Date of Graduation

5-2021

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelor of Science in Business Administration

Degree Level

Undergraduate

Department

Accounting

Advisor/Mentor

Hayes, Thomas

Abstract

As the year 2020 has finally come to an end and the end of Covid is in near sight, it is important for us to look back at how it has shaped the world from an economic perspective. Ever since the closure of most of the U.S. and global economy in March 2020 it has made us deem which companies we consider essential and non-essential. This major decision came as all governments across the world had to close the operations of as many companies they could to limit the spread of the covid-19 virus. This major choice of determining what had to shut down and which companies could remain open split the economy into two major industries, nonessential and essential. With that idea in mind, I began to look into industries that fall into each of these categories. The two essential companies that I focus on from this time period is Walmart (WMT) and Tyson Foods (TSN). The two non-essential companies that I have focused on from this time period is American Airlines (AAL) and AMC Theaters (AMC). The expectation of my research is to see that the companies that are essential to perform at the same level or exceed their normal numbers and for the non-essential companies to see a major decline in their numbers. Within each company, the goal of my research has been to look into the financial statements of each company from December 31, 2019 to December 31, 2020 while looking at the quarterly results of each period. While doing that research, I have determined that the best way to explain what has happened is to (1) examine each company against each other on specific account balances from their financial statements and (2) examine each company individually to see what parts of their revenues or expenses have been affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Keywords

COVID-19; industries; non-essential; essential; economic need; service learning

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