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Whether you're walking a tightrope or scribbling in your checkbook, balance is a good thing. And, one of the best ways to evaluate a company is to glance at its balance sheet to see what it owns with what it owes.
The balance sheet is a paragon of simplicity and is made up of three components: assets (the stuff it owns), liabilities (the money it owes), and shareholders' equity (the company's value to its shareholders).
Assets take two forms: short-term (or current) assets and long-term assets. Under short-term, there¿s good ol' hard cash. Then, there¿s something called "cash equivalents," which are assets like short-term bonds that can be sold so quickly, they might as well be cash. There you factor in inventory, which (if you're a reasonably competent business owner) you can sell to customers in return for--you guessed it--cash. (The raw materials a company owns to make that inventory also falls under this category.)
Long-term assets are things that are harder to convert into cash. (Think real estate and equipment.) Long-term assets depreciate, meaning they lose some value over time. Also under the long-term category are what's called intangible assets: things like patents and brands, that are important, but hard to quantify. Accountants earn their stripes figuring out the real overall value of these assets.
Once you know your assets, it's time for liabilities. As with assets, liabilities are separated into short-term or current, and long-term. Current liabilities are what a company owes in that year: Things like payments to employees or accounts payable to suppliers. Long-term liabilities are debts paid over several years.
Shareholders' equity is determined by subtracting the liabilities from the assets. That number represents the value of the company after all its bills are paid.
Obviously, investors should pay close attention to balance sheets. Spikes in the amount of debt carried, or a reduction in shareholders' equity, are usually red flags.
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Saturday, May 17, 2008
North Carolina Students Win National Team America Rocketry Challenge
Comtex
THE PLAINS, Va., May 17, 2008 /PRNewswire-USNewswire via COMTEX/ ----A team from Enloe High School in Raleigh, North Carolina, won the national Sixth Annual Team America Rocketry Challenge Saturday, beating out 99 rivals for the title.
(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20080517/CLSA023 )
The 10-member team rose to the top of squads of middle and high school-aged students facing off in the final round of the world's largest rocket competition held today outside of Washington, D.C.
"We saw it go up and it looked perfect and it was ideal," Enloe team Captain Levon Keusseyan said.
The team logged a score of 23.94 to take the title. Each point represents a deviation from altitude and time aloft targets, so the lower the score, the better.
Mulberry Grove (Illinois) High School took second place with a score of 29.88, while Kickapoo High School from Springfield, Missouri, placed third with a score of 30.54.
The contest, sponsored by the Aerospace Industries Association and the National Association of Rocketry, is designed to encourage students to consider careers in aerospace, as almost 60 percent of the U.S. aerospace workforce is 45 or older, according to AIA statistics.
The next stop for the winning team is a trip to the Farnborough International Airshow and a fly-off against the winners of the UK Aerospace Youth Rocketry Challenge from Horsforth Secondary School in Yorkshire. Raytheon Company, a major supporter of the competition, is sponsoring the team's trip as part of the TARC winners' first prize package for the third year.
In addition to a trip to London, the winners share a prize pool of more than $60,000 with other top finishers. Lockheed Martin Corporation will provide $5,000 scholarships to each of the top three teams, and the teams also will receive an invitation from NASA to participate in its Student Launch Initiative, an advanced rocketry program. Other sponsors include the Defense Department, the American Association of Physics Teachers and 34 AIA member companies.
AIA President and CEO Marion Blakey said the contest was a great success in achieving its goal of attracting young people to consider careers in the aerospace field.
"These middle and high school students showed their ability to take mathematics and physics concepts and apply them to the real world," Blakey said. "I applaud not only the winners, but every student who took part, and the teachers and mentors who helped along the way. This is an encouraging sign as the aerospace industry faces a looming workforce shortage."
The rocket contest presented the top 100 teams from around the country with a dual challenge. They had to launch their rockets as close as possible to an altitude of 750 feet with a flight time of 45 seconds, while returning a payload of two raw eggs unbroken to the ground.
About 7,000 middle and high school students on 643 teams from 43 states and the District of Columbia took part in the qualifying rounds of competition. Each team had until April 7 to submit qualifying scores, which were achieved by launching their rockets in their home region under the supervision of a judge from the National Association of Rocketry.
AIA created the Team America Rocketry Challenge in 2003 to celebrate the centennial of flight and to generate interest in aerospace careers among young people. The aerospace and defense sector is bracing for a workforce crisis over the next decade as the scientists and engineers lured to the industry by the space race and the Cold War hit retirement age and not enough qualified young Americans are available to take their place.
The aerospace industry offers a variety of career opportunities, from building space vehicles to designing state-of-the-art fighter aircraft to planning future commercial jetliners. Whether in engineering, production, testing or integration, aerospace careers are challenging and unique.
Members of the Enloe High School team are: Keusseyan, Alexander Viten, Julianne Schmitz, Zachariah Smith, Timothy Kijewski, Christopher Cox, A.J. Grant, James Cuffney, Francisco Cobo and Justin Bost. Their teacher/advisor is Bradley Bowen.
Complete competition results are available at http://www.rocketcontest.org. High-resolution images and broadcast-quality video are also available upon request.
Founded in 1919, the Aerospace Industries Association represents the nation's leading manufacturers and suppliers of civil, military, and business aircraft, helicopters, unmanned aerial vehicles, space systems, aircraft engines, materiel, and related components, equipment services, and information technology.
SOURCE Aerospace Industries Association
http://www.aia-aerospace.org
Copyright (C) 2008 PR Newswire. All rights reserved
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