MBS539 Group Assignment: Presentation and the relevant power point pdf (external Students) Students are allowed to do the assignment individually or in a group of 2-3 (max)*. *The same way of markings will be applied. Each member of a group will receive the same mark. Students are to submit in a summary paper on the on the Assignment Instruction as described below.
Technicalities.1. The paper (2-3 max pages of content, tables can be put as appendices if you think it is necessary to support your arguments; It is due Tuesday in Week of Session 11.
2. It is to be submitted through the Major Assignment Submission tab under the Workshop section LMS - Session 11. Late submissions will be penalised 5% per late day until one week after the due date, at which time NO assignments will be accepted.3. This assignment is worth 15% of the total assessments for the unit.4. A list of milestone questions/activities to help with the assignment progress tracking and, if in a group, can be used for group initial discussion is attached to this assignments instruction. This facility is optional and is for students own use.5. If you choose to do the assignment as a group, a Team/Group Evaluation Form (for peer contribution review in the team) is posted on LMS together with this instruction - ONLY to be used (as a last resort) when there is a dispute in the team regarding member’s contributions. It is of course much preferable that any group problems can be solved earlier. There will be no extension given based on the group issue. If an evaluation form is to be submitted, then the member/s initiating the evaluation need to let the rest of the members know that a group evaluation is submitted. Each member of the team will then need to submit the form to the tutor. The mark of each member will then be adjusted based on the evaluation.
Assignment: Students are to prepare:A summary report on the on the Assignment Instruction as described below.There are four basic parts of this assignment:1. You need to select a publicly listed company; read its annual report and tell about the performance of the company based on the annual report and other relevant supporting sources that you can find such as news about the company/company industry from the media, company’s website, ASX (or any stock exchange market), etc. The questions in the Assignment Instruction will guide you to do this.
2. You are to find out the industry sector characteristic of the company and of the company itself (for the relevant comparative years) – for example industry sector: financial services, mining, hospitality, agriculture, telecommunications, etc.3. You are to do some ratio analysis to report on the company’s performance. In order to do this, you need to pick another company within the same industry sector that you can use as a benchmark. It can be difficult to find companies that are quite comparable; however at least if they are in the same industry sector, it is acceptable for this assignment (you should be able to provide arguments for using it as a benchmark). This Assignment Instruction will elaborate on the ratio analysis you need to do. 4. The end results is for you to give a presentation and submit a summary report about the performance of the company you have chosen (from here referred to as the company) to be used to make a decision on the viability of the company. The essence of the assignment is for you to read the annual report and other sources of relevant information about those companies (that may support your opinion/statement), do some financial statement analysis of the company, use bench marks from the other company and/or industry data if available and give a recommendation based on your analysis on the company’s situation.
Assignment Instruction.
Using the information from the annual report of your company (and from other sources (news/ media) as appropriate), provide a summary report and a presentation which include the following:*You may want to visit this link about keeping time of your presentation http://www.speakingaboutpresenting.com/delivery/keep-to-time-presentation/** The annual report consolidated figures only are to be used.1. The Business (10%) In this section you will need to describe briefly about the business of your company and the general state of the company that you can infer from the Chairman Report in the annual report and other media about the company and/or industry. You will end this section by nominating whether the Chairman’s tone is optimistic or pessimistic about the future outlook of the company and your own opinion on that, based on the information you gathered such as from the media and other sources (before you do the analysis as instructed below).2. Industry Sector and Financial Statements Characteristics (40%)a. Balance SheetThe Industry Sector (10%)(1) Provide at least two major elements, focusing on items/accounts of interest in your company’s industry sector balance sheet e.g. the inventories, non-current assets, liabilities or equity figures.
(2) Discuss why they are items of interest. Is there any particular situation affecting those items in the company’s industry sector in general – during the years observed?Note: Here you need to understand the characteristics of your company’s industry sector. You are not to discuss every item in the Balance Sheet, but only the ones of interest due to the type of industry. For example, if your company is a resource industry such as BHP Billiton, their main asset accounts may be of interest; for an insurance company a key interest may be its liability account – the provision for insurance claim, etc. Find out from the media or the annual report if there were particular situations in recent years/ the years observed, affecting those items. For example, the volatile iron ore price in recent years has resulted in a lot of changes in items such as company’s debt and assets /inventory value.
The Company (10%)(3) Observe those accounts of interest that you have chosen in (2a (1)) and any other accounts of particular interest in your company’s comparative balance sheet. Are there specials events occurring during those years (of particular to the company) affecting these accounts?(4) Discuss how significant these items (in terms of the $ value) in comparative terms to another balance sheet item (Hint: Use one of the analysis tools you have learnt such as the vertical or horizontal analysis).
Note: Here you need to look at the situation of the company itself in the comparative balance sheet. For example, if your company happened to experience a major expansion during that financial year, then, on top of those industry sector items (2a (1)), a few other types of assets and the company’s capital may be of interest to be discussed; If your company is in retail industry, (for example) recently there are talks in the media about the downturn in the retail industry in Australia - how does this condition affect your company’s financial position accounts? (Hint: Refer to the Chairman’s and/or CEO/CFO report and the notes to financial statement and possibly other media for further information about the issue).b. Income Statement - Apply the same questions above on the Income Statement as described belowThe Industry Sector (10%)(1) Provide at least two major elements, focusing on item/s of interest in your company’s industry sector income statement e.g. revenues and/ or particular expenses figures.(2) Discuss why they are items of interest. Is there any particular situation affecting those items in the company’s industry sector in general – during the years observed?
Note: Here you need to understand the characteristics of your company’ industry sector. You are not to discuss every item in the Income Statement, but only the ones of interest due to the type of industry sector. For example, if your company is a resource industry such as BHP Billiton, what are their main revenue and expenses accounts; how about if your company is a financial institution?
The Company (10%)(3) Observe those accounts of interest that you have chosen in (2b (1)) and any other accounts of particular interest in your company’s comparative income statement. Are there specials events occurring during those years (of particular to the company) affecting these accounts?(4) Discuss how significant these items (in terms of the $ value) in comparative terms to another income statement item (Hint: Use one of the analysis tools you have learnt such as the vertical or horizontal analysis).
3. Using income statement and balance sheet and the statement of cash flows for evaluation (40%)Use ratio analysis to show the company’s level of liquidity, financial flexibility and operating capability. Use the relevant ratios as you think are necessary to conduct your analysis and compare with benchmarks to be able to indicate the strengths and weaknesses of the company’s financial position.
The financial ratios may include but not limited to the following: Profitability Ratios:- Gross profit margin and Profit margin- Return on Owner’s equity.
Liquidity and Operating Capability Ratios:- Current Ratio and Quick Ratio- Inventory Turnover or Accounts Receivable Turnover
Financial Flexibility Ratios:- Debt ratio
Cash Flow Ratios:-Operating Cash Flow Margin- Cash Return on Owner’s Equity.
Market Performance Analysis:- Earnings Per Share.
Note: refer to the three-step process (see Topic 7 Module 2 slides) in analysing your ratios. You may need to use a previous financial year annual report for ratio/s that needs an average figure.This guide on the link below will show you how to use some of our relevant library database resources that can be used for your assignment. These are database of companies’ financial data and ratios that you can use for your assignment. You can choose to use the ratio figures from these databases or calculate the ratios yourself. http://libguides.murdoch.edu.au/BUS170 (see guide sheet on LMS)
4. Summary of Financial prospects and suggestions for investment decision (10%)Using information obtained above, the Chairman’s report and other sources as appropriate: highlight your important findings regarding the company’s financial performance - profitability, liquidity, operating capability and financial flexibility - to support your opinion about its financial prospects and the feasibility to invest in the company. Hint: think about a concise informative report that help decision makers on whether to invest in the company. This section need to be concise, informative, yet summarising your overall analysis.
End of Assignment Instruction.
Assignment Milestone Questions (Students do not need to submit the answer to this Assignment Milestone Questions)The following milestone questions are intended to help you monitor your progress.By session 8 or 9 you are expected to have read the company’s annual report and other relevant sources and have learned about the items below.
1. Understand how your company & industry characteristics affect the compositions of items in the income statement & balance sheet.2. Observe any items of particular interest in your company’s income statement/balance sheet. Are any of these items affected by special events occurring in those comparative financial years? Refer to the notes to financial statement and possibly other media for further information about the issue.
3. Calculate (or use figures from the library database) the financial ratios as required in the assignment instruction or add any other ratios you think necessary to explain the condition of your company.4. Reference any particular media coverage of your company that is relevant for supporting your analysis or any issues in the company.
Marking: The marking of the assignment is based on the way you follow the requirements as explained in the instruction as well as the overall structure and professionalism of the report.