Main task (Task 1.3: Written Assignment)
Financial Analysis Assignment
This coursework is the MAIN LEARNING VEHICLE for financial analysis segment of this course.
First you need to decide what sort of company you want to investigate. While choosing a company, make sure it follows IFRS. We suggest that you to
- choose a sector you are interested in
- choose a company you may wish to work for in the future
- The company must be listed on the stock exchange
- AVOID financial institutions because they have different components in their balance sheet.
By end of Week 1, you should have decided on your company. You are required to look at the company’s website and download a complete copy of their latest Annual Report which includes the company accounts and all the Notes to the Accounts.
Important- if the ‘company’ we are using is actually a group of companies, then always use the Group or Consolidated information. Ignore the ‘Company’ information which only represents the parent or holding company.
Please give references of Annual reports with page numbers, and books, journals and articles for concepts.
Detailed Assessment Criteria:
Standard formatting requirements as mentioned in the students’ handbook. Total marks available per section:
General information about company
It can incorporate the segment reporting of the company
Shareholders
Suppliers
Managers
Lending institutions
Analysis of Cash Flow Statement
View on operating, investing and financing activities of the company
Report and conclusion
Word count, proper formatting, referencing, appropriate conclusion TOTAL (worth 10%)
10 marks
10 marks 10 marks 10 marks 10 marks 10 marks
20 marks
100 marks
Executive Summary
One page summary of the entire analysis to guide potential investor if he should invest in this company
10 marks
Analysis of accounts
Theoretical aspects, including reference to theory and a bibliography.
Performance should be discussed from perspective of the different stakeholders, using a relevant range of ratios. A comparison should be made of the current and prior year using ratios.
Economic conditions
Analysis of current economic situation as applied to industry sector in which your company is operating.
10 marks
To achieve a higher grade, you must include all of the above, plus your document should be professionally submitted:
Excellent range of ratios and discussion of relevance from academic and business perspectives. Evidence of reading from a variety of sources. Large range of company data and excellent analysis of company culture
Executive summary
Guidelines for writing one page Executive Summary of the financial status of the company: Audience is a potential investor who only has time to read a single page of advice but needs to know the relevant facts. It’s a single page of text, 500 words max, the style is `report’ – grammatically correct but concise and to the point
It Includes:
- Highlights from your findings
- Key headings and limited information
- A few key statistics.
- Your recommendation and reasons on whether to invest in this company or not.
- Your submission must meet the following formatting requirements:
- Submit one file(s) only. you must your report in MS Word document and embed your MS Excel workings within the word document. Also, you can embed your excel in the word. Please see this video to know how to embed excel https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q1vZbJORl-s
- Required file format for main submission: Word document (.docx).
- Other details:
- Font size 12
- Double-spaced
- Number of words: The word count for the portfolio is 2,500 words excluding references (maximum
± 10% is allowed).
All refencing and citations require Harvard referencing style.
