Review of Financial Statements

Essay by deetwinUniversity, Bachelor'sA-, August 2009

download word file, 7 pages 1.0

Downloaded 109 times

Financial statements are essential accounting tools which include balance sheets, cash flow statements, and income statements that provide information on a company's past and present financial history. Information on financial statements can be used by any number of public and private entities to determine if an organization's financial status is healthy. Burger King and McDonald's are two organizations that use financial statements in conducting business.

Further, this paper will discuss the financial statements of each company, the firms which audit each companies financial statements, and define accounting concepts, terminologies, and transactions used in the financial statements. Additional information will provided regarding when McDonald's and Burger King were established and what product and services they provide to the public.

Overview of OrganizationsMcDonalds first opened its doors in 1940 introducing the concept of the "speedee service system" offering french fries, hamburgers, and shakes to satisfy the hungry customer quickly at a low price.

Over the next 65 plus years the McDonalds menu has changed from just french fries and hamburgers to salads, wraps, chicken nuggets and many more items which cater to the ever changing tastes of consumers. McDonalds has been criticized over the years as being a major contributor high obesity rates, in part due to the speedee service concept. These criticism have caused McDonald's to rethink menu items and helped the company to enact numerous changes to the menu which now offers nutritional guides for each menu item and healthier choices such as salads, fruit, and milk. McDonald's has changed the oil used to fry foods to make the fries healthier and includes a choice of meal sizes and most recently started a new line of coffee drinks, which offers the desired Starbucks taste for a fraction of the cost. "The fast food chain currently has 31,000 restaurants worldwide and...