Overview

For Milestone One, which is due in Module Three, you will create adjusting entries for various situations, prepare annual financial reports, calculate ratios, and develop a brief report for management explaining accounting ratios and the effects of interest rates on the future value of money. You will build on this milestone in subsequent modules leading up to the final project.

Prompt

First, review the Final Project Scenario document and the accompanying Final Project Workbook. Follow the instructions below and complete the workbook with the information provided in the scenario. Using your review of the scenario, develop a management analysis brief that addresses the critical elements indicated below. Use information from your accounting workbook to support your claims in the management analysis brief.

Note: Milestone One is a draft of some critical elements of the final project. Note that the management analysis brief corresponds to the management analysis memo in the final project.

Specifically, the following critical elements must be addressed:

1. Accounting Workbook: Your accounting workbook must include appropriate calculations, ratios, and notes:
   1. Create adjusting entries for financial statement preparation.
   2. Create an adjusted trial balance for financial statement preparation.
   3. Prepare financial statements for determining the company’s financial position.
   4. Calculate ratios for determining the company’s financial health. Refer to the Final Project Scenario for the ratio formulas.
2. Management Analysis Brief: Your management analysis brief should explain financial information to management. Provide evidence from your accounting workbook to support your ideas when applicable.
   
   1. Assess the company’s financial health based on ratio analyses presented in the accounting workbook.
   2. Compare ratio analysis to trends in financial ratios over time for illustrating their impact, providing examples to support your claims.
   3. Summarize the effects of different compounding periods and interest rates on future value of money.
   4. Explain how alignment to relevant regulations and ethical reporting influenced your accounting practices and notes, providing examples to support your claims.

What to Submit

You will submit two files for this milestone. Your accounting workbook must be submitted as a Microsoft Excel document. Your management analysis brief should be a 1- to 2-page Microsoft Word document with double spacing, 12-point Times New Roman font, and one-inch margins.