Sonic Drive-in Annual Report

Introduction

Sonic is a drive-in fast food restaurant chain in America which is based in Oklahoma City. It was founded in 1953. In the year 2011, there were already 3,561 restaurants of sonic drive-in in 43 US states. These served almost 3 million customers every single day. In the QSR magazines rankings, it was ranked the tenth for the year 2011. This shows that the company did well to beat most of its competitors. It also says something about the quality of the services and products they provide.

Main Sections of the Annual Report

Sonic drive-in always releases an annual report. This report has many factors and areas which it covers. Therefore, the report is normally divided into various sections. The first section of the report deals with the history of the company. This tells more of what the company has been doing in the past and its achievements. It also gives some information of the products and services they provide to their customers. The second section of the report deals with the financial highlights. This section gives information concerning the revenues and incomes earned by the company. However, these are covered in a later section. Therefore, these are merely highlights which are later expounded.

The next section involves a letter to the stockholders of the company from the chairman and the chief executive officer of the company. This letter gives information regarding its financial year to the stockholders. It also deals with the improvements that need to be made to the company in order to achieve better results. The next section deals with advertisement. This includes attractive images and writings that market the different products of the company. This part is given a lot of emphasis since it contributes to the financial performance of the company in the following financial year. The next section is a detailed analysis of the management, financial position and the results of operations. This is followed by different other financial records in the adjacent sections. This includes balance sheets and other financial statements together with their notes.

Factors that Influenced the Company’s Performance

This year was an enormous success for the company. This was as a result of a number of factors. First, the marketing policies of the company were excellent. The advertisements made by the company attracted numerous customers to buy products of the company. For example, they held national auditions where airing was started by a new commercials series. The slogans that are used by the company are attention capturing. These include “America’s drive-in”, “Its sonic good” and many others. These influenced the performance of this company for the financial year. The management of the company also influenced the favorable results of the company (Hitt 2012). They had well laid-down procedures and policies which helped in the smooth running of the company’s activities. For example, the accounting policies made sure that all the records were well kept and accurate. This ensured that the company was working with accurate data to ensure that everything was intact. The management made sure that all the departments were performing their duties adequately.

The other factor that influenced the performance of the company is the distribution of their services. They were able to provide services to many people all over US. There are other companies that are chained and yet, they do not reach such a large number of consumers. This is due to the issue of distribution. This shows the effectiveness of the management. The company also made various investments in assets that they held. They opened various beaches in Florida. This ensured that they captured customers fro various regions of the US.

Primary Assets of the Company

The primary assets of the company were outlined in the annual report. They included some cash and cash equivalents of the company. The other asset of the company was restricted cash, as well as some other prepaid expenses. The company also had property and equipment which contributed to the list of primary assets of the company. This property included all the restaurants and beaches which had been opened. They also had goodwill and other debt organization costs.  Accounts and notes receivable also added to the assets possessed by the company. These assets were of considerable value by the end of the year due to the outstanding success achieved by the firm through the year.

Management and Internal Control Environment

The internal control is established and maintained by the management. This is mainly seen in the annual report of the company. It is mainly controlled by the management. The main reason why the internal control environment was designed was to give assurance to the management that the annual statements are accurate and in accordance with the actual situation on the ground. The control environment always has its limitations. Therefore, they are not believed to be perfect even though they are selected by the management. Their effectiveness is mainly assessed by the management. Therefore, the management is the main body that characterizes the internal control environment of the company.

Conclusion

From the essay above, it is clear that the success of sonic drive-in for the year 2011 did not just occur. There were efforts and policies that were implemented and put in to that direction. The management has all the things took place in the right way to enhance the company’s performance. From the annual report of the company, it is clear that it is organized and performs everything in an orderly manner. The advertisements which are enticing seem to draw more and more customers every other year.