Essay: Specific company in comparison

SUMMATIVE ASSIGNMENT

Prepare a report which evaluates the most recent report for a specific company in comparison to:

1. The previous 4 years annual reports of the entire company.
2. The most recent annual reports of an appropriate competitive company in the same industry or the industry’s averages (if available).

The selected annual reports must be:

1. Written in English.
2. For a non-financial company that is listed in the FTSE 100.
3. Obtained from any credible source such as Data Stream, Thomson One, company’s websites, etc.

The report should include a full ratio analysis including:

• Liquidity of short-term assets and related debt-paying ability ratios and measuring the company’s ability to meet its current obligations and the efficiency of the use of current assets and current liabilities.

• Long term debt paying ability ratios to measure the company’s borrowing capacity (leverage) and the degree of protection of suppliers of long-term funds.

• Profitability ratios and measuring the earning ability of the company and the efficiency of asset management.

• Investment decisions ratios (liquidity, debt, and profitability ratios).

• Cash flow ratios indicating company’s liquidity, borrowing capacity, and profitability.

  The report must include two dimensions of evaluations:

  • Vertical analysis.
  • Horizontal analysis.

  Your report must be organized as follows:

  • Introduction.
  • Industry Background.
  • Company’s information.
  • Ratio interpretations.
  • Vertical Analysis.
  • Horizontal Analysis.
  • Conclusion.
  • Appendices.
  • References.

  Important Notes:

  1. You need to contact the module leader to approve the company you have selected to avoid any overlaps with your colleagues. Be very careful before selecting your company, as you are required to check the accessibility of its annual reports before making your decision.
  2. Each student must use a different company and therefore once students have selected their company, this will be allocated by the Module Leader on a first come first served basis.
  3. Your calculations are required to be done using the FINSAS software which you have been using in your practical sessions. The FINSAS output must be attached to your report in the appendices section.
  4. Any graphical presentations of your findings will contribute to your evaluation.
  5. It is not recommended to depend on the disclosed ratios in the annual reports. But you are required to prepare these ratios yourself with the assistance of FINSAS.
  6. Disclosing the FINSAS output is evidence of your work. However, you are not required to prepare the competitive company’s ratios. You can rely on their disclosed ratios.

  Overall word limit, 3,000 words maximum (excluding tables/figures)

  YOUR COMPLETED ASSIGNMENT MUST BE SUBMITTED TO THE MASTERS

  OFFICE NO LATER THAN 4PM ON 7 MAY 2010

  MARKING GUIDELINES

  Performance in the summative assessment for this module is judged against the following criteria:

  • Relevance to question
  • Structure/presentation & clarity of writing
  • Scope and relevance of literature review
  • Rigour of argument
  • Evidence of understanding
  • Conclusions/Recommendations

  Assignments must be typed or word-processed on A4 paper using 1.5 or double spacing and with margins of 2-3 cm. Pages should be numbered and stapled together in the top left hand corner. The word count should include all the text (plus endnotes and footnotes), but exclude diagrams, tables, bibliography, references and appendices. Guidance on referencing can be found in your year handbook.

  PLAGIARISM and COLLUSION

  Students suspected of plagiarism, either of published work or work from unpublished sources, including the work of other students, or of collusion will be dealt with according to Business School and University guidelines.