ACCOUNTING CONCEPTS

Accounting Concepts and Practices

Accounting Concepts and Practices

Core Business of Woolworths

Woolworths is a renowned Australian company that operates retail stores in Australia and New Zealand, selling liquor, food, fuel, consumer electronics and general merchandise. Woolworths is a separate entity from Woolworths Group plc, which is a British Company. The head quarter of the company is in New South Wales, Australia and the company employs more than 190,000. In the financial year 2011, the company earned revenue of A$54,279.5 million, witnessing an increase of 4.85 over 2010. The Net Profit of the Company amounted to A$2,124 million in Fiscal Year 2011, with an increase of 5.1% over the last year.

The company is operating in six different segments presently including food and liquor, petrol, New Zealand supermarkets, BIG W, consumer electronics, and hotels. The company is also looking after home improvement business. The results of the home improvement business are reported along other functions like Property and Head Office Costs. The company operates under the brands of Woolworths, Safeway, Foodtown and Countdown in Australia and Nea Zealand. There are a total of 996 supermarkets under these brands. There is a separate Brand with the name of “Home Brand”, that offers groceries. There are currently 581 segments operating across Australia, 132 out of the total segments are co-branded with Woolworths/Caltex. The BIG W uses different strategic options to expand its business. It procures discount general merchandise products that are resold in Australia. There are a total of 165 BIG W stores using this strategy all over Australia and New Zealand.

The consumer electronic segment has outlets all over Australia and New Zealand under the name of Dick Smith and Tandy. The consumer electronics segment has a total of 394 outlets. The company is also maintaining a business venture with TATA in India. This ventures operates with through 64 retail stores all over India, with the name Croma Brand.

The hotel segment of the company also provides leisure and hospitality services, that includes entertainment, gaming, food and alcohol. There are a total of 282 premium hotels having bars, gaming, dining, accommodation and venue hire operations.

Woolworths opened its first store in Pitt Street, Sydney in 1924. The five initial investors in the company were Percy Christmas, Stanley E Chatterton, Cecil S Waine, George W P Creed and Ernest R Williams. Woolworths opened stores in other areas in Australia, including a store in Queensland, in 1927. Originally known as the Wallworths Bazaar, it was registered under the name Woolworths in New South Wales. In 1983, Woolworths made its first acquisition with Dick Smith Electronics. Two years later, the company acquired the Safeway supermarket chain in Australia. Woolworths went public on the Australian stock market in 1993. The company's first petrol outlet, Plus Petrol, was established in Dubbo, New South Wales, and the first PowerHouse store opened its doors to customers in 1996. Woolworths' HomeShop Internet service began in 1998 (Leitner, 2007).

Woolworths launched its banking service, Ezy Banking, in Queensland in ...