Programme: Finance and Investment Management
Module Code: AF4037
Module Title: Business and Financial Analysis
Distributed on: Week 4 semester 2
Word Limit: 2000 words excluding appendices, glossary, footnotes, tables, and supplementary files
Weighting This coursework accounts for 60% of the total mark for this module
Submission of Assessment
Electronic Management of Assessment (EMA): Please note if your assignment is submitted electronically, it will be submitted online via Turnitin by the given deadline. You will find a Turnitin link on the module’s eLP site.
It is your responsibility to ensure that your assignment arrives before the submission deadline stated above. See the University policy on late submission of work.
Please note that assignments are subject to anonymous marking.
This assignment aims to provide you with the opportunity to think and write as a professional financial analyst. It will test your ability to utilise corporate published financial information to assess a company’s financial and economic performance. You are expected to employ various appraisal techniques learned during the semester. This assignment also tests your critical thinking as you interpret financial ratios in the context of micro-and macro events.
You are required to prepare a financial commentary of no more than 2000 words which analyses the performance of a chosen company over a period of ten years. In your commentary, you are expected to consider the financial performance of the company, both over time and compared to other companies in the industry within which it operates. You will also report on the stock market performance of the company over the same ten-year period. You will consider whether this is reflective of the financial performance of the company, referring to relevant financial theory.
Instructions on Assessment
1) Choose a publicly listed company (listed on a stock market) and briefly describe the profile of your chosen company (to include the industry within which it operates, its target market, etc).
2) Analyse the company’s financial performance over the past 10 years using the tools you have learnt in the module (Please reference your data sources and include all workings in a supplementary excel file with all data used and excel formulae).
Hint you can use data on industry averages if it is available or you can construct your own averages from the available data using the company’s industry peers. For the latter case please use five peer firms to construct any average.
3) Comment on the real micro (firm related) and macro (systematic) factors/ events that may have impacted the financial performance of the company over the period of your analysis. Please use academic papers and professional reports to support your arguments.
4) Analyse the movement of your company’s stock price over the past 10 years: was the stock market performance (changes in the stock price) consistent with the company’s financial performance based on the financial analysis performed in the previous section?
5) Calculate and comment on the behaviour of Earnings Per Share (EPS) and the Price Earnings Ratio (P/E) for the company over the past ten years.
6) Comment on the implications of your findings on the market efficiency/inefficiency debate. Please reference academic papers and professional reports to support your arguments.
Please make sure to include the following in your submission
2 documents:
1 word document of your financial commentary
1 excel file that includes all the data and workings
Note: please signpost workings in the financial commentary.
You may include relevant graphs and charts (constructed using Microsoft Excel functions) to illustrate and support your arguments.
Mapping to Programme Goals and Objectives
• To provide a critical appreciation of the important topics in financial and business analysis.
• To understand, appraise and critique companies’ financial performance.
• To formulate and apply models and tools to derive inferences from publicly available business and financial information.
• To appreciate the importance of business and financial analysis in decision making.
• Identify contemporary professional practice in business and management and finance and understand how it is informed by theory and research.
Module Specific Assessment Criteria and Rubric
<40 40-50 50-60 60-70 70-80 80-90 90-100 Meeting all the required tasks Did not meet the required tasks Touched on the required tasks but major parts remain unanswered Met the required task with limited articulation and depth Met the required tasks with reasonable levels of articulation and depth Met the required tasks with good level of articulation and depth Met the required tasks with very good levels of articulation and depth Exemplary Understanding the firm’s performance appraisal techniques Did not understand the firm’s performance appraisal techniques Touched on the basic understanding of the firm’s appraisal techniques Understood the basics of the firm’s appraisal technique Understood well the basics of firm’s appraisal techniques Understood well the basics of the firm’s appraisal techniques, with reasonable consideration of the connection between different performance measures Understood well the basics of the firm’s appraisal techniques, with good consideration of the connection between different performance measures Exemplary The use of graphs and other illustrative tools No use of any graphs or other illustrative tools Poor use of graphs or other illustrative tools Basic use of graphs or other illustrative tools Adequate use of graphs or other illustrative tools Good use of graphs or other illustrative tools (time and cross-sectional dimensions) Strategic use of graphs or other illustrative tools (time and cross-sectional dimensions Exemplary Excel functions Did not use of any excel formulae in the calculations and illustrations Poor use of excel formulae in the calculations and illustrations Basic use of any excel formulae in the calculations and illustrations Adequate use of any excel formulae in the calculations and illustrations Good use any of excel formulae in the calculations and illustrations Very good use of excel formulae in the calculations and illustrations Exemplary Analysis of the financial information No evidence of the analysis of the firm’s performance Scarce evidence of the analysis the firm’s performance Limited evidence of the analysis of the firm’s performance Adequate evidence of the analysis of the firm’s performance Frequent evidence of the analysis of the firm’s performance Rich evidence of the analysis of the firm’s performance Exemplary Reflection on contemporary micro and macro events and debates in the domain of finance No evidence of the reflection on contemporary micro and macro events Scarce evidence of the reflection on contemporary micro and macro events Limited evidence of the reflection on contemporary micro and macro events Adequate evidence of the reflection on contemporary micro and macro events Frequent evidence of the reflection on contemporary micro and macro events Rich evidence of the reflection on contemporary micro and macro events Exemplary Writing and grammar Very poor writing with considerable typos and grammatical errors. Requires massive proof reading Considerable presence of typos and grammatical errors Clear writing with the presence of few typos and grammatical errors Good and critical writing Very good writing with strong connection between sections Excellent writing with strong connection between sections Exemplary References No citation of academic and professional references Scarce citation of academic and professional references Limited citation of academic and professional references Adequate citation of academic and professional references Frequent citation of academic and professional references Rich citation of academic and professional references Exemplary ASSESSMENT REGULATIONS You are advised to read the guidance for students regarding assessment policies. They are available online here. Late submission of work Where coursework is submitted without approval, after the published hand-in deadline, the following penalties will apply. For coursework submitted up to 1 working day (24 hours) after the published hand-in deadline without approval, 10% of the total marks available for the assessment (i.e.100%) shall be deducted from the assessment mark. For clarity: a late piece of work that would have scored 65%, 55% or 45% had it been handed in on time will be awarded 55%, 45% or 35% respectively as 10% of the total available marks will have been deducted. The Penalty does not apply to Pass/Fail Modules, i.e. there will be no penalty for late submission if assessments on Pass/Fail are submitted up to 1 working day (24 hours) after the published hand-in deadline. Coursework submitted more than 1 day (24 hours) after the published hand-in deadline without approval will be marked as zero but will be eligible for referral. The reassessment should where appropriate, and as determined by the Module Leader, be the same method (e.g. essay) but maybe with a different task (e.g. different essay title) or with the same task (e.g. the same essay title) as indicated in the Module handbook. In modules where there is more than one assessment component, Students are not required to complete all assessment components if an overall Pass Mark (40% UG, 50% PGT) has been achieved. The only permitted exception will be in cases where the University is prevented from doing so by a PSRB requirement. In the case of PSRB requirements, a variation order will be required from the regulations. In modules, where there is more than one assessment component and an overall pass mark has not been achieved. Students will be eligible for a referral* in the individual failed module and/or not attempted component(s) of assessment. These provisions apply to all assessments, including those assessed on a Pass/Fail basis. The full policy can be found here. Word limits and penalties If the assignment is within +10% of the stated word limit no penalty will apply. The word count is to be declared on the front page of your assignment and the assignment cover sheet. The word count does not include: WORD COUNT DOES NOT INCLUDE e.g. appendices, glossary, footnotes, tables and supplementary files Please note, in text citations [e.g. (Smith, 2011)] and direct secondary quotations [e.g. “dib-dab nonsense analysis” (Smith, 2011 p.123)] are INCLUDED in the word count. If this word count is falsified, students are reminded that under ARTA this will be regarded as academic misconduct. If the word limit of the full assignment exceeds the +10% limit, 10% of the mark provisionally awarded to the assignment will be deducted. For example: if the assignment is worth 70 marks but is above the word limit by more than 10%, a penalty of 7 marks will be imposed, giving a final mark of 63. Students must retain an electronic copy of this assignment (including ALL appendices) and it must be made available within 24hours of them requesting it be submitted. The full Word Limit Policy is available here. ********Time limits and penalties for presentations DELETE IF NO PRESENTATION The time allocated for the presentation must be adhered to. At the end of this time, the presentation will be stopped and will be marked based on what has been delivered within the time limit. Group Work The group work policy can be found here Academic Misconduct The Assessment Regulations for Taught Awards (ARTA) contain the Regulations and procedures applying to cheating, plagiarism and other forms of academic misconduct. The full policy is available at here You are reminded that plagiarism, collusion and other forms of academic misconduct as referred to in the Academic Misconduct procedure of the assessment regulations are taken very seriously. Assignments in which evidence of plagiarism or other forms of academic misconduct is found may receive a mark of zero.
