Financial Comparison of Apple Inc. and Google Inc.

The Securities and Exchange Commission requires that publicly owned businesses provide annual reports, which are available to the public. Many different people use annual reports, to make informed business decisions. Management from the company uses the information to determine a number of items. Some of these items are the profitability of the company, the inventory turnover rate, and the accounts receivables rate. Creditors use the annual report to determine how well a company can satisfy its current liabilities, as well as, how the company is doing in the aspect of long tem survival. Another group of people who use the annual reports furnished by companies are the investors, who can purchase shares of stock from the publicly company. Annual reports are very important to these people, because they are an over all picture to help them determine the over all stability and reliability of the company’s financial outlook. These annual reports are important because they do not only contain the financial statements of the company, but there is a management ‘s note to discuss reasons for any unexpected numbers, and an auditor’s report, from an independent accounting firm, who either agrees or disagrees with the financial numbers. Market reporter Matt Krant said, “Ignoring these reports is akin to driving down the freeway blindfolded.” Recently, many companies have struggled during the economic downturn. Many investors have lost money in their investments. Usually during an economic crisis people invest in government bonds, health care, and commodities. However, the two companies being compared are in the industry of technology, which amazed many investors when both companies continued to make record-breaking growth during recent economic times. Apple Inc. is the maker of iPhone, iPad, iPod, iMac, MacBook, icloud digital storage and various different software applications.