HOLMES INSTITUTE
FACULTY OF
HIGHER EDUCATION
Assessment Details and Submission Guidelines
Trimester T3 2019
Unit Code HC2091
Unit Title Business Finance
Assessment Type 3
Assessment Title Group Assignment
Purpose of the
assessment (with ULO Mapping) Students are required to form a group of 3 to 4 members (Minimum of 3 and Maximum of 4) to study, undertake research, 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 25 % of the total assessments
Total Marks 25
Word limit Not more than 2500 words
Due Date Registration of groups and chosen companies: 5 pm Friday, Week 7
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.
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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. Students need to read and understand the Holmes Academic Integrity Policy before they start any assessment. (Please refer section 4.3 Guide to Academic Integrity p27 of the Holmes Student Handbook).
· Always keep an electronic copy until you have received the final grade for the Unit. Please make sure that you submit the correct file. Any appeal relating to submitting wrong files after the deadline will not be considered.
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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 prospective investor (No restriction to choose one of the company which you used for your individual assignment).
This assignment requires to undertake an examination of a firm’s financial performance based on most recent financial statements of the selected company mainly focusing on
• Liquidity (based on liquidity ratios)
• Capital Structure (based on capital structure ratios)
You are required to obtain the relevant information from chosen company annual reports and company web site. You can access the company web site via www.asx.com.au.
To download the relevant please referee the Company code in ASX (see the following examples)
ABP Abacus Property Group
APZ Aspen Group Limited
AGL AGL Energy Limited
WES Wesfarmers Ltd
WOW Woolworths Group Ltd
Note: The above table gives you only examples and you are not asked to choose them for the analysis. ASSIGNMENT STRUCTURE
Assignment structure should be as follows:
Title of the assignment
Example: Analysis of ABX Company Financial Performance
Group details and the contribution of each group member
You need to give full details of all the group members in your group including their names and student IDs. Please make sure all the names written in the assignment are matched with the group created in Blackboard.
To ensure that all students participate equitably in the group assignment and that students are responsible for the academic integrity of all components of the assignment. You need to complete the following table which identifies which student/students are responsible for the various sections of the assignment.
The above table needs to be completed and submitted with the assignment as it is a compulsory component required before any grading is undertaken.
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CONTENT OF THE ASSIGNMENT
1. INTRODUCTION
The introduction should briefly explain the purpose of the assignment, the selected company for analysis and the type of analysis.
2. FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE ANALYSIS OF THE SELECTED COMPANY
a. Description of the company
Prepare a brief description of the selected company (when they started, key milestones etc.), outlining the core activities (major business, key products) competitive advantages, and the market in which it operates (in which industry sector they are in ASZX, do they export their products and services or whether they serve only the local market).
b. Analysis of company net working capital position
Based on balance sheet information and the notes to the financial statements,
• Analyse the working capital position of the company over minimum of past 2 years (composition of current assets and current liabilities, changes in CA and CL, any significant decision about working capital management etc.)
• Calculate the networking capital and give your opinion on the net working capital position of the company.
c. Calculation of cost of equity of the firm
Based on the data of just paid dividend (D0), current share price (collect this information from the annual report) and assumption that the company will maintain a constant dividend growth rate of 3% from now on, calculate the cost of equity of your selected company, using constant dividend growth model.
d. Analysis of company liquidity and capital structure using liquidity and capital structure ratios
Using data from financial statements of your selected company, calculate the following ratios for past 4 years and present them using suitable charts. Discuss the implications of the identified trends for company performance.
• Liquidity ratio (calculate minimum of 2 liquidity ratios over 4 years and analyse them using suitable charts)
• Capital Structure ratio (calculate minimum of 2 capital structure ratios over 4 years and analyse them using suitable charts)
3. Conclusion
Based on the analysis in section 2, provide brief conclusion on the company financial performance and make a recommendation for prospective investors.
4. Reference
Follow the Holmes reference guideline and give your reference details
Note: You need to show all the calculation in an appendix
All the graphs and tables should be correctly label
Graphs should have clear information (legends, axis title etc.)
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Marking criteria
Marking criteria Weighting
1 Introduction 2 mark
2 Description of the company including their core business activities 4 marks
3 Analysis of company net working capital position Comparison of working capital position
Calculation of net working capital over the past 2 years 4 marks
4 Calculation of cost of equity of the firm
Identification of correct information on dividend and current share price from firm’s annual reports
Calculation of cost of equity based on identified information and the given growth rate 4 marks
5 Analysis of company liquidity and capital structure using liquidity and capital structure ratios
Calculation of liquidity ratios and presenting them using suitable graphs Analysis of company liquidity position based on the above calculation Calculation of capital structure ratios and presenting them using suitable graphs
Analysis of company capital structure based on the above calculation 4 marks
6 Suitable recommendation and conclusion which is based on the overall analysis 4 marks
7 Presentation, structure and academic writing 3 marks
Total marks 25 marks
TOTAL Weight 25 %
Assessment Feedback to the Student:
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Marking Rubric
Content Excellent Very Good Good Satisfactory Unsatisfactory
(80%-full marks
given) (70-79% marks
given) (61-69% marks given) (50-60% marks
given) (0-49% marks
given)
Introduction Outstanding introduction addressing the key purpose of the assignment and the selection of the company. Very Good introduction addressing the key purpose of the assignment and the selection of the company. Good introduction addressing the key purpose of the assignment and the selection of the company. Satisfactory introduction addressing the key purpose of the assignment and the selection of the company. No reasonable explanation on the purpose of the assignment or the company selection.
Description of the Company Outstanding analysis of the selected company, targeting their core business and competitive advantages. Very good analysis of the selected company, targeting their core business and competitive advantages. Good analysis of the selected company targeting their core business and competitive advantages. Satisfactory analysis of the selected company targeting their core business and competitive advantages. No sufficient analysis on the selected company targeting their core business and competitive advantages.
Analysis of
company net
working capital position Outstanding analysis of company net working capital with accurate calculation and suitable charts. Very good analysis of company net working capital with accurate calculation and suitable charts. Good analysis of company net working capital with accurate calculation and suitable charts. Satisfactory analysis of company net working capital. No relevant calculation or analysis of company net working capital position.
Calculation of cost of equity of the firm 100% accurate calculation of company cost of capital based on relevant information from financial statements and the given additional information. Correct calculation of company cost of capital based on relevant information from financial statements and the given additional information(but there are minor errors such as calculation errors. Partially correct calculation of company cost of capital based on relevant information from financial statements and the given additional information(Informati on gathered are not correct and or given additional
information are not correctly used Demonstrated the understanding of cost of capital calculations, but there are key mistakes in calculations. Poor understanding on cost of capital calculations or no calculations shown in the assignment
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Analysis of company liquidity and capital structure Outstanding analysis of company liquidity position and capital structure position with relevant ratios. Demonstrated in-depth understanding on importance of liquidly management and capital structure of a firm. Very good analysis of company liquidity position and capital structure position with relevant ratios. Demonstrated very good understanding on importance of liquidly management and capital structure of a firm. Good analysis of company liquidity position and capital structure position with relevant ratios. Demonstrated good understanding on importance of liquidly management and capital structure of a firm. Satisfactory analysis of company liquidity position and capital structure position with relevant ratios. Demonstrated good understanding on importance of liquidly management and capital structure of a firm. Poor understanding of the analysis of company liquidity and capital structure. No calculation shown in the assignment.
Conclusion
and
recommendati on Presenting a wide ranges of adequate recommendatio ns that exemplarily supported by justification and analysis; Presenting very sensible recommendatio ns that properly supported by justification and analysis; Presenting adequate recommendations that properly supported by justification and analysis; Demonstrating limited justification and analysis of the given recommendatio ns and conclusions Providing no recommendatio ns and conclusion or inadequate recommendatio ns for investment decisions;
Presentation, structure and academic writing Demonstrated a high level of understanding and skills of academic writing by means of criticism, logical argument, and interpretation of data and information. Demonstrated a good understanding and skills of academic writing by means of criticism, logical argument, and interpretation of data and information. Followed given formatting guidelines. Demonstrated a reasonable understanding and skills of academic writing by means of criticism, logical argument, and interpretation of data and information. Partially followed given formatting guidelines Demonstrated limited skills of academic writing in terms of structure, presentation, wordings and referencing. No satisfactory attention on given formatting guidelines Failing to meet the requirements of academic writing in terms of structure, presentation, wordings and referencing. No attention on given
formatting guidelines
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