ACFI302 ASSESSED COURSEWORK 2018-19
You are an accountant working for Mariner Capital plc, a private equity company. You receive the following email from your head of department, Michael Jolley.
REQUIREMENTS:
PART ONE
Respond to Michael’s email by preparing a report of no more than 2,000 words. (80%)
PART TWO
Prepare presentation slides suitable for a 5 minute presentation to the board of directors of Mariner Capital plc summarising your key findings from part one above.
The slides should synthesise the key points and draw conclusions, including reference to key figures to enable senior board members to gain an understanding of your main report. The slides should be included in an appendix at the back of the report.You are NOT REQUIRED to carry out a presentation. (20%)
The submission deadline is Wednesday 27 March 2019, at 2pm. Standard penalties apply for late submission.1. Instructions
This coursework requires single submission of your report, including presentation slides via Turnitin, which is a plagiarism and collusion detection system. If you do not submit to Turnitin your work will not be marked.
To submit via Turnitin, you go to the ‘coursework’ area for the module on VITAL and you will find the ‘ACFI302 – Submission Folder’. Click on the folder, then ‘View/Complete’ and then on the ‘submit’ icon for the paper. You are then prompted to submit a title for the paper. Use the ‘browse’ button to locate the file you want to submit, then click ‘submit’. You will then be asked to confirm that you want to submit by clicking the ‘Yes, submit’ button.
Only your report including presentation slides should be submitted. Do not submit the relevant annual report. You should however provide a link to your financial statements. When referring to the financial statements, reference should be made to page numbers.
The submission deadline is Wednesday 27 March 2019, at 2pm. Standard penalties apply for late submission.
The maximum length of the report is 2,000 words. The standard Management School penalties are applied for exceeding this word count. There is no acceptable margin above this limit.
There is no upper or lower limit to the amount of slides that you produce, but they should be suitable for a 5 minute presentation.
The slides should be included in an appendix at the back of the report. You are expected to prepare the slides separately (PowerPoint or Prezi) and then copy and paste them into the appendix within your final report. Do not try to submit a separate slide presentation as well as a report via Turnitin.
This overall assignment will contribute 30% of the available marks on this module.
The university’s rules and penalties with respect to plagiarism apply to all assessed work. The work must be entirely your own. Referencing of sources of information used must be made in a bibliography, including detailed website addresses.
2. Guidance notes Obtain a copy of the latest available published annual report and accounts of a company. Whilst is it acceptable to use the financial statements of unlisted companies, there may be less publicly available information in relation to their activities, which may impact upon your analysis.
Do NOT select banking, insurance or shipping companies. Do NOT use summary financial statements.
Your answer should be based on the information available in the company’s annual report, and any other relevant financial information (e.g. in the company’s website, share prices, FT.com (and other media commentaries) or the London Stock Exchange Website).
Careful selection of a suitable company plays an important part of this assignment. Information on companies can be obtained from lots of places, including;
· the company’s website
· the London stock exchange website
· the international stock exchange official year book (the library has a copy)
· FT.com
Part one should assess performance, position and liquidity as separate propositions. Explaining what has occurred (e.g. gross profit margins have increased by 10%) is not enough. You should try to attempt to explain how changes have occurred, why changes happened, and when during the year. Also ask the so-what question – i.e. state possible consequences arising from any changes.
Try to understand the business strategy (e.g. read the business review, financial review or chief executive summary) not just crunch numbers.
Be imaginative. Do not just use textbook ratios. Think what is relevant to your company. (For example, for a retail business the revenue per square metre of floor space could be important as more sales may have only been generated by buying new stores. For an airline it might be seat utilisation). Industry data may be relevant.
Use tables, graphs and diagrams to improve presentation marks.
For part two you need to produce slides suitable for a 5 minute presentation to the Board of Directors that summarise your key finding from part one. There is no upper or lower limit to the amount of slides that you produce, but they should be suitable for the audience and length of presentation. Presenter notes are not required.
A discussion board has been created on VITAL where you can post any questions that you may have regarding this assignment.
Please refer to the Accounting and Finance Student Handbook 2018-19 for guidance on;
– Word counts; page 60
– Style and layout of assessment; page 60
– Marking descriptors; page 66
– Penalties for late submission of work; page 57
– Other ULMS coursework penalties; page 57
You can find a copy of the Accounting and Finance Student Handbook 2018
19at https://www.liverpool.ac.uk/intranet/media/intranet/schoolofmanagement/studentintranet/for ms/Accounting_and_Finance_Handbook_2018-19.pdf
You should also familiarise yourself with the UG Study Skills Pack 2018-19 which provide lots of useful resources that will help you with this assignment at https://www.liverpool.ac.uk/intranet/media/intranet/schoolofmanagement/studentintranet/for ms/UG_Study_Skills_Handbook_2018-19.pdf
3. Marking CriteriaThe table below illustrates the criteria we will use when marking your assessment and the percentage weighting given to each element:
4. Bloomberg Training Session
We have arranged a training session for you on the utilisation of the Bloomberg terminals as a resource for your ACFI302 assignment. This is taking place in WEEK 3 – please check your timetable for details. All sessions will take place in the McKenzie Trading Room which is on the ground floor of the Management School.
In order to take part in the session you need a Bloomberg login which you need to obtainBEFORE THE SESSION. Getting a login is simple:
– Sign on to a Bloomberg terminal (in the McKenzie Trading Room of the Management School) using your normal University user name and password.
– Click on the Bloomberg icon.
– Click ‘create a new login’.
– Follow the instructions (when it asks for contact details leave the ‘0’ out of your mobile phone number).
– You will be sent a verification code to your mobile phone.
– Input this and away you go!
You will then have a login ready for the session. If you do not have a specific Bloomberg login you will not be able to participate in the session.
