In July 2025, a new CEO joins Sun River Electronics Ltd., a small microphone manufacturer, to discover that the firm is in the midst of a financial crisis that was induced by rapid growth. The CEO asks an analyst for help with five tasks: (1) review the historical performance of the firm, (2) forecast financing requirements for the next two years, (3) exercise the forecasting model to identify key driver assumptions, (4) estimate Sun River’s weighted average cost of capital, and (5) analyze a proposed investment in a packaging machine. The analyst must offer insights and recommendations based on the work.

This relatively short case poses several review-type problems for the students. At the University of Virginia Darden School of Business, it is designed to be taught over two consecutive class periods in the first-year MBA finance course. It has also been used as a midcourse five-hour exam in that course.