This week, you learned about financial management for goal setting and ethical reporting. Write a short paper discussing the importance of using financial reporting to formulate a firm’s goals. Additionally, provide a summary of how ethics and SOX compliance play a role in financial reporting. Address your paper to the ethics of properly reporting earning, debt, and cash flow. As you continue in the course, you will learn about the value of financial statements as they connect with strategic planning internally for the company and how these statements affect stock valuation. Company valuation and stock valuation are related and companies are often measured against their competitors in the marketplace. If companies provide ethical and honest reporting of earnings, then investors have the information needed to successfully invest in stocks. The measure of one company’s stock is measured in conjunction with other companies in groups or indexes of stocks. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is just one of the indexes that rely on the honest and ethical reporting of corporate earnings.
Your response should demonstrate thoughtful consideration of the ideas and concepts presented in the course and provide new thoughts and insights relating directly to this topic. Your response should reflect scholarly writing and current APA standards.
Length: 2-3 pages (not including cover page and references)
References: Your paper should include no less than five references. For this week’s assignments, use the references supplied above. If you chose to do so, you may include additional references.