Instructions

The basic requirement is to undertake a general financial analysis, comparing financial position and performance over the two most recent financial years, of an ASX listed     company. Your Learning Facilitator will provide the details of the ASX listed company .

The annual report for the chosen company should be available on the company website and/or will be provided by your Learning Facilitator .

Note: Assessment 2 submissions based on the incorrect company or a company not chosen by the Facilitator will be regarded as a Non-Submission and no grade will be allocated.

Non-Submissions of Assessment 2 will prohibit a Supplementary assessment for the student.

The analysis should consider each of the following financial ratios:

-     profitability and market performance

-     efficiency,

-     liquidity,

-     capital structure

Note: Please use the ‘consolidated’ data in conducting your analysis.

You are only required to look at the most recent financial report. For those ratios which involve averages, you will calculate an average for the most recent year only, the prior  year ratio calculation will NOT consider average calculations.

This assignment will contain two elements:

1.   Schedule(s) of relevant ratios and other useful calculations

-     The detailed calculation of relevant ratios and other useful calculations should be  included, as one appendix, prepared using Excel. An example template is provided under the assessment 2 information, FIN600 Assessment 2 Appendix template.xls.

-     You will be advised by your facilitator as to which ratios to calculate.

-     You are advised to show the formulae used in determining particular ratios and other figures.

2.   A written report

The written report is the main element of this assessment. A sample template is provided under the assessment 2 information, FIN600 Assessment 2 report         template.doc.

The written report should:

-     Explain what is revealed by the ratios and other calculations, in the context of the company’s profitability, asset efficiency, liquidity, capital structure, and market     performance.

-     In particular, any important changes over the two financial years should be identified, discussed and, where possible, explained.

-     Provide an overall assessment of whether the company, over the recent financial    year, has been better than the previous financial year, in the perspective of existing equity investors (shareholders).

In preparing this report, students should:

-     analyse the financial statements of the business;

-     identify key ratios and apply ratio analysis;

-     argue the case of why the organisation may or may not succeed in the future and what the business should be doing to help it succeed;

-     consider the impact of the political and competitive environment on the business;

-     include external factors that need to be taken into consideration and the likelihood of a merger or acquisition;

-     provide a recommendation, that is, would you invest in this company after your own analysis or under what circumstances would you buy/save the business?

The assignment is to comply with the University’s General Guide for the Presentation of       Academic Work. Please see more information here:https://laureate-                                        au.blackboard.com/webapps/blackboard/content/listContent.jsp?course_id=_20163_1&co ntent_id=_2498849_1

Points to consider

i.      You are encouraged to seek and use additional public information about the       company from sources, other than the annual report (for example, the internet, journal articles, newspapers, and business magazines).

ii.      However, it is NOT envisaged that you will be engaged in extensive research of   this nature and it is expected that the annual report will be the primary resource relied upon, in completing the assignment.

iii.      You are asked NOT to try and make direct personal contact with the company or its officers (for example by telephone, fax, letter or email), in an attempt to         gather further information.

iv.       It is important to note that you must NOT reproduce company promotional       material from the annual report or company website and represent it as critical analysis.

v.      You will be provided relevant share price data for the company by your facilitator so that investment ratios (such as a price earnings ratio) can be calculated.

vi.      You  may find  it  useful to  consult  accounting  references,  in addition to the prescribed text, which deals with the analysis and interpretation of company financial reports.

vii.      As this is a Masters-level subject, students are expected to engage with high quality  credible  resources  (eg.  academic  journal  articles)  to  support  and develop  arguments  and  position  statements,  using  the  Torrens  University Library: http://library.laureate.net.au.  References  to  ‘Wikipedia’  or  similar unsubstantiated            sources            will             not             be            accepted.

viii.       It is essential that you use the appropriate APA 6th referencing style, for citing  and  referencing  research.  The  assignment  is  to  include  in-text citations and a reference list following the appropriate APA 6th referencing

style.      Please     see      more      information     on      referencing      here:

https://library.torrens.edu.au/academicskills/apa/tool

Submission Instructions

Submit the assessment via the submission link of “Assessment 2 – Report” on the student portal in the main navigation menu in FIN600 Financial Management by the due dates:

12 Week Delivery: Due by 11:55 pm Sydney time Sunday of Week 11 (End of Module 6.1)

Assessment Marking:

Students should use this assessment briefto guide what to include in the assessment and the following rubric to inform the standard required.

Your assessment will be marked against the rubric which is shown on the next pages. Please ensure that your assessment report addresses all of the Assessment Attributes in the rubric.

Your Learning Facilitator will provide feedback via the Grade Centre in the student portal. Feedback can be viewed in My Grades.

Please read the rubric shown on the next pages.