HOLMES INSTITUTE
FACULTY OF
HIGHER EDUCATION
HC2091 Business Finance
Assessment Details and Submission Guidelines
Trimester T1 2019
Unit Code HC2091
Unit Title Business Finance
Assessment Type 2
Assessment Title Group Assignment
Purpose of the
assessment (with ULO
Mapping)
Students are required to form a group from 2 to 5 members to study, undertake
esearch, analyse and conduct academic work within the areas of business finance
covered in learning materials Topics 1 to 10 inclusive. The assignment should examine
the main issues, including underlying theories, implement performance measures used
and explain the firm financial performance. Your group is strongly advised to reference
professional websites, journal articles and text books in this assignment (case study).
Weight 30 % of the total assessments
Total Marks 30
Word limit Not more than 2500 words
Due Date Registration of groups and chosen companies: 5 pm Friday, Week 4
Final Submission of Group Assignment: Midnight (23:59 pm.) Sunday, Week 10
Late submission incurs penalties of 5 (five) % of the assessment value per calendar
day unless an extension and/or special consideration has been granted by the
lecturer prior to the assessment deadline.
Submission
Guidelines
All work must be submitted on Blackboard by the due date along with a
completed Assignment Cover Page. Please make sure that your group
member’s name and surname, student ID, subject name, and code and
lecture’s name are written on the cover sheet of the submitted assignment.
The assignment must be in MS Word format, no spacing, 12-pt Arial font and
2 cm margins on all four sides of your page with appropriate section headings
and page numbers. When you submit your assignment electronically, please
save the file as ‘Group Assignment- your group name .doc’. You are required
to submit the assignment at Group Assignment Final Submission, which is
under Group Assignment and Due Dates on Black Board.
Reference sources must be cited in the text of the report, and listed
appropriately at the end in a reference list using Harvard referencing style.
Submitted work should be your original work showing your creativity. Please
ensure the self-check for plagiarism to be done before final submission
(plagiarism check is not over 30% of similarity, except the cases where the
similarity is reflected by using the same format of Holmes’ assignment, the
same references or sources of data) in accordance with SafeAssign Student
Guide in Black Board. Please note that it takes 48 hours for the self-check
eport to be available for your viewing.
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HC2091 Business Finance
Always keep an electronic copy until you have received the final grade for the
Unit. Please make sure that you submit the co
ect file. Any appeal relating to
submitting wrong files after the deadline will not be considered.
Assignment Specifications
ASSIGNMENT TASK
This assignment task is a written report and analysis of the financial performance of one selected listed
company on the ASX in order to provide financial and investment advice to a wealthy investor. This
assignment requires your group to undertake a comprehensive examination of a firm’s financial
performance based on update financial statements of the selected company
BACKGROUND
You’re a group of investment analysts who work for a large investment consulting firm based in Australia.
There’s one big institutional investor from overseas that is interested in investing in the Australian market.
You’ve been asked to choose a listed company in Australia (in the industry you think will have the most
promising future for investment) then evaluate it and give your client financial advice on whether or not
she/he should include the share of that company in he
his investment portfolio.
REQUIREMENTS
Create your group’s “business name” under which your group will be providing the financial advisory services.
Choose one listed company that your group will investigate/analyse for the purposes of possible
ecommendation to your client. The group should obtain all information about the selected company from
this web site: www.asx.com.au.
Obtain a copy of the last two financial years XXXXXXXXXXand XXXXXXXXXXFinancial Statements of the chosen
company (annual reports are accessible via company websites). Your group can downloaded these documents
from the suggested web site using the firm’s code (example, BHP- for BHP Billiton Company, etc.).
STAGES TO BE COMPLETED
1 Description of operation and comparative advantages of the selected company.
2 Identify and conduct a trend analyse with the two groups of financial ratios, including profitability and
operating efficiency of the selected company
3 Analyse monthly share prices movements of the selected company within 2 years, compare the
movement with the All-Ord-Index
4 Calculate cost of equity for the selected company
5 Identify capital structure and calculate WACC of the selected company
6 Recommendation Letter
7 Final Submission of Complete Assignment on Blackboard (Week 10)
http:
www.asx.com.au
http:
www.asx.com.au
http:
www.asx.com.au
http:
www.asx.com.au
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HC2091 Business Finance
ASSIGNMENT STRUCTURE
Assignment Structure should be as the following:
Abstract
(no more than 150 words)
I. INTRODUCTION
Briefly introduction of you work: the purpose of assignment, the selected company, your findings and
structure of your assignment (not more than 200 words)
II. FINANCIAL ANALYSIS OF SELECTED COMPANY
2.1. Description of the company
Prepare a
ief description of the selected company, outlining the core activities, competitive advantages,
and the market in which it operates within and any factors in the company’s history which you consider
help present a “picture” of your chosen company.
2.2. Calculation and analysis of financial ratios
Using financial data obtained from cu
ent financial statements of your selected company for the given 2
years to calculate the following ratios and present them in relevant charts or tables. As your client is
especially interested in the profitability and operating efficiency of the company, provide analysis on the
company performance and justify your opinions using the data:
- Profitability ratios
- Operating efficiency ratios
2. 3.Graphs and comparison of share price movements
Using the information from the ASX website: www.asx.com.au to prepare one or more graph displaying
movements in the monthly share prices over the last two years for the chosen company that you are
investigating. Data of share price movement of the company should be plotted against All Ordinaries
Index.
Providing an analysis to compare the movements in the companies’ share prices to the All Ordinaries
Index. For instance, whether your selected company price trend is more or less volatile compared to the
index? How closely it is co
elated with the All Ordinaries Index, above or below the index?
Do a research to identify the factors that affected the share price movements of the company within 2
years.
2.4. Calculation cost of equity
Based on the data of just paid dividend, cu
ent share price and assumption that the company will
maintain a constant dividend growth rate of 4% from now on, calculate the cost of equity of your selected
company, using constant dividend growth model.
2.5. Identify the capital structure
1. Identify and discuss the capital structure of the company by calculating the weights of debts and equity
capital (ordinary shares and prefe
ed shares if any). Assume that the cu
ent required rate of returns for
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HC2091 Business Finance
the industry debts (kD) is 5%, the required rate of returns for preference shares (kP) is 10%, using your result
of calculated capital structure and cost of equity (kE), calculate the weighted average cost of capital (WACC)
for the company. Comment on any change in the company’s capital structure through years. Support your
comments and analysis by further research.
2.6. Consulting Report
After completion of your analysis, you need to present a well-structured report to your client using
appropriate style and language. Structure of the Report: will include:
1. Title
2. Introduction
3. Table of Content
4. Body (in text citation: paraphrased or quotation to support your arguments)
5. Conclusion
6. Recommendation
7. Reference lists (Harvard Style)
III. CONCLUSION
Summarize the outcomes of your works (not more than 300 words)
Marking criteria
Marking criteria Weighting
Description of the companies 3 marks
Calculation and analysis of financial ratios 5 marks
Graphs and comparison of share price movements 5 marks
Calculation cost of equity 5 marks
Identify the capital structure 5 marks
Consulting Report 5 marks
Presentation, structure and academic writing 2 marks
Total marks 30 marks
TOTAL Weight 30 %
Assessment Feedback to the Student:
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HC2091 Business Finance
Marking Ru
ic
Content Excellent
(80%-full marks
given)
Very Good
(70-79% marks
given)
Good
(61-69% marks
given)
Satisfactory
(50-60% marks
given)
Unsatisfactory
(0-49% marks
given)
1 Outstanding data
and information
provided to answer
the questions;
Independent and
deep analysis,
ased on wide