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Instructions for Financial Analysis College Essay Examples

Essay Instructions: Financial Analysis for Managers

The coursework contributes to 40% of the overall mark for the module as a whole. The coursework will be undertaken as individual work. Students will be required to analyse the recent performance of a major UK company and give advice to an investor based on their findings. The company should be in the top 200 UK companies as measured by market capitalisation. It should be noted that a FTSE-100 company will be easier to research.

From his or her research, the student will write a 3,500 word report giving advice to the investor on what his or her best course of action would be with respect to that company?s shares. The student needs to invent the investor who might be looking for growth or income. The investor may already hold the shares or may be considering buying shares in the company.

Students will be required to use the company?s latest Annual Report and to make comparisons with the performance of one other company in the same industry sector. Given that the latest Annual Report is already out of date by the time it is made available, students will be expected to show knowledge of the present and likely future environment within which the company is operating. The completed coursework is to be in the form of an individual written report.

The Annual Reports of the two companies should be submitted with the report. If the Report is downloaded from the Internet then it will be sufficient to submit the Chairman?s Statement, The Profit and Loss Account and the Balance Sheet with notes to the accounts where appropriate.

The two companies selected by each student must be among those listed in top 200 companies as reported in the Business Section of the Sunday Times. It is advisable to choose a FTSE 100 company as the main company as more information will be available about it.

The following criteria will be used in assessing this coursework:

Communication skills 20%

Report writing ability - power of expression; clarity of language and analytical logic; originality and effectiveness of structure and presentation.

Analytical and problem solving skills 45%
Depth of analysis and extent of understanding of the analytical techniques used; breadth of knowledge demonstrated; the relevance and practicability of the recommendations made and the extent to which they relate theory to practice.

Research skills 25%

The ability to secure information about the companies and industry examined by the student. It is to be expected that the information is up-to-date and relevant. Consideration of the future prospects of the company is expected.

Planning and organisational skills 10%

The extent of background reading as evidenced by a bibliography and the ability to meet deadlines will be considered when assessing these skills.


You will find www.bloomberg.co.uk a very useful site for this coursework, as is www.ft.com. There are many other sites which give useful information and students are encouraged to find these for themselves.

The latest financial statements of a company will be found on its website. You will only have to print off extracts from the report e.g. Chairman?s Report, Profit and Loss and Balance Sheet.

A hard copy of the latest published annual reports might be available (free) by contacting the FT Annual Reports Club (see www.ft.com/ir )



ASSESSMENT CRITERIA
To achieve a pass in the module students should gain a weighted overall mark of 50%.
You will be assessed on your ability to:
1. Relate the information contained in a corporate annual report to the relevant legal and regulatory framework; critically evaluate the efficacy of this information.
2. Define and use accounting and financial terms when analysing annual reports.
3. Critically analyse, interpret and evaluate corporate annual reports

Please analysis the two financial organisations by using ratio analysis accounting tool
COURSEWORK ASSESSMENT
The purpose of the coursework is to enable the student to analyse in a systematic way, using a suitable financial framework, a large amount of information, and to present a feasible analysis of financial performance in a clearly-written report, which will include appropriate numerical and qualitative analysis. A suggested standard report structure is set out on the next page, with specific coursework requirements on the following page.
Coursework is submitted in hard copy to the Postgraduate Office coursework lobby.
A standard report structure
1 Title page
? Title
? Your name
? Module code
? Date
? Word count

2 Contents list
? Full list of sections (including appendices, reference or bibliographic lists)
? Page number on which each section begins

3 Summary/ Executive Summary
? It should be in the third person and present tense, e.g. 'This report makes recommendations as to how the organisation should determine its weighted average cost of capital.' Consider presenting your conclusions and/ or the outcomes of your analysis here. Be succinct.

1,2 and 3 above are not included in the word count.
4 Introduction
? This should give a succinct explanation of the aims, scope and context of the report, and should include brief details of any information necessary for the reader to understand it

5 Main body of the report
? The main account of the case or organisation you are writing about.
? It should be based on analysis, not unsupported opinion, e.g. avoid writing 'I feel ...'
? You must back up what you write with evidence and/or argument. This means you must substantiate each assertion you make with evidence (e.g. extracts from appendices), or by reference to concepts and models in the course.
? You must support opinions with specific examples/evidence, or by building a logical argument based on previously cited examples/evidence.
? Headings for each sub-section should be underlined or in bold.
? Consider presenting material in the form of diagrams, charts, etc., wherever appropriate. These may be easier to grasp, and can break up the monotony of the printed word.

6 Conclusions
? It can add clarity to present your conclusions in the form of a bullet list.

7 List of references and bibliography
? This is the list of sources referred to in preparing your report. If you have mentioned a writer or a book you must give full details here.
? You should also list details of any books or other sources you have consulted in preparing your report which you think would be useful for your reader to know about or be able to consult.
? Such literature citations should be made in a uniform style and follow the Harvard system, with the name and date of publication in your text and an alphabetical list of references at the end of the assignment, thus:
- in the text: (Brealey and Myers, 1996)
- at the end of the assignment: Brealey, R. A. and Myers, S. C. (1994) Principles of Corporate Finance (McGraw -Hill, 5th edn).

8 Appendices
? These are for information whose inclusion is not central to the main body of the report but which explains, amplifies or puts in context the arguments and evidence you have presented.
? Their main purpose is to allow you to include important information, which if it were included in the main body of the report, would interrupt the flow of the argument.
? Any material in an appendix does not count towards the word length, nor will it attract any marks. You should not, therefore, load your appendices with material central to your argument in order to subvert the word count.
? Examples of material suitable for an appendix include sets of complex figures or statistics, or supporting documents (e.g. extracts from company reports).



READING AND RESOURCES


ESSENTIAL READING

Collier, P. M., (2009) Accounting for Managers: interpreting accounting information for decision-
making, 3rd Edition John Wiley and Sons Ltd (recommended text)

Parker, R. H. (2007) Understanding Company Financial Statements, London, Penguin Business
Weetman P. (2006) Financial and Management Accounting: An Introduction, London, FT Prentice Hall

FURTHER READING

Dyson JR (2007) Accounting for Non-Accounting Students, London, FT Prentice Hall

Perks R (2004) Financial Accounting for Non-Specialists, London, McGraw Hill

Tennent, J (2008) Guide to Financial Management (The Economist), London, Profile Books Ltd
JOURNALS:
Management Accounting Research
Management Accounting
Journal of International Financial Management and Accounting

Financial Times
The Economist

Excerpt From Essay:

Title: financial Analysis

Total Pages: 2 Words: 660 References: 2 Citation Style: MLA Document Type: Research Paper

Essay Instructions: Financial Analysis

Using the financial statements from the Major Medical Center Case Study ??" SEE UPLOAD FOR CASE STUDY, complete the following questions.
• Review the auditor’s opinion letter. Are any flags raised
• Review the financial statements. Search for unusual items. What things catch your eye on the balance sheet, operating statement, and cash flow statement?
• Review the notes. Do any of them raise cause for concern?
• Calculate the following ratios using Excel: common size, current, quick, days of cash on hand, receivables turnover, average collection period, fixed asset turnover, total asset turnover, debt, debt to equity, times-interest-earned, operating margin, total margin, ROA, and RONA.
• What do you think of Major Medical Center’s financial status? Explain your analysis.
REMEMBER: Submit two page Word document and your Excel worksheet. NO LATE PAPER WILL BE ACCEPTED.

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Excerpt From Essay:

Title: Financial ANALYSIS PERFORMANCE TASK

Total Pages: 4 Words: 1124 Works Cited: 0 Citation Style: APA Document Type: Essay

Essay Instructions: FINANCIAL ANALYSIS PERFORMANCE TASK 5 pages
Look again at the financial statements you evaluated in the Annual Report Performance Task
Your tasks are as follows:
Compare and contrast the two reports with regards to the following criteria:
1. Perform a vertical analysis (common size) for each company. Use condensed Balance Sheet and Income Statement data to perform the calculations.
2. Which company was more effective in improving its profitability (either decreasing costs or increasing sales)? Has either company increased its Gross Profit or Net Income? What factors stated in the Annual Report might be attributed to this?
3. Perform a ratio analysis on each company to determine liquidity, solvency and profitability.
4. Which company has improved the Debt to Asset and Equity to Asset Ratios?
5. Compare and contrast each company, making your recommendations as to which one would be the best investment in the short run and in the long run.??"2 pages
6. Prepare a summary of your recommendations, including a vertical analysis showing both companies' financial highlights side by side, and a spreadsheet showing at least five ratios comparing liquidity, solvency, profitability for both companies (maximum three single spaced pages with required calculations, exclusive of title page; works cited page not required).-3 pages

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Excerpt From Essay:

Title: Financial Analysis of MedAssets

Total Pages: 8 Words: 2111 Bibliography: 10 Citation Style: MLA Document Type: Research Paper

Essay Instructions: Financial Analysis of MedAssets (MDAS)

DO NOT MAKE THE MISTAKE IN THINKING YOU HAE EVERYTHING JUST BECAUSE YOU HAVE THE ANNUAL REPORT. BE SURE YOU HAVE THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS, THE NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS AND THE LETTER FROM THE CHAIRPERSON. If you are in doubt about what you have, please contact me and I will help you locate the annual report.

You will write a report on this company and its use of financial securities. The three major parts of this report will cover bonds, stocks, and derivatives. You must locate a company that uses at least two of these three pieces. Most companies will use all three. Again, if you are in doubt, please contact me and I will assist you in determining if this is the case for your company selection. AT A MINIMUM, THE COMPANY YOU SELECT MUST HAVE 2 OF THE 3 FINANCIAL SECURITIES (STOCK, BONDS, DERIVATIVES) WE WILL BE DISCUSSING IN THIS COURSE to write about in your paper.

Things to research and report on should include, but are not limited to: 1. Using the annual report to discuss the company's outstanding bonds; how many and what kind of bonds are outstanding; identify when they were issued, discuss the rating of these bonds and what that means, do a current valuation of the bonds or if there are many bonds, select a sample of these bonds and valuate them using the current rate of return in the market; what does the value tell you? 2. Discuss the data in your research that deals with stock (prices, volume, symbol, etc.); discuss the historical prices of these stocks; valuate the stock and compare it to the market price of the stock; explain the possible reasons for being undervalued or overvalued; complete an investor return on these stocks; how is the investor’s return compared to some index (i.e. S&P 500); 3. Identify any futures, options and swaps that your company has utilized to hedge risk for the organization; discuss the opportunities the derivative securities markets might provide for this particular organization. How might managers use them to reduce risk to their organization? Provide an example of what the company is doing with the use of derivatives. Give enough explanation so that anyone reading your report can understand the organization and their use of derivatives.
In addition, you will want to report anything that you feel is pertinent to the content in this course, Financial Markets. This also means incorporating information from your reading assignments as well as any other outside sources that might give you some insight into the organization's use of financial markets. The due date for this assignment will be posted on the class website. This assignment will be graded with the grading form attached to this assignment.

Excerpt From Essay:

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