Essay --

Tyson Foods Inc. is one of the world’s largest producers and distributors of meat; it produces, distributes, and processes chicken, beef, and pork. It is a Fortune 500 company and one of the most recognizable brands in the meat and poultry industry. There are about 115,000 team members and more than 11,000 independent family farmers around the world. The company sells products to 130 different countries worldwide. Tyson Foods Incorporated (TSN) is publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) with a closing price of $40.27 per share as of March 7th, 2014 . Major competitors of Tyson Foods include Pilgrim’s Pride Corporation (PPC), Smithfield Foods Inc. (SFD), and Sanderson Farms (SAFM). Tyson’s competitiveness in the industry can be attributed to its price, quality, variety of products offered, brand recognition, availability and convenience of products, and its customer service. Tyson Foods believes that it is the company’s duty to provide safe food for a growing world population. Its own safety chain ensures the foods’ quality. Following closely to the standards of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board of the United States, the validity of Tyson’s financial statements and form 10-K has been confirmed through the close examination of an external auditor, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC).i The auditor’s report that is included in the annual report lends credibility to Tyson Foods Inc. by confirming that their reports give useful (relevant and reliable) information for investors and any other shareholders or stakeholders to the company. Furthermore, PWC scrutinized the internal control over financial reporting to ensure that no weaknesses were present and that an efficient system of control was in place for reporting ... ...ion issuable shares of Class A stock, with 322 million of them currently being issues. This equates to $32 million from the Class A stock. The Class B stock also has 900 million issuable shares, and only 70 million issued, equating for $7 million. Finally, the accumulated comprehensive loss and treasury stock equate for losses of $108 million and $1.02 billion respectively. The annual report or 10-K of a company is a useful source of information for many agents outside of the corporation. Shareholder’s can view the contents of an annual report to get a more comprehensive idea of what the company is built upon. Additionally, annual reports show a company’s progress over the past financial periods and give a detailed breakdown of company investing and operations. The 10-K and all related documents are easily accessible on a company’s website for the public to view. i