Accounting for Management M 5011 SP5 2017 Problem Solving Assessment
1 Accounting for Management M 5011 SP5 2017 Problem Solving Assessment This assignment can be completed individually or in a group of no more than 2 students. Learning Objectives addressed in this assessment: CO1: Apply basic accounting principles and concepts in order to understand what accounting information is, what it means and how it is used; CO2: Explain the significance of accounting information in the business environment; CO3: Read and interpret financial reports and apply knowledge to critically analyse corporate financial and non-financial information. Graduate Qualities developed by this assessment: GQ1: You need to operate effectively upon fundamental accounting practical knowledge; GQ2: You are prepared for lifelong learning and professional practice; GQ3: You are working to be an effective business related problem solver; GQ4: You can work autonomously and independently; GQ5: You are committed to ethical action & social responsibility for business activities. GQ6: You can communicate effectively in written language. Assignment Context: You have recently joined Business Smart, a finance and business consultation firm. Your manager Mr. James Brown will take family leave. He has asked you to prepare a consultation report for an important client, Company A, before he returns on 29 September, 2017. Company A is a resource company. It has recently announced the appointment of a new Chief Executive Officer. Before the arrival of the new CEO in 2018, Company A decides to conduct a comprehensive review of the company’s financial performance and risk in the past three years, and in particular, to better understand how its financial performance is benchmarked against other rivals with similar profiles in the Materials industry. Company A considers this review very important and timely in assisting the incoming CEO to set out new plans for its future performance development. In addition, Company A has been under public scrutiny recently because of its high environmental pollution and energy consumption. As a response, several board members are discussing about improving the company’s reporting on environmental challenges and strategies for environmental protection. However, a few other board members are concerned about the risk associated with lifting such reporting. Given the economic downturn and the end of the mining boom, they argue that the company should focus on the main business areas and regaining profit. The issue is pending for the new CEO to resolve. 2 Required: 1. Select Company A and a benchmarking company for analysis. You need to choose two companies from a list of Selected ASX Listed Materials Companies provided as a separate file under Assignment on the course website. (1) The name of the company selected as Company A should begin with the same letter of the alphabet as your surname (or your fellow student’s surname should you do the assignment in pairs), e.g. if your surname is Alpha, you can use either Adelaide Brighton Limited or Alumina Limited. (2) The name of the company selected as the benchmarking company should begin with the same letter of the alphabet as your first name (or your fellow student’s first name should you do the assignment in pair), e.g. if your first name is Beta, you can use either Barra Resources Limited or BHP Billiton Limited. Note: If you cannot find an appropriate company to analyse, you may randomly select a company from the list but you need to clearly justify the reason. 2. Go to the company information database DatAnalysis Premium via the UniSA Library website. Under Company Reports, search for the companies you selected according to their ASX Codes or part of the company names. Go to Financial Data to review these companies’ financial statements from 2015 to 2017 (if 2017 reports are not available, you can use 2014 to 2016 reports). 3. Based on available data, analyse and compare the financial results of Company A and the benchmarking company selected (if no average data is available for some accounts, you may use year-end data to work out ratios). Your comparative analysis should cover the following points: 1) How do you comment on each company’s financial performance and position? 2) Which company is more profitable and generates healthier returns? 3) How well are the two companies managing their resources? Do you think Company A is efficient in managing its assets compared with the benchmarking company? 4) Can Company A meet its short term debts? How is its liquidity compared with the benchmarking company? 5) Do you think Company A will stay in operation in the long term? How is its long term financial stability compared with the benchmarking company? 4. Go to Annual Reports to review the most recent reports (preferably the past three years) of Company A and the benchmarking company. Are there any additional issues of concern related to their financial position and performance? Discuss how these additional issues and evidence disclosed in the annual reports may influence your above interpretation and comparative results? 5. Does the benchmarking company produce any report or information about environmental issues such as environmental pollution and energy consumption? Do you think Company A should follow what the benchmarking company is doing? Do you support reporting on environmental strategies and challenges or do you think the company should focus on business growth and regaining profit instead? Explain. 3 Submission Notes: Your assignment must be presented in a clear report format, including introduction and conclusion, and with correct grammar, expression and in-text referencing. Read the Writing Reports Guide on the course Learnonline website before submission. All assignments must be submitted online. Hard copies of the assignment are NOT accepted. If the assignment is completed by two students, only one student needs to make the submission. Please submit one single Word Document only. Please do not attach the assignment cover sheet. Instead, clearly indicate your name and student ID (if applicable, plus your fellow student’s name and ID) on the first page of the submission. This is to avoid high similarity of the assignment cover sheets reported in Turnitin. The length of this assignment should not exceed 2,400 words (excluding title page, table of contents, executive summary/abstract, endnote/footnote, and appendix and reference list). Please note detailed calculations for financial ratios must be shown but included in appendix. The main text should only present the summary of ratio results. You are required to use the Harvard Referencing style. The minimum number of references for this assignment is five (including the textbook). If you are not sure about the referencing style, please read the Referencing guide on the course Learnonline website. You may ask your lecturer/tutor for help while completing this assignment, but they will only answer general questions and will not ‘check’ student answers to the assignment. You may only discuss the assignment with other students at a general or conceptual level, that is, you may talk about the issues, not the details. You should not prepare your assignment together with other students or groups, nor should you compare your final answers with other students or groups. It is NOT acceptable to share files, templates, or electronic versions of assignment questions with other students or groups. To ensure Academic Integrity, all submissions will be checked through Turnitin databases which include online publications, internet resources and past student submissions. Remember, your assignment must be all your own work. If you present material that is not all your own work you have engaged in academic dishonesty which is taken very seriously and dealt with very severely. Refer to the Academic Integrity section of the Learnonline course website. Due date: Friday, 29 September, 2017 by 11am
Marks Very low (Grade – Fail) Low (Grade – P2 or P1) Fair (Grade – C) High (Grade -D) Very high (Grade – HD) 1) Poor understanding of financial numbers 2) Restates or describes financial figures with little interpretation 1) Limited understanding of financial concept 2) mostly descriptive with some attempt at interpretation 1) Reasonable understanding financial concept 2) Some interpretation but could be developed further 1) Good understanding of financial concept 2) Adequate interpretation and evaluation 1) Comprehensive understanding of financial concept and numbers 2) In-depth interpretation and quality evaluation Profitability (15 marks) 1) Little application of key financial ratio analysis 2) Little evidence of engagement with the benchmarking company’s reports 3) No message delivered 1) Some basic application of key ratio analysis 2) Limited analysis of the key issues required in comparison 3) Some central message(s) delivered but unclear 1) Adequte analysis of the key issues required in comparison 2) Key ratio analysis applied clearly 3) Some clear message(s) conveyed but could be developed further 1) Key ratio analysis applied most effectively 2) Effective analysis of the key issues required in comparison 3) Message(s) conveyed are clear 1) Key ratio analysis applied effectively throughout 2) In-depth analysis of the key issues required in comparison 3) Message(s) conveyed are clear, concise and insightful Efficiency (15 marks) 1) Little application of key financial ratio analysis 2) Little evidence of engagement with the benchmarking company’s reports 3) No message delivered 1) Some basic application of key ratio analysis 2) Limited analysis of the key issues required in comparison 3) Some central message(s) delivered but unclear 1) Adequte analysis of the key issues required in comparison 2) Key ratio analysis applied clearly 3) Some clear message(s) conveyed but could be developed further 1) Key ratio analysis applied most effectively 2) Effective analysis of the key issues required in comparison 3) Message(s) conveyed are clear 1) Key ratio analysis applied effectively throughout 2) In-depth analysis of the key issues required in comparison 3) Message(s) conveyed are clear, concise and insightful Liquidity (15 marks) 1) Little application of key financial ratio analysis 2) Little evidence of engagement with the benchmarking company’s reports 3) No message delivered 1) Some basic application of key ratio analysis 2) Limited analysis of the key issues required in comparison 3) Some central message(s) delivered but unclear 1) Adequte analysis of the key issues required in comparison 2) Key ratio analysis applied clearly 3) Some clear message(s) conveyed but could be developed further 1) Key ratio analysis applied most effectively 2) Effective analysis of the key issues required in comparison 3) Message(s) conveyed are clear 1) Key ratio analysis applied effectively throughout 2) In-depth analysis of the key issues required in comparison 3) Message(s) conveyed are clear, concise and insightful Stability (15 marks) 1) Little application of key financial ratio analysis 2) Little evidence of engagement with the benchmarking company’s reports 3) No message delivered 1) Some basic application of key ratio analysis 2) Limited analysis of the key issues required in comparison 3) Some central message(s) delivered but unclear 1) Adequte analysis of the key issues required in comparison 2) Key ratio analysis applied clearly 3) Some clear message(s) conveyed but could be developed further 1) Key ratio analysis applied most effectively 2) Effective analysis of the key issues required in comparison 3) Message(s) conveyed are clear 1) Key ratio analysis applied effectively throughout 2) In-depth analysis of the key issues required in comparison 3) Message(s) conveyed are clear, concise and insightful 1) Additional information is irrelevant for analysis 2) Descriptive and no critical reflection 3) No use of additional research & references 1) Additional information identified but not linked 2) Limited critical discussion & reflection 3) Limited use of additional research and references and they are not well integreated in discussion 1) Some implications developed from additional information but not clear 2) Use some critical discussion and reflection 3) Additional research and references are adequate to support main points 1) Implications clearly drawn from additional information 2) Effective critical reflection with sufficient evidence or example(s) 3) Additional research and references are effectively used to build a sound discussion 1) Implications drawn from additional information are insightful 2) In-depth critical discussion with rich evidence or example(s) 3) Comprehensive use of additional research and references throughout discussion 1) No supportive evidence/examples 2) Repeat what is in the report(s) 3) No use of additional research and references 1) Limited use of evidence/examples 2) Some own views provided 3) Limited use of additional research and references 1) Some use of evidence/examples 2) Most own views explained clearly 3) Additional research and references are adequate to support main points 1) Effective use of evidence/examples 2) Own views clearly explained throughout 3) Additional research and references are effectively used to build a sound discussion Evidence/examples, own views and additional research and references are intertwined and fully integrated throughout discussion 1) Not organised 2) No apparent business report structure 3) Poor grammar and expression affecting the readability of the report 4) Referencing largely incorrect 1) Some signs of organisation 2) Poor structure and presentation 3) Poor Grammar – Parts of the paper not clear 4) Some referencing incorrect 1) Concise and organised 2) Appropriate business report structure 3) Grammar needs improvement 4) Accurate referencing 1) Good organisation 2) Professional report layout and structure 3) Grammar used with good control 4) Accurate referencing 1) Excellent organisation with good flow & development 2) Professional report layout and structure 3) Grammar used with precision 4) Accurate referencing Assignment Feedback Form Total Marks Quality Criteria Comparison and benchmarking (60 marks) • Application of financial ratio analysis • Key issues analysed in comparison • Clarity of messages Interpretation of financial performance and position (10 marks) • Concept understanding • Depth of interpretation Financial Analysis Further discussion of annual reports (10 marks) • Relevance of the information. • Supportive evidence or example • Critical analysis & reflection • Additional research and references Reporting on environmental activities (10 marks) • Supportive evidence/examples • Explain own views • Additional research and references Presentation (10 marks) • Organisation and structure • Business report layout – title page, table of content, introduction and conclusion, page number etc • Spelling, grammar and expression • Referencing
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