Download and review the financial statements of Ascension Health, a nonprofit, religious-based healthcare system, from http://www.ascensionhealth.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=45&Itemid=160.

Download and review the financial statements of HCA Holdings, Inc., a for-profit healthcare system. You can find the financial statements on one the many sites where such information is available, such as Zacks Investment Research or MarketWatch. Search the site with HCA Holdings’ ticker symbol (“HCA”) and then look for the “Financial” tab or section when you come to the site’s HCA Holdings page.

Part I

Review the companies’ balance sheets, statements of income/operations, and statements of cash flows. Identify and describe five similarities and five differences between the two companies’ financial statements.

Part II

After analyzing the statements, respond to the following:

1. You have reviewed information on three financial statements for two respective organizations. In what way is each statement useful? Which statement seems to you most useful?
2. If, due to time constraints, your organization could only prepare one financial statement, which one—balance sheet, statement of income, or statement of cash flow—would you recommend? Why?