7AG516 Strategic and Financial Performance Management

Coursework 1

Individual coursework – financial accounting – application of

interpretation techniques and critical analysis for the purpose of
analysing the financial position of a company.
Weighting: 50 %
Word limit: 2,000 words (plus or minus 10%). A 5% penalty will be
applied for breaches of this range.
Deadline: 8th December 2023 12.00 pm
Assesses Learning Outcomes: 1 and 2.

1. Critically analyse financial data and interpret information,

evaluating timeliness, relevance and validity;

2. Critically evaluate the wider role of fundamental analysis within the

context of corporate performance;

In this assignment you are being asked to analyse and evaluate the
financial position of a company, using both financial and strategic tools.

Requirement:
Taking three years’ of the published accounts (i.e. income statement,
statement of financial position (balance sheet) and cash flow statement)
of a chosen company apart from GSK Plc and AstraZeneca (which
may either be the one you work for or a listed company):

1. Provide an introduction to your company or charity; for example,

industry sector, size, competition: you should choose the salient
information which you think presents the company to a potential
investor who has not heard of the company before.

2. Present an analysis of the current situation of the firm, including its

industry. You can use any tools, such as SWOT analysis,
PESTLE, Porter’s Five Forces or similar to help construct your
analysis.

3. Calculate at least two financial ratios from each of the following

sections used in class:
a. Profitability/Net income percentage
b. Efficiency
c. Liquidity

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 d. Investment
If you wish to calculate more than two ratios from a section, this should
be to further illustrate a trend which you believe is of interest. Therefore
any additional ratios will be given additional credit ONLY if you can
demonstrate the relevance to your analysis.

You should show your workings in the appendices (not part of your word
count) and use tables or graphs to present your data in the main body of
your report.

4. Discuss the financial performance, position and potential of the

company within the context of its industry, environment and
economy. It is critical that you analyse and discuss, not describe
the financial performance. In other words, it is not sufficient to state
that the profit has increased or decreased over the period, but you
need to find out WHY it has (or suggest a sensible explanation as
to why). You can read the management reports in the annual
reports, analyst websites etc., for the background on this.

5. You should conclude with a discussion of whether you would

recommend that an investor invests in your chosen company and
why.

There is no requirement to provide an executive summary.

All sources of information used must be reported according to the
Harvard referencing system.

Evaluation criteria
This is a guideline for the relative weighting of elements of the
assessment and below is the marking rubric used in this assignment:

Criterion Weighting

Introduction and initial analysis of company and 25%

industry

Calculation of appropriate ratios including 15%

workings

Financial evaluation of the company 35%

Conclusion and recommendation 15%

Format and presentation, including referencing 10%

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 Outstanding 90- Excellent 70- Very good 60-69% Good/satisfactory Unsatisfactory (40-49%) Very poor (5-39%)
100% 90% 50-59%
Intro. Indust Outstanding Excellent Very good Adequate Limited introduction to work No introduction to
25% introduction to introduction to introduction to introduction to Limited description of the work
Introduction and work work work work industry and company, with No or poor
initial analysis of Strong Excellent Very good Adequate little referencing description of the
company and appreciation of presentation presentation of the presentation the company and its
industry industry and of the company and company and industry, with no
company's place company and industry, including industry with some or poor
within it, all industry, referenced sources referencing of referencing
excellently including sources
referenced referenced
sources
Ratios 15% Outstanding, Excellent and Very good choice of Reasonable choice Limited choice of ratios and Very poor choice
Calculation of extensive and appropriate ratios and workings of ratios and workings of ratios and
appropriate appropriate choice of workings workings
ratios including choice of ratios, ratios, with
workings with clear clear workings
workings
Evaluation 35% Outstanding Excellent Very good A good standard, a An unsatisfactory standard, Well below the
Financial evaluation, evaluation, evaluation, some fairly good level of little critical analysis and pass standard
evaluation of critical analysis, very strong very good critical critical analysis and evaluation A poor critical
the company incisive original critical analysis, with a few evaluation Little evidence of original analysis and
thinking, analysis, with minor errors of Some evidence of thinking or originality evaluation
commendable minor errors understanding original thinking or Not well researched No evidence of
originality, well only. Very good ideas and originality, Ideas unclear and incoherent originality
researched Good clearly explanations, with Quite well Some significant Poorly researched
Outstanding expressed some evidenced researched understandings and errors Ideas confused
coherence and ideas and research. Some evidence of and incoherent
logic reasoning, Very good sense of misunderstandings Some serious
Trivial errors only supported by coherence and logic errors and
good research misunderstanding
Excellent logic s

Sensitivity: Internal
 Very minor
errors only
Conc & rec 15% All concepts and All chosen Uses some relevant Some effort to Key elements of the Largely irrelevant
Conclusion and material fully ideas are ideas answer the question question remain ideas
recommendatio relevant to the relevant to the Chooses Some missing, weak unanswered/underdevelope Does not answer
n analysis and answer appropriate or irrelevant d the question that
recommendation Answers the concepts and makes elements Confused choice of concepts was asked
s including question fully an attempt to Links to answer are to answer the question Covers concepts
materials sourced covering all answer the question unclear in places Important concepts may be which are not
from key concepts Information is May ‘pad’ with difficult to pick out relevant to the
independent No evidence of mostly relevant to irrelevant answer.
research ‘padding’ with the question information
irrelevant Only minor missing
information elements
Minimal ‘padding’
with irrelevant
information
Format, pres. Outstanding, Logical Largely well- Some Repeated Very difficult to
10% sophisticated organisation structured answer spelling/grammatica spelling/grammatical issues read and follow
Format and written and flow of Only minor l errors but do not Weak Referencing skills Extensive
presentation, communication ideas spelling/grammatica significantly Difficult to read and follow problems with
including No significant Error free l errors interfere with written
referencing areas for further written Good grasp of understanding presentation
development communicatio Harvard Referencing Some attempt to No or incorrect
n Mainly easy to read Harvard Reference referencing
Precise and follow Difficult to read and and/or high levels
Harvard follow in places of plagiarism
Referencing
An enjoyable
read

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 Deadline:

 Submission to Turnitin (UDo): 8th December 2023 at 12:00

hours (12 noon UK time)

Any extenuating circumstances which may impact on your ability to

submit this assignment on time must be processed through the
university’s EEC policy. There can be no exceptions to this rule.

You will receive feedback within three weeks of the submission of your
work.

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 POSTGRADUATE ASSESSMENT GRADING GRID

The following guidelines indicate the standard of work required:

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Sensitivity: Internal