Assessment
The assessment comprises 5 parts, you are required to answer all 5 parts, plus the spreadsheet requirement, an indication of the weighting for each part is shown in the question . This is an individual piece of work and care should be taken to ensure that the work you produce is your own work. All work must be correctly referenced using the Harvard Reference system.
Your answer should be in the format of a Business Report (see Guidance Note below).
You are required to select a company of your choice in the transport or clothing sectors and address the following questions. You must be able to gain access to a minimum of 2 years financial reports for your chosen company and the financial statements MUST be attached to your submission. You should be able to access annual reports for your chosen company on-line or in paper copy.
Remember you must also submit the financial data(Income Statements, Balance Sheets etc)that you use from your chosen company.
You are expected to produce a typed response to the assessment. Your answer must relate to the statement and a bibliography must be included. Referencing guidelines are available via the intranet by going to Abertay's Virtual library site and accessing the documentation through-Reference Management, Referencing at Abertay, then Harvard-Advanced. I encourage you to make sure that you see use this to ensure correct referencing using the Harvard referencing system. References , bibliography, etc. ARE NOT SUBJECT TO THE WORD LIMIT
https://portal.abertay.ac.uk/portal/page/portal/Library/Referencing.
You should also try out the Blackboard course on referencing and plagiarism which can be accessed from the link above. This will help you to understand how to reference correctly.
Questions to be addressed in your report
1. Part 1 of your report -Provide a brief historical background to the company. This will require you to carry out a research of the company. Thus, when selecting your company, make sure you are be able to find enough information to enable you to do this.
Remember you must use your own words and NOT copy direct from the annual report.
This section of your report MUST NOT exceed 100 words.
2. Part 2 of your report
(i)Calculate a minimum of 8 financial ratios for 2 consecutive years. These ratios should allow you to discuss profitability, liquidity, efficiency/activity and investment/leverage. You MUST include in your submission both the ratios and the relevant calculations used to arrive at the ratios together with the financial data-Income Statement and Balance Sheets.
(ii)Using the information you have found regarding your chosen company together with the financial ratios you have calculated in（i）above discuss the financial position of your chosen company.
(Approximately 1,000 words)
Please note that your discussion of the financial information and other you to state the obvious e.g that x ratio has increased/decreased over the 2 year period. What is required is that you show an understanding of the implications for your chosen company as a result of the ratios calculated.
3. Part 3 of your report -"A Cash Flow Statement provides useful information to support understanding of an organisations financial position."
Discuss the statement above.
(Approximately 250 words)
4. Part 4 of your report -Making reference to your chosen company discuss the usefulness of marginal costing as a tool to support internal decision making.
5. Part 5 of your report - Imagine your company is considering expansion into a new market. Discuss the role of investment appraisal in the development of a sound justification for the expansion. Your answer should consider the role of investment appraisal, the techniques that could be used and the information needed to undertake a full investment appraisal.
(approximately 500 words）
6. Include in an appendix to your report a pro-forma spreadsheet that could be used to assess the viability of the capital expenditure required in your answer to question 4 above.
You must include both the pro-forma spreadsheet with headings, which does not require any data together with a printout of the spreadsheet formulae you have set up to enable the calculation of the net present value of the capital expenditure .
You may use diagrams and figures to support your discussion but this is NOT essential.
Guidance Note.
1. Business Report Style
The initial stages of writing a report are very similar to that of writing a well constructed essay. However the structure expected for a report is different to that of an essay.
The major differences in structure are
. An abstract or summary is included at the start of a report, this should be very brief.
. You should identify also who the report is for, who it is from, subject heading and date
. the role of the introduction is different from that of an essay, see below.
. the main body of the report is subdivided into sections. For this assessment you should use a separate section to address each question.
. A brief conclusion should also be provided.
Listed below is a commonly used structure for reports.
A Title Page
This should be brief and should give the reader a clear idea of the central theme of the report. Identify here To,From and Date
Summary/Abstract
This should provide the reader with a brief outline of the findings, conclusions and recommendations of the report. The purpose of this section is to act as a guide to whether or not the report is of interest to the reader before they read the full report ( of course this is an assessment and all courseworks will be read by the module tutor!)
Contents List
This should list the main sections and subsections and the pages where they can be found. A list of illustrations and appendices should also be included. It is best to complete this section at the end of your report.
Introduction
This should set the scene for the reader and should:
.give an explanation of why your report was written.
.state the terms of reference- i.e.the aims and objectives of your report.
.give an indication of the content covered in the report and the structure it will take.
.give an outline of the methodology used.
.give an indication of the limitations of the report.
Main body of the report(this is not a heading for this part of the report)
This is the longest part of the report and should be divided into subsections to indicate the various questions you are addressing. This section should provide details of key findings. It should not include opinions, conclusions or recommendations.
Conclusions
This should link the aims and objectives of your report to your findings. The conclusion draws together the main points of your report, present an overview and give an indication of the conclusion. A conclusion involves repeating statements that have been included in previous sections.
Recommendations
For the purpose of this report a recommendation is not required.
Appendices
Appendices should include all supplementary information which is not necessary to include in the main body of the text in order for the majority of readers to understand your report and be convinced by your reasoning.
In this section you should include the annual report data you have used in formulating your ratios,the detailed calculation of ratios and any other supplemental material you consider appropriate.
Don't forget to include the Income Statements and Balance Sheets you have used to calculate the ratios.
2 Referencing
You must include FULL COMPANY SOURCING (references)with your submission. Full academic sources used in preparation of your report must be referenced and identified in the references attached to your submission.
3 Editing and Redrafting
Once you have completed the first draft, leave the coursework for a couple of days. This can help you gain a better insight into whether or not your coursework is clear and intelligible.Edit your coursework at least twice-often simple changes can make the difference between an average coursework and a good one.
Using the following coursework checklist can be a useful aid to help you in the editing process.
Coursework Check List
Does the coursework adequately answer the questions or deal with the topics that it was expected to cover?
Does it cover all the main issues?
Does it cover them in sufficient depth?
Is the content accurate and relevant?
Is the material arranged in a logical structure?
Is there a smooth transition between the paragraphs through the use of appropriate link words?
Are the main points supported by examples and reasoning?
Are all the sources and references clearly acknowledged?
Is there a clear distinction between your own ideas and those of others?
Is the length of the coursework right for its purpose?
Is the style clear and simple?
Does it read well (try it out loud)with no confused or obscure sections?
Dose the work meet a satisfactory standard in terms of grammar , spelling and punctuation?
Is the presentation neat and legible?
Does the work present a convincing argument backed up with evidence?
Might the coursework be improved in any other way?
Additional comments on areas for improvement
