Guidelines for BSAF Business Project

1. The Categories of Projects

 Business Plan
 Feasibility Report
 Any other task related to accounting and finance as assigned by the industry or
organization, including experiential projects

2. Group Size and Other Details

 Maximum 4 persons
 Industry/ organization/ CS partner has assigned or has been sought from an organization/
industry/ CS Partner or has been allocated by program/ class project supervisor
 Expression of interest/ allocation documentation is required
 Duration is 16 weeks

3. Contents of Business Project Submission

Introduction
 Introduction to market opportunity
 The Company
 How the company will respond to opportunity
 How company is preparing its books of Accounting and Finance / detail of the accounting
software or ERP system
 Key Accounting and Finance Policies of organization
 Major products and services
 Organization and Personnel
 Purpose of the plan (Financial Constraints, New Projects Investments challenges and
opportunities, Reconciliation issues, Book balancing issues, etc.)/ problem given by
organization
Industry Analysis
 The history of the industry
 Size of the Industry
 Industry Evolution
 The trend-Where the industry is expected to be in 5 or 10 years
 The key players in the industry
 Barriers to entering the market
 Competition strengths and weaknesses
 Target market
 Major characteristics of the target market (what does the customer look like?)
 Expected target market growth for the next 5-10 years
 Product and Industry Life Cycles
 How does the company costing its different products?
 How does the company doing its management Accounting?
 Product or Service Research and Development
Company Description (proposed new organization)
  Type of Business and Legal Structure, e.g., LLC, sole proprietorship
 Mission and Objectives
 Distinctive Core Competencies
 Board of directors and Rationale for Members
 Management staff structure
 Key managers
 Future Additions to the Current Management Team

Activities and Methodology

 Overall Strategy
 Strategy
 Analysis-Strengths, Weaknesses as they relate to Opportunities, Threats (SWOT)
Data collection (depending on issue)
 Risk Management
 Loss Control assessment
 Project Risk assessment
 Value at Risk (VaR)
 Financial Analysis
 Funds required and their uses
 Cash Budget forecasting
 Current funding/ capital requirements
 Funding requirements over the next three years
 Use of funds
 Income statements
 Balance sheets
 Cash flow statements
 Detail ratio analysis in company along with one competitor
 Operations
 Production and Service Delivery Procedures
 Supply Chain issues
 Warehousing
 CRM
 Production
 Products and Services/ Marketing (Optional)
 Detailed Product/Service Description
 Product Life Cycle
 Copyrights, Patents, and Intellectual Property Rights
 Research and Development Activities
 Consumer insights/ application of relevant models of consumer behavior
 Market research

Results, Conclusions, and Recommendations

References
This section continues with the Arabic numbering of pages. Only sources of information that have
been cited in the project are included here.

Appendices
The appendices continued with the Arabic numbering of pages from the previous section. The
actual titling of the appendices receives letter designations, rather than numbers. Therefore, you
would have Appendix A, Appendix B, not Appendix 1, or Appendix 2. This section includes
information that is too detailed to be included in its entirety in the body of the project. This would
include raw data, sample questionnaires, and detailed computations. This section would also
include information that is referred to but is not essential to the project, such as relevant policies,
laws, forms, pamphlets, sample letters sent to organizations and subjects, or subject consent forms.
NDA Format
Non-Disclosure Agreement as per SZABIST forms
Company Evaluation of Work Report

In case of an experiential or other (documentary making etc) project has been assigned, the
guidelines and submissions may take a different form

4. Format Specifications
I.Paper Quality, Printing, and Duplicating
The research report/thesis should be printed, single-sided, on high-quality white A4 paper (201 x
297 mm; 80 grams). Computer pin-feed printout paper is not permitted. The research
report/thesis, in softcover or hardbound copies, must be typed and duplicated by offset printing or
good-quality photocopying. All copies must be clean and neat to ensure easy reading.
II. Typing and Printing Quality
The research report/thesis must be typed using font type Times New Roman, font size 12 (except
for tables and figures), and justified, using Microsoft Word 2010 or later versions. The text
should be typed on one side of a paper only.
Chapter titles should be typed with capital letters and centered between the left and right margins.
Each chapter must begin on a new page. Chapters and subchapters should be titled. Titles should
be typed in bold without underlining. For mathematical texts, the use of equation editor. Script
fonts are not permitted.
A high-quality laser or ink-jet printer should be used for printing.
III. Line Spacing
The body of the text should be typed with 2.0. Single-spacing is only permitted in tables, long
quotations, footnotes, citations, and references. The first sentence of a new paragraph should not
start at the bottom of a page if the space available can only fit one line.
IV. Margins
The text should have the following margins:
Top: 1.0 Inch
Right: 1.0 Inch
Left: 1.0 Inch
Bottom: 1.0 Inch
Additional guidelines need to be followed:
• Do not type more than one sentence after the bottom margin. If it is necessary to do so, it
should only be for a footnote or the completion of the last sentence of the chapter, topic or sub-
topic, or information in a figure.
• All tables and figures must be placed within the specified margins.
• The last paragraph of the page should contain at least two sentences. If it does not, the
paragraph should begin on the next page.
V. Page Numbering
All page numbers should be printed 1.0 cm from the bottom edge of the page and placed on the
right-hand side without any punctuation. The page numbering system must conform to the
following rules:
• The page numbers should be placed on the right-hand side without any punctuation.
• Font type Times New Roman and font size 10 recommended for numbers.
• Roman numerals (i, ii, iii, etc.) should be used in the Preface section. The first page of the
thesis, the title page, is an unnumbered page 'i'. Numbering begins on the second page
with 'ii'.
VI. Numbering of Chapters and Sub-Chapters
Chapters and sub-chapters must be numbered using Arabic numerals (1, 2, 3, etc.). Chapters are
numbered CHAPTER 1, CHAPTER 2, CHAPTER 3, and so on. Sub-chapters are nested, but its
numbering is not indented, up to a maximum of 4 levels as in the example shown below:

CHAPTER 2: FIRST LEVEL (CHAPTER TITLE)

2.1 Level 2 (sub-title);
2.1.1 Level 3 (sub-sub-title);
2.1.1.1 Level 4 (sub-sub-sub-title)

The use of letters in parenthesis in the main body e.g., (a), (b), (c) is appropriate as a means of
differentiating sub-topics of the same topic. However, it is not required to be listed in the Table of
Content. If a chapter title or chapter sub-title at any level exceeds a single line, the spacing
between the lines must be the same as that of the text (double-spacing). Subsequent sub-chapters
beyond the fourth nesting level must be numbered using alphabets; (a), (b), (c), etc.
VII. Footnotes
Candidates are advised to limit the use of footnotes unless they are proved necessary to the
document. Footnotes are used to elaborate or provide additional information regarding matters
discussed on that page. Footnotes are recorded using Arabic numeric and numbered
consecutively. Raised superscript numerals in the text refer to explanatory notes and documented
sources appearing either at the bottom of the page as footnotes or at the end of the thesis as
endnotes in a notes section. The advantage of using notes is that the explanatory type of
information can be presented along with source citations on the same page or place.
Footnotes should use a smaller font than the text (font size 8).
When using a footnote, a number formatted in superscript is inserted following the punctuation
mark in the text. Footnotes should be placed at the bottom of the page on which they appear.
VIII. Tables
Tables are printed within the body of the text at the center of the frame and labeled according to
the chapter in which they appear. Thus, for example, tables in Chapter 3 are numbered
sequentially:
Table3.1, Table 3.2, and so on.
The caption should be placed above the table itself. If the table contains a citation, the source of
the reference should be included in the table caption.
Table 3.1: Short Title (Gibson, 2005)
Heading Heading
Text Text
If the table occupies more than one page, the continued table on the following page should
indicate that it is a continuation, for example: 'Table 3.7, continued'. The header row should also
be repeated.
IX. Figures
Figures, like tables, are printed within the body of the text at the center of the frame and labeled
according to the chapter in which they appear. Thus, for example, figures in Chapter 3 are
numbered sequentially: Figure 3.1, Figure 3.2.
Figures, unlike text or tables, contain graphs, illustrations, or photographs, and their labels are
placed at the bottom of the figure rather than at the top (using the same format used for tables). If
the figure occupies more than one page, the continued figure on the following page should
indicate that it is a continuation: for example: 'Figure 3.7, continued'. If the figure contains a
citation, the source of the reference should be placed after the label.

5. Plagiarism and Academic Dishonesty

Students of the SZABIST are expected to produce original academic work. Plagiarism is defined
as the use of original work, ideas, or actual texts created by others, without acknowledging the
source. Hence, failure to acknowledge the work of others in their work means the student is guilty
of plagiarism and may be subjected to disciplinary action, as per policy. Plagiarism will be
checked once (one attempt only) by the supervisor only and in second plagiarism check in any
circumstances, if plagiarism is found more than 19% and no more than 5% from a single source,
“F” grade will be assigned to it and same will be applied to any students having late submissions.
Students of the SZABIST, are expected to produce original academic work. The University also
highly recommends the usage of Turnitin, an online plagiarism detection application/software to
avoid plagiarism to ensure academic integrity. It is expected to write your work in Standard
English language format and the report may also be checked by English experts for its
verification. Any practice of academic dishonesty due to any reason will not be tolerated and may
result in an “F” grade, and further penalty may be given for it.
6. Final Presentation
Presentation will be done/ project will be assessed by the organization/ industry that has assigned
the project and/ or industry experts.