ACCT 414 - Week 1 - Introduction to the Course (1) PDF

Corporate Reporting & Analysis ACCT 414  Attendance: Please give yourselves a 1 https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/176t2xBUx5l-5VC6hZ 8KQv1_wRA9yTCfV/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=1152615084828 65534119&rtpof=true&sd=true Syllabus Overview  Zoo...

Corporate Reporting & Analysis ACCT 414  Attendance: Please give yourselves a 1 https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/176t2xBUx5l-5VC6hZ 8KQv1_wRA9yTCfV/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=1152615084828 65534119&rtpof=true&sd=true Syllabus Overview  Zoom Poll Please join my Zoom room and take the poll: https://cwru.zoom.us/j/4525893723?pwd=S29wUmhWeFcrNE5YenBX ZzFOV1I3UT09  Joining Beta Alpha Psi (BAP) Beta Alpha Psi is an honorary accounting, finance, and information systems organization. We hold chapter meetings where firms and companies come to lead an activity and network with students. It's a great way to learn more about internships, job opportunities, and develop yourself personally and professionally. We also host social and service events that allow our members to connect on a more personal level and give back to the community. We will be hosting an information session to learn more about the organization on Friday (8/30) 5 How is the Market Doing this Week? (with intro video) 6 What is a stock index? To better understand how the market is doing this week we’ll need to understand what a stock index is. What is a stock index? An index is a method to track the performance of a group of assets in a standardized way. Indexes typically measure the performance of a basket of securities intended to replicate a certain area of the market. In the U.S., the S&P 500, Dow Jones Industrial Average, and Nasdaq Composite are the three most broadly followed indexes. 7 The Big 3 U.S. Stock Indexes The S&P 500: An index with 500 of the top companies in the U.S. It represents approximately 80% of the total value of the U.S. stock market, and in general it gives a good indication of movement in the U.S. market as a whole. The S&P 500 Index is a market-weighted index (also referred to as capitalization-weighted). Therefore, every stock in the index is represented in proportion to its total market capitalization. Dow Jones Industrial Average: one of the oldest, most well-known, and most frequently used indexes in the world. It includes the stocks of 30 of the largest and most influential companies in the United States. The higher-price stocks move the index more than those with lower prices, thus the price-weighted designation. The Nasdaq Composite Index: The Nasdaq is the exchange on which technology stocks are traded. The Nasdaq Composite Index is a market-capitalization-weighted index of all the stocks (~2500) traded on the Nasdaq stock exchange, which includes some companies not based in the U.S. Although it is known for its large portion of technology stocks, it also includes some securities from other industries. Unlike the Dow and the S&P 500, the Nasdaq Index also includes many speculative companies with small market capitalizations. Consequently, its movement generally indicates the performance of the technology industry as well as investors' attitudes toward more speculative stocks. 8 S&P 500 Visual Chart* 9 The Big 3 U.S. Stock Indexes (2021 Performance) 10 The Big 3 U.S. Stock Indexes (2022 Performance) 11 The Big 3 U.S. Stock Indexes (2023 Performance) The Big 3 U.S. Stock Indexes (2024 YTD) Nasda q S&P 500 Dow Jones  Assignment #1: Article Discussion 14 What does Jamie Dimon Read? Who is Jamie Dimon? American banker and businessman who has been the chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) of JPMorgan Chase since 2006 JPMorgan Chase is the largest bank in the United States https://www.instagram.com/p/C7X3nDcN Y_Y/ 15 Why do we do this assignment? Feedback from undergrad student (fall 2023): “…I found that the article discussions were not helpful at all because it didn't directly relate to anything we were doing in class.” Feedback from Weatherhead alumni with years of experience: “I wish we had been “forced” to develop habits around reading the WSJ every day (or other business publications) to help us develop the "language of business" as well as the mind for business, not just the mind for completing assignments.” Feedback from current MBA students who took one of my courses: “I thought the interview went great. We talked about the current markets and the Fed, and then finished up with the Silicon Valley incident.” (She ended up getting the internship). “I was asked about the real estate market and factors that may impact it this year, and I froze… I did not know how to respond. I should have paid more attention to the financial news section in class. In retrospect, I should have connected the dots and discussed how changes in interest rates will impact mortgage rates.” (He did not get the internship). 16 Financial News 17 6/2022: CPI: 9.1% Latest Figures: 7/2024 CPI: 2.9% 6/2024 PCE: 2.5% 18 19 20  What is the Fed? The Federal Reserve (“Fed”) is the U.S. central bank. It consists of a Board of Governors, a federal agency located in Washington, D.C., and 12 Federal Reserve Banks around the nation. The Fed has two objectives (“dual mandate”): 1) To promote maximum employment 2) To keep stable prices (controlling inflation) The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meets roughly eight times a year to discuss and set monetary policy: https://www.federalreserve.gov/monetarypolicy/fomccalend ars.htm 21 How Do Interest Rates Affect Inflation? Low interest rates can lead to higher inflation, forcing the Fed to increases interest rates Interest rates are essentially the cost of borrowing money. In a low-interest rate environment, borrowing is cheap and it encouraging spending, borrowing and investing by both individuals and firms. While all this spending can stimulate economic growth, it can also start to put pressure on prices, making them go up. This is when we say that the economy is “heating up”, and the Fed will have to step in and start increasing rates to slow down spending and help bring prices down. Increasing interest rates helps slow down the economy and reduce inflation When the Fed increases interest rates, borrowing becomes more expensive. In this environment, both consumers and businesses might think twice about taking out loans for major purchases or investments. This slows down spending, typically lowering overall demand for goods/services, thus relieving price pressures and reducing inflation. 22  Chair Jerome Powell said the time has come for the Federal Reserve to cut its key policy rate, affirming expectations that officials will begin lowering borrowing costs next month and making clear his intention to prevent further cooling in the labor market. “The direction of travel is clear, and the timing and pace of rate cuts will depend on incoming data, the evolving outlook and the balance of risks.” The Fed chief acknowledged recent progress on inflation, which has resumed moderating in recent months after stalling earlier in the year: “My confidence has grown that inflation is on a sustainable path back to 2%,” he said, referring to the central bank’s inflation target. Treasury yields fell and the S&P 500 index of US stocks rose while the dollar declined. While the remarks provided some clarity for financial markets in the near term, they offered few clues as to how the Fed might proceed after its September gathering. 23  Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago President Austan Goolsbee said it’s time to pay more attention to the employment side of the central bank’s dual mandate now that inflation is cooling toward the 2% target. “We want to be careful, as Chair Powell said, about the employment side of the mandate, too,” Goolsbee said Friday in an interview on CNBC. “We’re not just fighting inflation now, inflation’s on a path to 2%.” 25  Now that Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell has made it crystal clear that interest-rate cuts are coming next month, bond traders are focusing in on bets over the size of that first reduction and the future path of easing. 26  A Few Notes Before Getting Started 27 Suggestion For a Better Class Experience If you only have a laptop, I 100% recommend that you get a monitor in order to increase your productivity at home. We will be working on Excel almost every class, so I’d highly suggest that you invest in getting one No need to buy a new one. You will find used ones for very cheap, even at places like Goodwill You can easily connect them with an HDMI cable 28 Expectations Some slides will be busy. That’s because I don’t use a textbook. The entire semester will be very hand-on, with regular in-class Excel exercises. Please expect to work on in-class problems almost every class. Students are expected to attend class. If you have a medical reason why you can’t attend class, please make sure to present proper documentation from your doctor. Pictures of a Covid test are not sufficient. Please discuss any special situations with me in person. Job interviews are ok. Office hours: Me and my TAs are available to help. I will be cold-calling randomly. 29 Break 30 Introduction to the Course 31  Analyst Following & Recommendations Why are they so different? Johnson & Pfizer Astra Zeneca Johnson  Why Analysts Differ Differences in their Analysis: 1. Different ways of analyzing information 2. Interpretation of qualitative information 3. Alternative views of the future 4. Individual bias 5. Information asymmetry 6. Misaligned incentives 7. Selectively ignoring information  Financial Analysis: A Connected Discipline Accountin Economic g Income s Cash Market Strategy Value Law Finance  What is this course about? The objective of this course is to develop an understanding of how accounting reports and other information can be used to assist investors, creditors, and managers in making informed decisions about the financial health and value of a company.  What will we learn in this course? 1. Details of a variety of financial reports 2. How to assess the business & industry environment 3. How to evaluate earnings quality 4. Understand regulations affecting disclosures 5. Perform a comprehensive company financial analysis 6. Value companies using at least 3 different models  What will we do in this course? 1. Case studies 2. Interactive lectures and hand-on problems 3. Discuss relevant current events 4. Comprehensive company evaluation project Efficient Market Hypothesis (EMH)  Efficient Market Hypothesis Efficient Market Hypothesis (EMH): The notion that prices already reflect all available information. Maurice Kendall (1953) studied British equity and commodity markets found no predictable pattern in stock price changes Prices were as likely to go up as to go down on any particular day, regardless of past performance Let’s think about this for a moment. What if he had found that prices are predictable?  Efficient Market Hypothesis Suppose we can predict with confidence that the stock XYZ will rise from $100 to $110 in a week. What would investors do? 40  Efficient Market Hypothesis Suppose we can predict with confidence that the stock XYZ will rise from $100 to $110 in a week. What would investors do? Everybody would want to buy at today’s price to sell more expensive in a week. But the people that own the stock today would not want to sell since they can just hold the stock for a week and get 10% higher return. The forecast of a future price increase would immediately lead to an increase in price today In other words, whatever that piece of information was that prompted us to believe that the price was going to increase would be immediately reflected into the price of the stock Thus it follows that any information that could be used to predict future stock performance should already be reflected in the price today 41  Efficient Market Hypothesis Any new information will impact stock prices. But new information is, by definition, unpredictable. Therefore, stock prices that change in response to new information should also be unpredictable. Or put another way, prices are unpredictable because they already reflect all available information. This is the basis for the argument of why prices should be random and unpredictable. Prices react quickly to new information. 42  Efficient Market Hypothesis Don’t confuse randomness in prices changes with irrationality in the level of prices If prices are determined rationally, then only new information will cause them to change. If stock prices were easily predictable, then that would be evidence of stock market inefficiency because this ability to predict prices would indicate that all available information was not already reflected in stock prices. Necessary consequence: There’s always intelligent and proactive investors competing to discover relevant information on which to buy or sell stocks before the rest of the market becomes aware of that information. This is what forces the markets to be at equilibrium. 43  Can't be. If there was a Look, there is $20 bill on the ground, a $20 bill on somebody would have the ground! already picked it up. Incorrect interpretatio n! Look, there is Better pick it up quickly a $20 bill on because the market is so the ground! efficient it won't be there for very long! This is it!  Lubrizol Acquisition by Berkshire Hathaway On March 14, 2011 Berkshire Hathaway announced the acquisition of Lubrizol for $9.7 billion. Berkshire Hathaway acquired 100% of Lubrizol's outstanding shares for $135 per share in an all-cash transaction. On Sep 16, 2011 the acquisition was completed This price represents a 28 percent premium over Lubrizol's closing price on Friday, March 11, 2011 ($105.44) 140 130 120 110 Prices reflect the new 100 information very quickly 90 and efficiently 80 Jan 03 2011 Feb 09 2011 Mar 18 2011 Apr 26 2011 Jun 02 2011 Jul 11 2011 Aug 17 2011 46 47  Efficient Market Hypothesis 1. The Weak Form of the Efficient Market Hypothesis Although investors abiding by the efficient market hypothesis believe that security prices reflect all available public market information, but not private information. It also assumes that past prices do not influence future prices. 2. The Semi-Strong Form (middle position between weak and strong forms) 3. The Strong Form of the Efficient Market Hypothesis Strong form efficient market hypothesis followers believe that all information, both public and private, is incorporated into a security’s current price. In this way, not even insider information can give investors an opportunity for excess returns.  Efficient Market Hypothesis EMH Takeaway: Prices of securities fully reflect available information. In theory, stocks always trade at their fair market value. Followers of the efficient market hypothesis believe that if stocks always trade at their fair market value, then no level of analysis or market timing strategy will yield opportunities for outperformance.  Anomalies: Are Markets Really Efficient? 50  Return Patterns Early studies showed that, over daily, weekly and monthly horizons, stock returns are almost uncorrelated. This means that whether a stock’s price went up yesterday has no bearing on whether it will go up tomorrow This chart shows pairs of returns for Microsoft stocks (Mar 1990 - Jul 2001). The return today is on the X-axis and the return tomorrow on the Y-axis. Clearly there seems to be no correlation, so buying on the basis of high/low returns on the previous day wouldn’t have been a successful strategy. 51  Momentum Then came along Jegadeesh and Titman (1993), who presented very compelling evidence against efficient markets. As their research showed, buying past winners (for the last 6-12 months) and shorting (or selling) past losers can yield higher returns without higher systematic risk Note that one can be rewarded with high returns if you take on extra risk. But in this strategy they showed that you didn’t have to take on extra risk to still be rewarded higher returns In other words, good performance of past winning stocks seems to continue into the future, as does the bad performance of bad stocks This is not consistent with efficient markets. 52  Reversal Moreover, over a longer horizon (3-5 years) we see the opposite: Selling high past 3-5 year return stocks (“winners”), and buying low past 3-5 year stocks (“losers”) as a profitable trading strategy. There seems to be a reversal effect where past losers rebound and outperform past winners, while past winners fade back We don’t know exactly why this happens, but a possible explanation is that this is caused by investors’ overreaction, which causes momentum in the short-term, but that then leads to reversals in the long-term as the market recognizes its past error This doesn’t line up well with the market efficiency and rational investors view, where information gets into prices quickly and correctly 53  Small Firm Effect If you sort stocks into 10 portfolios according to firm size (market cap), you will find that small firms (the first few buckets) earn higher abnormal average returns than the large firms This is not surprising: Small firms are riskier, and thus provide higher returns. But even when adjusted for risk there still seems to be a consistent premium for smaller-sized stocks. This goes against the idea of market efficiency since anyone can sort companies this way and exploit this strategy. Interestingly, some researchers assert that this effect has dissipated since this discovery, suggesting that investors 54  Value Effect Fama and French showed that a powerful predictor of returns across securities is the ratio of the book value of the firm’s equity to the market value of equity (Book-to- Equity ratio). Similarly to the previous chart, when broken into 10 groups according to book-to-market values, we see that the decile with the highest book-to- market ratio had the highest returns, and the one with the lowest book-to- market ratio had the lowest returns. Value stocks: high book-to- market ratio Growth stocks: low book-to- market ratio 55  Post-Earnings Announcement Drift Remember: a fundamental principle of efficient markets is that new information ought to be reflected in stock prices very quickly. A puzzling anomaly is the sluggish response of stock process to firms’ earnings announcements. Earnings surprise: when earnings beats or falls short of analysts’ consensus. In this graph you can see the abnormal returns for 10 deciles, ranked by the magnitude of the earnings surprise What’s interesting is that the price seems to only gradually adjust to the earnings information. Image shows: Cumulative abnormal This is at odds with market efficiency returns in 56  Berkshire Hathaway vs the Market While academics point to a large body of evidence in support of EMH, as you can see by now, there is also a large amount of evidence against it. For example, investors such as Warren Buffett have consistently beaten the market over long periods, which by definition is impossible according to the EMH.  Berkshire Hathaway vs the Market In the 58 calendar years from 1965 to 2022, Berkshire Hathaway stock appreciated at a 19.8% compound annual growth rate, compared with a 9.9% annualized return for the S&P 500.  Berkshire Hathaway vs the Market In the 58 calendar years from 1965 to 2022, Berkshire Hathaway stock appreciated at a 19.8% compound annual growth rate, compared with a 9.9% annualized return for the S&P 500. To illustrate the power of compounding, that amounted to a 3,787,464% return for Berkshire shareholders, compared with a 24,708% return for investors in the S&P 500. For every $10,000 invested in Berkshire in 1965, investors would have $378.76 million by the end of 2022. S&P 500 investors would have $2.48 million. Returns like that simply can't be generated by a lucky hand.  Berkshire Hathaway vs the Market On May 6, 1964, Berkshire Hathaway sent a letter to its shareholders offering to buy 225,000 shares of its stock for $11.375 per share. As of 8/27/2024, Berkshire’s class A shares closed at $691,350, a whopping 6 million percent return  Berkshire Hathaway vs the Market The last 10 or so years have been more challenging for Buffett. Why do you think this might be? Note: This chart only goes until 2020, but in 2021 and 2022 Berkshire outperformed the S&P500.  Let’s address the elephant in the room… Yes, sometimes stock prices don’t “accurately” reflect company’s earnings, or at least not from a “conventional valuation” perspective. These valuations are not driven by earnings. They are driven by speculation. We will NOT focus on those examples this semester. Tesla’s Historic Stock Price  Tesla’s Historic Stock Price Nov 2014 to Nov 2019: +46%  Tesla’s Historic Stock Price Nov 2019 to Nov 2021: +1600% Nov 2019 to Nov 2020: +590% Nov 2014 to Nov 2019: +46%  What do you think their earnings look like? Let’s take a look at the following financials for Tesla from 2013-2022 What are your observations here? (In thousands, 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 except EPS) Total revenues 2,013 3,198 4,046 7,000 11,759 21,461 24,578 31,536 53,823 81,462 Total operating 518 1,068 1,640 2,267 3,855 4,430 4,138 4,636 7,083 7,197 expenses (2,241 (1,063 Net income (loss) (74) (294) (889) (773) (775) 862 5,644 12,587 ) ) EPS (Diluted) (0.04) (0.16) (0.46) (0.31) (0.79) (0.38) (0.33) 0.21 1.63 3.62 Percentage Growth 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 Total revenues - 58.8% 26.5% 73.0% 68.0% 82.5% 14.5% 28.3% 70.7% 51.4% Total operating 106.4 - 53.5% 38.2% 70.1% 14.9% -6.6% 12.0% 52.8% 1.6% expenses % 554.8 123.0 Net income (loss) - N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A % % 666.7 121.7 EPS (Diluted) - N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A % %  Are Earnings Important? A recent study asked top finance executives of publicly traded companies to rank the three most important measures to report to outsiders. The study reports that: “[More than 50% of] CFOs state that earnings are the most important financial metric to external constituents... this finding could reflect superior informational content in earnings over the other metrics. The study also reports that CFOs view year-over-year change in earnings to be of critical importance to outsiders as last year’s quarterly earnings numbers are used as a benchmark.  Business & Regulatory Environment Behind Financial Statement Disclosures (It’s all about information, baby!) 68  Financial Statements - Whether you believe in the EMH or not, one thing is true: valuations are all about information. As discussed, as new information comes in, valuations get adjusted. - How is financial information communicated to stakeholders? - Income Statement - Balance Sheet - Statement of Cash Flows - Statement of Changes in Stockholders’ Equity  Financial Statements... Then P&G 1891 Annual Report (3 pages in total): Title page One page with a balance sheet & income statement One page letter from the company president... and now P&G 2020 Annual Report (100 pages in total): 37 pages of financial statements & related notes 14 page letter to shareholders Plus business information, legal disclosures, etc. Color graphics Financial Statements... Then Financial Statements... Then Financial Statements... Then  What happened since 1891? Regulations, designed to (better) inform investors. Prior to 1895, no legal requirement to report to shareholders Key Disclosure Regulations 1895 NYSE suggests listed companies send annual reports to shareholders. 1933/34 Securities Acts passed creating the SEC, requiring disclosures, protecting against fraud. 2000 Regulation FD (Fair Disclosure) passed prohibiting selective disclosure of information by companies 2002 Sarbanes-Oxley Act: Requires internal control assessment, CEO & CFO must certify financial statements. 2003 Regulation G requires that companies disclosing non-GAAP measures (e.g., EBITDA) must provide a reconciliation to the most directly comparable GAAP measure.  Example: Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) and Enron Following a series of corporate scandals such as Enron, Tyco, and WorldCom, Congress sought to rectify perceived problems in accounting, including weak audit committees and deficient internal controls. Increased scrutiny of financial reporting and internal controls has had some success.  Business Insight: Warren Buffett on Financial Reports “When Charlie and I read reports, we have no interest in pictures of personnel, plants or products. References to EBITDA [earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization] make us shudder—does management think the tooth fairy pays for capital expenditures? We’re very suspicious of accounting methodology that is vague or unclear, since too often that means management wishes to hide something. And we don’t want to read messages that a public relations department or consultant has turned out. Instead, we expect a company’s CEO to explain in his or her own words what’s happening.” — Berkshire Hathaway annual report  Voluntary Disclosures Not required by regulation. Used to provide more information to investors. May increase perceived value of the company by reducing risk. Common Example: Sustainability or Social Responsibility report.  Disclosures Why is all this information from companies so important?  Disclosures Why is all this information from companies so important? In finance, information is everything: you’re able to get in or out of a trade and make or lose money  Mosaic Theory of Financial Research Mosaic Method is a method of analysis used by security analysts to gather information about a corporation. It involves collecting public, non-public, and non-material information about a company to determine the underlying value of its securities. Investors are trying to put together all the pieces of the puzzle and create a “mosaic” that explain market valuations. The more information we get, the more complete the mosaic will be.  Stakeholders Various entities and interest groups are affected by company performance in different ways and rely on different types of company disclosures, including financial statements.  Investors  Creditors  Employees  Governments  Communities  Etc. Financial Statements are primarily oriented toward “average investors”.  Example #1: Silicon Valley Bank On a regulatory filing (Form 8-K) on 3/8/2023, SVB announced in sold a large number of securities at a loss of $1.8 billion. Investors, depositors and the market took notice. What followed is the collapse of SVB just a few days later.  Example #2: Credit Rating Downgrades S&P lowered grades one notch for KeyCorp, Comerica, Valley National Bancorp, UMB Financial and Associated Banc-Corp, noting the impact of higher interest rates and deposit moves across the industry. A spree of Federal Reserve interest-rate hikes is squeezing many small and midsize banks that for years paid little to attract customer deposits that fund loans and other assets on their balance sheets. Consumers and businesses now have more opportunities to earn higher returns elsewhere. That’s prompted non- interest-bearing deposits to fall 23% in the past five quarters, according to S&P. As cash walks out the door, banks can either replace it with more expensive forms of funding, such as brokered deposits, or shrink their balance sheets by selling assets created in a lower-rate environment — locking in losses on those that have declined in value. Either way, it bites into earnings.  Intermediary Intended Role Incentives Aligned/Misaligned Capital raiser, providing investment To maximize their net worth of Aligned project to investors and allocating fund which comes from the profit of return by associated risk invested entity. Therefore, their Venture Capitalists incentives would agree with the investors’.  Help the entities price their The revenue of investment bank Misaligned offerings underwriters comes from the  Underwrite the shares commissions, part of payoff of IPO This mechanism constitutes the Investment Bank  Introduce them to investors relationship of interest between Underwriters corporations and investment bank. Therefore, their incentives would not agree with the investors. Public research report providing the Sell-side analysts’ compensation Misaligned public a channel to judge the entity’s would depend on amount of trading Sell-Side Analysts risk and then make the investment fees resulted from the investor’s The more the investors buy, the more decision cost of deal transaction the analysts earn. Provide the portfolio managers with The analysts’ compensation Aligned Buy-Side Analysts the stock price performance and depends on the return of their and Portfolio operating report and give them portfolio fund Their incentive would agree with Managers recommendation on composite of the investors’ portfolio Verify the financial statements, which Assurance Fee Misaligned The Accounting were provided by corporation Profession management and provide opinion The Funnel of Analysis (Analytical Framework) How do we go about analyzing companies? This funnel framework can help us analyze companies and be able to determine key factors that will impact their valuations. As you can see, it expands well beyond just the company’s financials and encompasses several macro-level aspects.  Forming Groups and Group Assignment #1 (See Canvas)  Forming Groups You will have until next class to form groups of 4 students on Canvas. You will work with the same group members for the entire semester. Do not switch teams. If team issues arise, please discuss them with me. For some assignments, teams will be randomly assigned topics to research. This Friday I will post these assignments after teams have been formed.  Group Assignment #1 You will be researching one of the following topics: Sarbanes-Oxley Act Adelphia Communications (ADELQ) $3.1 billion scandal Xerox (XRX) $1.5 billion scandal WorldCom Enron 2001 Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMY) Tyco (TYC) Teams will be randomly assigned one of these topics. I will post the assignments by Friday this week.  Group Assignment #1 Slides (50% of total grade) Please submit a PPT with your findings through Canvas. Graded on completeness, accuracy and professional design of slides. Make sure your first slide includes the topic, group members names, group member number and the date. Points will be deducted if you don’t follow these instructions. Please use the notes section to cite your sources. Points will be deducted if you don’t cite sources. Presentation (50% of total grade) Be ready to present your results during class. 7 teams will be randomly selected to present. Each team will have 10 minutes to go over their findings. Teams that are not selected to present are expected to ask questions. Otherwise they will not receive full points for this presentation section.