Chapter 1

http://www.cnbc.com/id/32549389

Summary
This article unfolds that the world's largest office supply retailer is going through a difficult time in its second-quarter fiscal period. Its profit dropped from $150.2 million (21 cents per share) to $92.4 million (13 cents per share). Not only is Staples going through troubles but rival Office Depot Inc. is also having a tough time with their second-quarter fiscal period. This is all caused by the recession because small businesses and ultimate consumers are trying to limit themselves from buying. Therefore, they cut down their supply amount and watching their wallet more carefully while buying. But this won't stop them from staying in the market place. Staples is ready to fight what is in front of them. Troubles like this won’t stop them from keeping it up.

Connection
This chapter is related to Financial Accounting - A Users Prospective because it mentions about shareholders, shares, and earnings. Shareholders are the owners of the corporations. To become a shareholder, you must purchase shares, which represents your ownership to the corporation. These shares also represent how much money is coming in, in other words, how much earnings you are making. Due to the recession shareholders of Staples have lost earnings from 21 cent per share to 13 cent per share. As you can see, because of the recession profits are decreasing. This isn’t just for Staples but is also happening to a lot of other companies. This is because consumers are trying to save up and limit their spending.

Reflection
I think that choosing which corporation we invest in is very important. We don't just look at how much profit the corporation is making, but we also have to look at how well they are doing. A company that is earning a lot of profit doesn't necessarily mean that it is a successful one. An excellent corporation should have good customer service, good reputation, and other characteristics. Corporations are not always like how they look. We have to look at the companies in more dept than just the picture. We also have to make sure that we don't invest in a business that has a terrifying credit rating. Another thing is companies shouldn’t only be all about profit. I think a true strong company is one that strives to make their consumers delightful. Lastly, I think that it is important to put an effort into finding a corporation that we can trust. But all in all, I think that being a shareholder can be a pretty tough job. Even though we don't really do much but watch out for the stock market.