The two public traded companies that Team A chose to conduct a brief overview of are Wal-Mart and Target. Both of these companies do serve a large population of customers and employees here in America as well as overseas. The purpose of this paper is to explain the following research: what is the company's product or service; when was the company established; and what accounting firm audited each company's financial statement.
Wal-MartWal-Mart is a retail store that delivers a variety of quality value priced merchandise. Wal-Mart has 5 retail divisions that include Wal-Mart discount stores, super centers, neighborhood markets, SAM Club, and international operations. The first Wal-Mart store opened in 1962 in Rogers Arkansas. The discount stores offer 120,000 items and employ an average of 225 associates. The super centers were developed in 1988. The neighborhood markets opened in 1998 and SAM's Club opened in 1983 (Wal-Mart Inc., 2007).
English: Inside the Walmart (still branded as Wal-...
A protest in Utah against Wal-Mart
English: Supermercado de Wal-Mart in Spring Branch...Wal-Mart saturates the market with a variety of store atmospheres described above. This gives customers an opportunity to shop in the environment that makes them comfortable and gives Wal-Mart marketing and sales opportunities.
With Wal-Mart being such a large corporation the accounting and financial responsibilities need serious governance. Ethical standards need to be adhered internally and externally. Wal-Mart uses an independent registered public accounting firm to audit their internal financial statements. The firm that is listed in Wal-Mart's 2007 Annual Report is Ernst and Young LLP. Ernst and Young audited as of January 3, 2007 Wal-Mart's statements of operations, cash flows, and shareholders investment. These audits are in accordance with the standards of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States).
TargetTarget and Wal-Mart are very similar that is why Team A has decided to compare and use the two companies for our finance team project. In 1962 the...