Excel Research

Three Excel spreadsheets and an accompanying analysis prepared in Word are to be made. This research
is designed to Excel to begin analyzing financial statements and to demonstrate comparison techniques
using graphs and charts. The projection (Excel 3) allows to experiment with the use of it to change basic
assumptions about sales, fixed costs and margins. Do not use Excel as a word processing program, the
mathematical functions (addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, links to other numbers and the
like) must work.

Exce1 Research 1 – Put the income statement of Caterpillar, Inc. into an Excel spreadsheet model using
formulas for numbers that add or subtract, create percentages, create graphs and all other mathematic
computations. The Income Statement is available at Yahoo! Finances. Use Excel to create an Income
Statement along with percentages for each income statement item using Sales Revenue as 100%. Also,
create a pie chart showing the total components of sales (all expenses plus net). Don’t make the mistake
of using subtotals such as gross profit and pre-tax income as components of their pie chart . Example will
be attached through inbox message.

Excel Research 2 – Complete the balance sheet for Caterpillar, Inc., paying special attention to make
sure the sheets balance. Complete the research for the company and one for its competitor, Deere & Co,
making sure to use charts or graphs to compare their company with the competitor they select. Prepare
this research to compare the company with its competitor. The comparisons for percentages of line items
in the balance sheets such as inventory, cash, liabilities and equity will be revealing. Example will be
attached through inbox message.

Excel Research 3 – Look into the future in this research, and make several key judgments for likely
percentage sales change, SG&A expenses and gross margin percentage. Prepare this research in a form
similar to the one I will send through inbox message. A minimum of three variables must be included
in the working model – Sales Change from current to projected year (for example sales increase by 10%
over prior year), cost of goods sold as a percentage of sales in the model year (for example 47% of sales)
and SG&A expense as a percentage of sales in the model year (for example 31% of sales). The working
model must allow for changes to be made in the variables and have the model work without error.