ACF7002 Corporate Finance Individual report

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ACF7002 Corporate Finance Individual report (100%)

This assignment is the single piece of work to assess your understanding, performance and skills learned in the module.

Module Aims

To develop analytical skills and a critical evaluation of issues concerning:

-          Capital investment decisions and different sources of finance

-          Management of long-term finance

-          The relationship between corporate objectives and investment and financing decisions

Assessment Tools

In your individual report, you are required to do computations of type noted below (this is not an exhaustive list and not all of them are required being in one report):

-          Measurement of risk in corporate finance

-          Basic capital budgeting, including NPV, IRR, payback period, etc.

-          Basic cost of capital calculations, including use of WACC, CAPM, Gordon’s model

-          Using the techniques in making investment, financial and pay-out decisions related to mergers  and  acquisitions, identifying and evaluation of different  sources  of raising capital and issuance of equity and stock market listing (IPO issuance)

Suggested topics for the individual reports

1.   What impact can ESG have on one of the three followings (do not select more than one):

ESG and cost of capital/debt

ESG and agency cost

ESG and risk (default risk, systematic risk, idiosyncratic risk, etc.)

2.   Impact ofFintech on financial inclusion?

3.   Impact of board construct (size, independence, diversity, etc.) on corporate performance?

4.   How  to  account  for  environmentally  friendly  practices:  adjusting  discount  rates  vs, adjusting corporate taxes?

5.   Agency costs and capital structure.

You can choose any one topic from the above options. However, this is not an exhaustive list. If you are interested in exploring a different topic for the assessment, please discuss this with me in the first instance.

Proposed structure of the individual report (this is a ‘proposed structure’ that may vary from topic to topic):

1.   Introduction (Suggested word count 800-1000)

Introduction  to  the  topic  should  contain  2  to  3  paragraphs.  This  section  should  orientate regarding the chosen topic, why it is interesting and its relevance to investment, financial and pay out decision-making.

This section should provide a very brief overview of the following sections in the report. For example: In this report sections 2 and 3 will discuss the recent developments in the capital structure literature and describes the method to test for pecking order theory. Following section will provide an analysis of key issues related to the topic and the last section will conclude.

2.   Literature Review (Suggested word count 2100-2400)

This part of the report should summarize recent developments related to the topic in corporate finance literature. This part should include both theoretical and empirical literature.

3.   Data and results (Suggested word count 1300-1600)

This section should provide data for the chosen topic for a particular company, sector or  a market. The descriptive data statistics should be briefly discussed with respect to the aim of the report. It should contain aspect of the report which should be complemented with equations to describe respective theoretical framework and application of related assessment tools. Subject to the suggested topic, alternative approaches such as meta- analytical analysis may be considered where no data is readily available.

This section should not go into a discussion of numerous methods unless the selected topic is e.g., comparison  of theories related to ownership  structure etc. You  are required to remain focused on your topic while picking up a well-motivated specific tool.

4.   Discussion (Suggested word count 700-900)

Given sections 2 and 3, this section should provide a critical analysis of the summary statistics and results in section 3. Discuss the implications of your results with respect to an individual investor, manager of the firm and capital provider of the firm using verifiable references from the literature.

5.   Conclusion (Suggested word count 500-700)

This section should provide summary of the analysis in a single or two paragraphs.

Proposed structure of the individual report

For details on distribution of weights/marks see the details on assessment criteria detailed at the end of this document.

The report  should  be  approximately  6000 words  (+/-  10%)  (5400  -  6600  words),  including footnotes/endnotes but excluding references. Times New Roman should be the ad hoc font with size 12. Page margins, line and paragraph spacing can be chosen by the students to their liking. The submission point will be populated on the Moodle page one month prior to the submission deadline of Thursday 14th December 2023 before 3pm.

Before submitting your work:

• Word process and proofread your work carefully

• Retain a copy for your reference

Academic Dishonesty

The academic community treats plagiarism as a very serious matter. Please be very sure that you are familiar with the University regulations on academic cheating and plagiarism. In

particular, beware of copying other people’s work and copying out of books and articles. If you do want to reproduce a quotation from a text or article, make sure that you have clearly attributed the work.

Additional considerations apply to group work. Occasionally, an individual student will find  material and inadvertently use it without proper or sufficient acknowledgement of the source.

This is plagiarism, which is detailed clearly as an academic offence under the University of Plymouth Assessment Regulations. Where plagiarism occurs in-group work, the whole

group will suffer a penalty (which is often a zero score for the work in question). It is,

therefore, in the interest of each member of a group to check each other’s work as carefully as their own, in order to avoid any possibility of plagiarism. The group, therefore, has a

‘shared responsibility’ to ensure that all work is thoroughly and adequately acknowledged and referenced.

Assessment Criteria

Reports will be assessed as follows:

Marking Weight

Knowledge  of the topic  and  identify/understand main problems and describe the aims/objectives of the report.

15%

Understanding of underlying principles

25%

Relevant methods

25%

Critically assess the issue of the topic given

20%

Report Writing – appropriate structure, length and language used

10%

Referencing

5%

EVALUATION FORM AND ASSESSMENT CRITERIA

INDIVIDUAL COURSEWORK: ACF7002 Corporate Finance

Student ID:

Instructor: Dr Yang Zhou

Due date:

Grade: %

Markers general view of the work:

RATING SCALE

COMMENTS/FEEDBACK

MARK

Knowledge of the topic and Identify/understand main problems and describe the aims/objectives of the report.

(Weighing 15%)

Understanding of underlying principles

(Weighing 25%)

Relevant methods - pros and cons

(Weighing 25%)

Critically assess the issue of the topic given

(Weighing 25%)

Report Writing - structure, length and language used.

(Weighing 10%)

Assessment Rubric

Content

Distinction

70% and above

Merit

<= 70%

Pass

<=60%

Fail

<50%

Knowledge of the topic

Demonstrates excellent

understanding of the research question and describeshow it contributes to the literature.

Theoretical links are provided.

Shows a clear understanding of research question and

establish theoretical links.

Identifies the research question but links with theoretical evidence are not clear.

Is not able to identify

research question and shows very weak understanding of the theoretical developments.

Understanding of underlying

principles

Displays an enhanced

understanding of factors

driving the problem and links it to appropriate theory.

Shows a sound understanding of the underlying theory and how it should be implemented using related data.

Identifies the underlying principles but does not present it coherently.

Is not able to provide the

underlying theory around the problem.

Relevant methods

Demonstrates a clear

knowledge that why a

particular method is

applicable to analyses the quantitative aspects.

Shows a good understanding of the chosen method and

reports stylized aspects of the

data using appropriate

method.

Identifies a relevant

method and report other methods as well.

Is not able to identify

relevant method

underpinning the problem.

Critical analysis

Has developed own ideas

and justified using a wide

range of literature which has been thoroughly analyzed,

applied, and tested.

Ability to appraise critically

the theory and literature from a variety of courses, developing  own ideas in the process.

Clear evidence and

application of readings relevant to the subject  within the text.

Little or no evidence of

reading around the subject.

Report structure and referencing

A coherent and interlinked

reporting style is adopted with excellent use of language.

The report structure is

flowing, and use of language is of good quality. Reported

sources are

Report structure is fine and the use expert language

while summarizing key details of the idea,

Segmented report structure and use of language is

arbitrary and suffers from spelling and

The design of the assessment rubric describes different underpinnings in assessing the module learning outcomes. Students are expected to reproduce what they have learned during lectures and workshops and extend (critical analysis and relevant source material) around the selected research topic. The report will assess students understanding regarding concepts, inter-linkages between concepts and data at hand. Sections four and five should provide critically analysis of data  engaged  with  relevant  literature  around  the  chosen  topic,  drawing  out  insightful  and analytical discussions.

Available Support

Learning Development

This support offers a range of services such as one-to-one and small group tutorials, taught sessions within programmes, online resources and study guides, and much more at the Writing Café. They provide help for students including:

-          Writing and presenting

-          Developing thinking

-          Using literature critically

-          Managing projects

-          Articulating knowledge

-          Communicating your ideas

-          Preparing for exams and assessment

For more information go the link:

https://www.plymouth.ac.uk/student-life/services/learning-gateway/learning-development

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2023-11-01