This and similar cases in succeeding chapters are based on the consolidated financial statements of Apple Inc. shown in Appendix A and online in the filings section of www.sec.gov.

Requirements
1. Go online and do some research on Apple Inc. and its industry. Use one or more popular websites such as Yahoo! Finance or Google Finance. Write a paragraph (about 100 words) that describes the industry, some current developments, and a projection for future growth.

2. Read Part I, Item 1 (Business) of Apple’s annual report. What do you learn here and why is it important?

3. Name at least one of Apple’s competitors. Why is this information important in evaluating Apple’s financial performance?

4. Suppose you own stock in Apple. If you could pick one item on the company’s Consolidated Statements of Operations to increase year after year, what would it be? Why is this item so important? Did this item increase or decrease during fiscal 2016? Is this good news or bad news for the company?

5. What was Apple’s largest expense in 2014–2016? In your own words, explain the meaning of this item. Give specific examples of items that make up this expense. The chapter gives another title for this expense. What is it?

6. Use the Consolidated Balance Sheets of Apple in Appendix A to answer these questions: At the end of fiscal 2016, how much in total resources did Apple have to work with? How much did the company owe? How much of its assets did the company’s stockholders actually own? Use these amounts to write Apple’s accounting equation at September 24, 2016.

7. How much cash and cash equivalents did Apple have at September 26, 2015? How much cash and cash equivalents did Apple have at September 24, 2016?