Internal Code: 1IIGD
Requirements: This assignment is a team task which involves self-learning, some ‘real world’ research and team-work skills.Step 1 -Team formation All groups must consist of a minimum of three, and up to five members.Students will self-select their groups. Where possible Cloud students group with other Cloud students, and on campus with on campus. Students will be allocated the company on which their report is to be based once you have formed your groups and you have enrolled yourselves into a group online. You will be advised of your company via your Cloud Deakin site.Once the groups are formed and the companies allocated a student is not able to withdraw from the team he or she has selected unless the student decides to withdraw from the unit. This is to keep all groups equitable. In that case the withdrawing student must inform the unit chair so the team impacted by the withdrawal can be informed.Each team will be assigned a company listed on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) for the group assignment. Each team will have its own ‘private’ discussion forum set up in CloudDeakin to facilitate team discussions. It is compulsory to use CloudDeakin ‘private’ discussion forum which enables the Unit Chair to assess each team member’s participation and contribution in case there are any disputes between students in a team. The Unit Chair can also participate in the online discussion by providing necessary guidance if off-track discussions/activities are observed. If a team chooses to use communication applications such as Whatsapp and Skype etc., in order to facilitate online meetings or conversations, the team must be prepared to provide screen shots of the communication in the (unlikely) event of member disputes.Step 2 – Self-Learning Read chapter 10 of the prescribed textbook and:
Be able to calculate financial ratios; 2. Understand the meaning of each financial ratio; and 3. Understand and be able to use financial ratios to assess a company’s financial
performance, financial position, operating efficiency and market performance.Step 3 – Financial analysis You are required to calculate and analyse all relevant ratios for a five-year period. This is the same whether you have three, four or five group members. Each group member must calculate at least one year of ratios (ensuring same formulas are used) and evidence of this participation must be included in your group discussion area. Analyse the changes in the following ratios of the company based on your five-year calculations: 1) profitability 2) operating efficiency 3) liquidity and solvency and 4) market performanceOther information relevant to your analysis: To enable a comprehensive analysis of your company there will be additional relevant information including, but not limited to, performance of, and existence of competitors and regulatory and/or environmental factors influencing your company/industry. When undertaking your company research, you must utilise current financial press (such as The Age, Financial Review, The Australian, or appropriate relevant on-line business sites*). A minimum of five articles relevant to your company (or industry sector) over the period of analysis must be incorporated into your report to support your discussion. You are encouraged to use more than five to support your discussion where required.* Appropriate business sites do not include sources such as Wikipedia, Investopedia, MyAccountingCourse or similar. These sites are not regarded as appropriate academic sources.Step 4 Writing up group report and submitting the group assignmentYour report must adhere to the structure set out below:Section 1 Title page:? The title page should be the first page of your report. It must include the followinginformation: ? Title: ‘Analysis and interpretation of the performance of (name of company)’Unit code and unit name: MPA702 – Financial Interpretation ? Name of the Unit Chair: Ms Rhonda Ryan ? A table with the syndicate team number, the full names and Deakin student ID of team members and each member’s contribution to the overall assignment (must be in percentage format). The percentage is not a reflection of the mark allocated. ? Due date: Sunday 9th September 2018, before 11.59pm (AEST). If granted a time extension, then insert the revised date approved by the Unit Chair (show approved date) ? The following statement: “We certify that the attached work is entirely our own, except where material quoted or paraphrased is acknowledged in the text. We also declare that it has not been submitted for assessment in any other unit or course.” ? Reports that do not contain this statement will not be assessed.Section 2 Introduction (maximum 250 words): Contains, in your own words, a concise discussion of:? The background of the company; ? The purpose of the group assignment.Section 3 Trend and cross-sectional financial analysis (maximum 2,000 words): You must use the financial ratios to analyse a company’s five years’ (2013-2017) profitability, operating efficiency, liquidity, solvency and market performance. You need to analyse whether the changes of a company’s financial position and performance are caused by any external factors such as regulatory changes, increased market competition, changes of consumer preferences, foreign exchange fluctuation or some other relevant events, especially when there are significant changes in performance (hint: you may find this information from director’s report or media reports). Also, remember to take all ratios, where appropriate, to two decimal places (ie ROE 10.75% not 10%) If you are able to find industry averages, compare a company’s financial ratios with the industry average. However, this is not always available data.This is to be presented as a business report so therefore use appropriate sub-headings throughout your report.Section 4 Conclusion and recommendations (maximum 550 words): Provide a summary of the issues raised with concluding remarks and recommendations regarding your investment decision.Section 5 References: Any material used in this assignment must be acknowledged and appropriately referenced. Plagiarism by any student is a serious matter and, if it occurs, it will be dealt with on a case- by-case basis with penalties imposed. Please refer to the Unit Guide for more information on ‘referencing’. The reference list (using Harvard Referencing System which you can find from CloudDeakin Internal Assessment folder) is not included in the total word count and this gives flexibility as to the extent of the research that is necessary to form opinions.Please make sure that you adhere to the total word limit (2,800 words). A 10% tolerance will be applied. A penalty of 20% will be applied to assessments of excessive length. Each page of the report should be numbered, and every page must have a header that identifies full name and I.D. of every contributing student, and the unit code MPA702. You can use figures (or tables) to exhibit the trend change of a company’s financial ratios. If figures are used, they need to be fully discussed and analysed. Figures and tables should be numbered sequentially, given appropriate captions and placed in the main body of your report at suitable points. Tables are not included in your word limit but should not be excessive. Please attach your ratio formulae and calculations to your submission as Appendix 1 and 2.Please note the suggested word limits for each section are just that, a suggestion.Step 6 Submission The written report must be submitted electronically by the due date as a Microsoft Word document by uploading it to the Dropbox in CloudDeakin. Please note that pdf format is not permitted. Each group must nominate one member to upload the report. When uploading your report, give the document a name using the following syntax: <Group number_MPA702.doc (or ‘.docx’), for example, ‘Group 1_MPA702.doc’. Submitting a hard copy of this report is not required.Please review the section on ‘Plagiarism’ in the Unit Guide. You need to check that your report does not contain plagiarism. This is done automatically when submitting your report to the ‘Dropbox’, using Turnitin, which checks your report for plagiarism and generates an originality report that you can use to be confident that your report does not contain plagiarism. Turnitin will tell us (but tell you first) the extent to which your work has copied material from others without appropriate recognition through referencing. If this is excessive you will lose marks or you may not receive any marks, or you may have some form of disciplinary action taken if the issue is severe. Take appropriate action to amend your report to avoid this from happening. Note that uploading your report to Turnitin via the prescribed link in CloudDeakin for this unit constitutes submission to this unit AND also constitutes a declaration regarding the contents of the report being all your own work, except where appropriate references to the work of others has been acknowledged. You can upload your report to Dropbox as many times as you like up to the due date. In order to avoid a late submission penalty, you must upload your report to Dropbox by the due date. Reports that are submitted after the due date can still be uploaded to the Dropbox. However, a penalty will be imposed where reports are submitted past the due date.Group/s that require a time extension in relation to this report should discuss this with the Unit Chair, supported by documentation (e.g. medical certificate). Students are also reminded that extensions will only be given for exceptional and unusual circumstances outside the students’ control and should be arranged with the Unit Chair prior to submission date.Team work spirit - Important Each group member is expected to contribute equally and the assessment panel reserves the right to have a peer performance review as part of grading of this task, should any group request it, based on group interpretation of individual performance. Each group must submit an integrated report rather than an assignment with disjointed pieces written by different group members. The group as a whole must ensure all the fonts, tables, space between paragraphs and reference list are presented in a consistent manner and the discussion in the report is presented in a logical flow. The marking rubric for the group written report will be uploaded to CloudDeakin. Please read it carefully and understand how your assignment will be marked. Should you need further clarification on internal assessments, feel free to post your queries online.Also, please read the article titled ‘Surviving a group assignment’ posted on your Cloud site.
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