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J. C. Penney Company, Inc. Equity Valuation and Analysis As of ...

J. C. Penney Company, Inc. Equity Valuation and Analysis As of ...

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truly are. J. C. <strong>Penney</strong>, however, has a relatively high level <strong>of</strong> disclosure withinits financial reports. Therefore, they use the flexibility allowed to them whilemaintaining a certain level <strong>of</strong> transparency for their investor information.Actual Accounting StrategyFinancial statements produced by companies are given a certain level <strong>of</strong>discretion when creating their financials in accord with GAAP. They have theoption to make their documentation appear aggressive, conservative, or amixture <strong>of</strong> both. In using this leeway to their advantage, firms can manipulatetheir performance to give a good economic underst<strong>and</strong>ing or hide the actualperformance <strong>of</strong> the company. After reviewing J. C. <strong>Penney</strong>’s previous financialstatements, it appears they have chosen to show both aggressive <strong>and</strong>conservative documentation.Some form <strong>of</strong> retirement plans are available through all department retailstores. J. C. <strong>Penney</strong> has a defined benefit pension plan that is <strong>of</strong>fered to allemployees after 1 full year <strong>of</strong> service or 1,000 hours <strong>of</strong> work. With these planscome many assumptions that require significant judgment. “The <strong>Company</strong>utilizes third parties, including actuarial <strong>and</strong> investment advisory firms, to helpevaluate the appropriateness <strong>of</strong> the expected rate <strong>of</strong> return, the discount rate<strong>and</strong> other pension plan assumptions annually” (J. C. <strong>Penney</strong> 10-K 2006). Usingan outside source to help find estimations gives JCP a fair assessment <strong>of</strong> whatrates to state within their financials. <strong>As</strong> mentioned previously, J.C. <strong>Penney</strong>’spension discount rate has decrease substantially over the past five years from7.25 to 5.8 percent. Investopedia.com claims that a lower the discount rateused on pension cost/expenses will cause the overall cost <strong>of</strong> these expenses toincrease (www.investopedia.com). From this point <strong>of</strong> view, you could state thislowering <strong>of</strong> rates as a conservative action <strong>of</strong> these firms. <strong>As</strong> shown in theprevious graph, this has been an industry wide change over the past five years.This had little change on the recording <strong>of</strong> pension expenses for J. C. <strong>Penney</strong>; in49

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