Kaplan Ab204 Unit 6 Journal

1. What risks exist for the company? How can the company alleviate these risks? Investments, lawsuits and fines and penalties. The company can prevent all of these by being safe, professional, follow all the labor/environmental laws and meet all deadlines when needed. 2. What competition does the company have in the current market? When it comes to competition for Wal-Mart there is a lot to talk about. In North America the competition includes Target, ShopKo, Kmart, and Aldi’s. For Sam’s Club competition we think of Costco and a smaller east coast company BJ’s wholesale club. Overseas Wal-Mart has competition with Tesco in the UK, Canada's The Real Canadian Superstore and Giant Tiger, and Mexico's Comercial Mexicana and Soriana. 3. Does the company have any current legal proceedings? If so briefly describe them. Wal-Mart is currently in legal proceedings for Wage-and-Hour Class Action suit, 4 cases Gender Discrimination Class Actions, and a securities lawsuit that was filed on May 7, 2012, in which they are accused of violating the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (the FCPA") beginning in 2005. 4. Do you see any trends in the market price over the last few years? Well from what I have seen I believe that the Wal-Mart market price does have a trend were it rises around the holidays and drops a little bit and then does the same thing at the beginning of the summer time. This is typical with a department store in my opinion with its busy seasons/holidays. 5. Who is the independent external auditor of the financial statements? When was the last audit? Ernst and Young LLP. Completed Wal-Mart’s last external audit of financial statements in