Company Choice – Macy’s

Your mission is to develop a comprehensive report to your CEO. Your task is to analyze the company in this context and provide recommendations.  You decide how each topic should be addressed and include research to make/support your strategy/policy recommendations. Your report should include an assessment of your company’s corporate governance “readiness” and provide suitable recommendations to ensure compliance with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 and new regulations published by the regulatory bodies.

In the spirit of a Forensic Financial Analysis, you should analyze the firm’s financial statements and policies as a risk management exercise for the benefit of the company CEO.  Look for any “bodies” buried in the statements and associated notes, as well as the types of information disclosed to the public (e.g., pro forma earnings).  Your goal here is to identify any areas where the firm is vulnerable to SEC action (fraud or otherwise) and report these to the CEO as a preemptive risk mitigation action.  The required text Financial Shenanigans should be used as a reference to guide your approach in this area. I recognize this is a difficult task, given the short exposure to forensics financial analysis and the restricted information available to you. Do the best job you can.

For your Corporate Governance Assessment, you are should assess the integrity and rigor of the firm’s corporate governance structure (Board, Audit Committee, stock options policies, pension fund policy, etc.) to identify any weaknesses you can find and provide recommendations to strengthen governance policy. The corporate governance readings and recommended text, Building Public Trust: The Future of Corporate Reporting provide a good framework for your analysis and research.