Health Care Financial Environment

Assignment Description: Provide step-by-step explanation of requirements and expectations for assessing the student’s learning of this week’s objective(s).
1. Essay: Discuss revenue recognition and expense matching in the context of the healthcare industry and identify any unique challenges with calculating and reporting each. Use specific examples from actual companies where possible, and summarize your findings.
2. Research Assignment: Visit Yahoo Finance for the healthcare sector. http://finance.yahoo.com/sector/healthcare. Click on a symbol for a healthcare provider and examine the cash flow, income statement, and balance sheet and answer the following questions:
a) What trends do you observe over the periods addressed by the financial statements?
b) Compare the income statement with the cash flow statement. Identify any interactions between the two statements and discuss what you find.
c) Compare the income statement with the balance sheet. Identify any interactions between the two statements and discuss what you find.
3. View Novartis on the Yahoo Finance site. Research how it was possible for them to have lower total revenue, but higher net income?
Assignment Expectations:
Length:
1250-1500 words; answers must thoroughly address the questions in a clear, concise manner
Structure:
Include a title page and reference page in APA style. Separate each section in your paper with a clear heading that allows your professor to know which bullet you are addressing in that section of your paper. Support your ideas with at least three (3) citations in your essay. Make sure to reference the citations using the APA writing style for the essay. The cover page and reference page do not count towards the minimum word amount.
References:
Include the appropriate APA style in-text citations and references for all resources utilized to answer the questions
Format: save your assignment as a Microsoft Word (.doc or .docx), Open Office (.odt) or rich text format (.rtf) file type