Finance Expert needed----1750 words limit

Assignment 2

EC521 Finance Assignment Brief

Weighting: Individual report, 50% of module, 1750 words limit

This element of the EC221 module is assessed through an individual corporate analysis.

You are required to select one publicly listed company from within the global industry you

examined for Assignment 1. You are then required to use tools of financial analysis to assess

the corporate performance of your selected company from the perspective of a potential

acquirer.

It is expected that your interpretation of your financial analysis will draw upon the

macroeconomic country analysis and global industry analysis undertaken within the first section

of the module, where appropriate. Your interpretation of your financial analysis will in addition

draw upon aspects of finance which we cover in the second semester. For example, ratios

concerning liquidity and efficiency can be considered as evidence of working capital management

practices within companies.

You are expected to compare the corporate performance of your chosen company (i.e. by

comparing your company’s ratios with industry benchmarks found in the web or with a close

competitor in the same industry) again drawing upon key aspects of your macroeconomic

country analysis and global industry analysis to inform your comparisons and benchmarking

where appropriate.

Learning Outcomes:

• Analyse and interpret financial information in a meaningful way

• Assess the microeconomic performance of companies though an understanding of

publicly available data

• Develop skills to analyse microeconomic performance and make comparisons

• To understand the practical aspects of the financing of global companies

Ratios

The ratio selection should be from all the categories (Liquidity, profitability, efficiency and

gearing). You should use minimum of eight ratios from all the categories to perform financial

analysis of your chosen company. You should demonstrate your understanding of connecting

different ratio results, for example, decline in profitability could effect liquidity and gearing ratios

of a company.

All the ratio calculations and the screenshots of the relevant financial statements should

be included in the appendices of your assignment

Assessment Criteria:

Work will be marked in accordance with the following specific criteria but also with reference to

the general criteria within the course handbook.

• Organization, presentation and structure (20%)

• Selection and application of tools of financial analysis (10%)

• Accuracy of ratio calculations (10%)

• Depth and quality of the interpretation (25%)

• Depth and quality of inter-company analysis (25%)

• Use of macroeconomic country analysis and global industry analysis within the

interpretation of the financial analysis (10%)

Presentation:

Work must be presented as word processed documents and fully referenced in line with the

guidance available in the Brighton Business School Referencing Handbook available on

MyStudies. Full workings must be clearly shown for your financial analysis. As you are submitting

through TurnItIn your workings should be organised in Word using a table, or similar. Your tables

of workings can be included in an appendix but you will be expected to refer to the results of

your analysis within the main text. The financial statements, and any relevant notes upon which

the analysis is based, must also be included within an appendix.

A report format should be used which implies that your work should include the following;

an introduction, an analysis section, and a conclusion. Your coursework will be supported by

tutors in January in project workshop sessions. You are required to submit your report on

MyStudies on the EC521 assignment page. You work will be checked for plagiarism using TurnItIn

before being marked by your tutor. You should follow the normal Business School policies

regarding your online submission via MyStudies. Full marking criteria is provided on MyStudies

Other sources of information:

You are required to calculate your own ratios and provide evidence of this in the provision of

workings. However you may find that there are additional sources of information that you might

find useful especially for benchmarking purposes. These might include; The London Stock

Exchange website, The Financial Times website, FAME (Financial analysis made easy, accessed

through the online library, and Reuters.

Further information:

• If there are technical issues with submission please contact either the module leader or

the Undergraduate Office

• The assignment will be discussed further in seminars and an assessment briefing video is

available on MyStudies in the Assignment Help folder.

• An opportunity to discuss the assignment and criteria with your seminar tutor will be

given in the seminars in Week 7.

• All questions on the assignment should be directed to your seminar tutor

• Feedback and marks will be given on Turnitin and be available 20 working days following

submission.

• Information on extensions is available in the Assessment and Marks folder on MyStudies.

Formative task. You will be given an opportunity to complete a formative task and receive feedback.

You should calculate one ratio from each category of your chosen company and write a brief

analysis. The instructor will use a previously submitted assignment to demonstrate the feedback

on ratio calculations and analysis. You should make full use of that feedback by your seminar

instructor to correct/improve ratios calculations and analysis of your chosen company.

You should complete the task ready for your seminars in Week 11 (week beginning 10th January)

and bring them along to your seminars. Tutors will then give feedback in class.