Financial Reporting Problem, Part 2
At the end of the most recent annual reporting period in 2014, the Walmart Corporation reported its total assets at $204,751 million dollars. At the end of the previous accounting period on January 31, 2013 the total current assets where listed at $203,105 million. This is important because current assets are useful for determining the liquidity of a company. If Walmart’s assets had decreased dramatically within one year, it would result in being a greater risk for creditors.
Cash and Cash Equivalents are liquid assets on a balance sheet for a company. These assets can be converted into cash if needed and are treated like cash. “Cash and cash equivalents were $9.1 billion and $7.3 billion for fiscal 2015 and 2014, respectively. Our working capital deficit was $2.0 billion and $8.2 billion at January 31, 2015 and 2014, respectively. The decrease in our working capital deficit is primarily the result of using less of our net cash provided by operating activities for share repurchases and capital expenditures during fiscal 2015, which allowed us to reduce our short term borrowings.” “The decrease in cash flows provided by operating activities in fiscal 2014, when compared to the previous fiscal year, was primarily due to the timing of income tax payments, as well as lower income from continuing operations.” (http://www.corporatereport.com/walmart/2015/ar/_downloads/walmart_2015_ar.pdf) A liability that represents the amount of money that is owed by Walmart Corporation is what Accounts Payable is. The amount of accounts payable the Walmart Corporation had at the end of its most recent annual reporting period is 38,410 Million. The amount of accounts payable the Walmart Corporation had at the end of the previous annual reporting period was 37,415 Million.
Walmart Corporation’s net revenues for the last three annual