company organized and managed (by product groups, geographic region, function, etc.)? How does that affect accounting and
financial information and subsequent business decisions?
B. Recent Financial Performance
1. Assess what the organization’s consolidated income statements for the last three years say about its financial performance. Use relevant
indicators, graphs, and spreadsheets to support your narrative. (Include all spreadsheets in an appendix.) For example, what do the amounts
and year-to-year changes in revenue, operating income, net profit or loss, and earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and
amortization tell you? Do any items stand out?
2. Assess what the organization’s consolidated cash flow statements for the same time period say about its financial performance. Use
relevant indicators, graphs, and spreadsheets to support your narrative. For example, what do the amounts and year-to-year changes in cash
from operating activities, cash from investing, cash from financing, and total cash flow tell you? Do any items standout?
3. Assess the organization’s underlying financial performance. Support your answer with the analysis above and relevant research. For
example, is recent performance substantially affected by unusual events such as a major acquisition or spin-off? Is the business thriving or
struggling in its industry? How do you know?
C. Current Financial Health
1. Assess how the organization is capitalized and what that tells you about its financial health. Support your response with relevant graphs,
spreadsheets, and indicators such as cash and cash equivalents, total debt, shareholders’ equity, current ratio, debt/equity ratio, and days sales
outstanding (DSO). For example, does the organization have enough cash for payroll and other bills? Does it have the right mix of debt versus
equity (stock)? How do you know?
2. Does the organization have the right amount of cash and other resources (key people, technologies, reputation, physical assets, etc.) to fuel
future growth? What does this suggest for business decisions? For example, if it has too much cash, should it pay a large dividend, repurchase
its own shares, or reinvest the excessfunds?
3. Assess the financial value of the company using relevant indicators. What does your assessment imply for future business healthand
performance? For example, what is the business’s current market value? What is its price-to-earnings ratio? What do these suggest about
investor perceptions of the business’s future?
Rubric
Guidelines for Submission: Use the Final Project Template to complete this assignment. This financial performance and health report should be approximately
5–7 pages long (excluding the title page, any spreadsheets and graphs, and the references list). It should be double spaced, with 12-point Times New Roman font
and one-inch margins, and it should use the latest APA formatting guidelines for references and citations. Include your name, course name, and assignment title
on the title page.
Critical Elements Proficient (100%) Needs Improvement (70%) Not Evident (0%) Value
Context: Key Goods or
Services
Describes how key goods or services
and features of the organization help
set boundaries for business decisions
Describes how key goods or services and
features of the organization help set
boundaries for business decisions, but
response is cursory or contains
inaccuracies, or links to decision making
are weak or illogical
Does not describe how key goods or
services and features of the
organization help set boundaries for
business decisions
12
Context: Organized Analyzes how company is organized
and managed and the effect on
accounting and financial information
and subsequent business decisions
Analyzes how company is organized and
the effect on accounting and financial
information and decisions, but response is
cursory or contains inaccuracies, or links
between organizational structure, finance,
and decision making are weak or illogical
Does not analyze how company is
organized and managed and the effect
on accounting and financial
information and subsequent business
decisions
12
Financial Performance:
Income
Assesses what the consolidated income
statements for last three years say
about financial performance, supported
by relevant indicators, graphs, and
spreadsheets
Assesses what the consolidated income
statements say about financial
performance, supported by indicators,
graphs, and spreadsheets, but response is
cursory or contains inaccuracies, or
support is not relevant
Does not assess what the consolidated
income statements for last three years
say about financial performance
11.5
Critical Elements Proficient (100%) Needs Improvement (70%) Not Evident (0%) Value
Financial Performance:
Cash Flow
Assesses what consolidated cash flow
statements for the same time period
say about financial performance,
supported by relevant indicators,
graphs, and spreadsheets
Assesses what consolidated cash flow
statements say about financial
performance, with some support from
indicators, graphs, and spreadsheets, but
response is cursory or contains
inaccuracies, or support is not relevant
Does not assess what consolidated
cash flow statements for the same
time period say about financial
performance
11.5
Financial Performance:
Underlying Performance
Assesses underlying financial
performance, supported by analysis
and relevant research
Assesses underlying financial performance,
supported by analysis and research, but
response is cursory, contains gaps in
accuracy or logic, or is poorly supported by
analysis and research
Does not assess underlying financial
performance, supported by analysis
and relevant research
11.5
Financial Health:
Capitalized
Assesses how organization is capitalized
and what that says about financial
health, supported by relevant graphs,
spreadsheets, and indicators
Assesses how organization is capitalized
and what that says about financial health,
supported by graphs, spreadsheets, and
indicators, but response is cursory or
contains inaccuracies, or support is not
relevant
Does not assess how organization is
capitalized and what that says about
financial health
11.5
Financial Health: Growth Determines whether organization has
right amount of cash and other
resources to fuel future growth and
what this suggests for business
decisions
Determines whether organization has right
amount of cash and other resources to fuel
future growth and what this suggests for
business decisions, but response is cursory
or contains inaccuracies, or links between
different types of resources and business
decisions are weak or illogical
Does not determine whether
organization has right amount of cash
and other resources to fuel future
growth or what this suggests for
business decisions
12
Financial Health: Financial
Value
Assesses financial value of company
and what it implies for future health
and performance using relevant
indicators
Assesses financial value of company and
what it implies for future health and
performance using relevant indicators, but
assessment is cursory or contains
inaccuracies, or links to future health and
performance are weak or illogical
Does not assess financial value of
company and what it implies for future
health and performance using relevant
indicators
11.5
Articulation of Response Submission has no major errorsrelated
to citations, grammar, spelling, syntax,
or organization
Submission has some major errors related
to citations, grammar, spelling, syntax, or
organization that negatively impact
readability and articulation of main ideas
Submission has critical errors related
to citations, grammar, spelling, syntax,
or organization that prevent the
understanding of ideas
6.5
Total 100%
