LO1: Demonstrate conceptual understanding of the fundamental financial theories relevant to financial decision making and governance

2023-12-23 15:19:52

MN6068- Financial Decision Making for Managers Assessment 2 Autumn 2023

002 Coursework

1 General Assessment Guidance

1.1 Summary

This summative assessment for MN6068 is an individual coursework project of 1,500 words.  The project should illustrate your understanding of the accounting and finance principles covered in the module to apply financial analysis tools to evaluate a company’s financial position and suggest possible improvement options.  

This assignment accounts for 60% of your marks for this module.   

1.2Learning objects

This assessment assesses Learning Outcome 1 & 2

On successful completion of this module students will be able to:

LO1: Demonstrate conceptual understanding of the fundamental financial theories relevant to financial decision making and governance

LO2: Understand, critically analyse and evaluate using various analytical tools to facilitate strategic decision making.

1.3 Conduct

The University takes academic misconduct very seriously and always seeks to rigorously protect its academic standards. Plagiarism, collusion, and other forms of cheating constitute academic misconduct, for which there is an explicit range of graduated penalties depending on the particular type of academic misconduct. The penalties that can be applied if academic misconduct is substantiated range from a reprimand to expulsion in very serious cases and for repeated instances of misconduct. Guidance on preventing plagiarism is available here: https://learning.londonmet.ac.uk/TLTC/learnhigher/Plagiarism/ 

2.Assessment details

2.1 Background

The impact of the global pandemic has shown that it is vital for a company to have a strong financial base in order to survive. Internal management teams and external analysts and interested parties will use a range of financial tools and ratio analysis to examine and evaluate the financial health of a company.  Management teams need this information in order to plan for the future of the company and make appropriate strategic and business decisions.LO1: Demonstrate conceptual understanding of the fundamental financial theories relevant to financial decision making and governance 

2.2 Your task

You are required to prepare a report analysing and evaluating the financial performance of a company listed on the London Stock Exchange.  Your chosen company should be taken from the following:

  • J Sainsbury Plc                                   52 weeks ended 5 March 2023
  • Tesco Plc                                            52 weeks ended 28 February 2023
  • Marks & Spencer Plc                          52 weeks ended 2 April 2023

If you wish to choose a different company contextually in line with your specific course, please discuss this with you seminar tutor who will approve this.  If you do not get approval your submission will not be accepted 

You should review the two most recent Annual Reports of the company and critically assess the information provided to the world at large by this company. You should wear the hat of an external user of this company’s financial statements and identify which relevant information will be useful in evaluating performance.

You are also expected to search the literature to find out what scholars have said and are saying about companies in the sector and consider other relevant news sources about the company. LO2: Understand, critically analyse and evaluate using various analytical tools to facilitate strategic decision making.

 The annual reports selected should be for the year ends stated above, the latest on FAME database.

2.3 Report structure

Using an appropriate structure, you should include:

  • Introduction to your report
  • Introduction to the company you have chosen and their market, products, strategy, geography etc.
  • Analysis, comparison and interpretation of your company’s performance using appropriate financial tools.  This should consider the financial health of the businesses and your interpretation should be specific to the business.  You should also consider non financial metrics.
  • Recommendations to improve financial performance.
  • Conclusion.
  • Bibliography.
  • Appendices to show more detailed calculations.

The report should be structured as a professional report that you would present in a work environment.  You can illustrate your findings using graphs and charts.

3.Assessment Marking Scheme  

The assessment is marked out of 100.

3.1 General criteria

General criteria for Level 6 Assessment is shown in Appendix 1. 

3.2  Specific Assessment Criteria

The following criteria will be used in assessing your work:

Tasks

Suggested Approach

%

Introduction
  • A clear summary of the aims and objectives of your report.
  • Critically assess any advantages and limitations in this type of financial ratio analysis. 
  • Provide a brief profile of the company, its markets and products and a brief commentary on its key operations and recent trading background.

15

Analysis
  • Select and calculate an appropriate range of accounting ratios for the current accounts and the prior year, including:

(a)   Profitability ratios

(b)   Efficiency ratios

(c)   Liquidity ratios

(d)   Gearing ratios

(e)   Investment ratios

  • Provide justification on your choice of ratios.
  • Demonstrate your calculation of the ratios or show where you have drawn these from the FAME database.
  • Compare the current year ratios to the prior year.
  • Evidence your understanding of the results of the ratios and interpretation of the data.
  • Evaluate the relative financial performance of the company using the financial ratios and any other relevant information from the financial statements or other reports.
  • In making the comparisons you should take into consideration the viewpoints of the companies’ key stakeholders (management, investors and lenders).  

Note: You may use ratios from FAME database, those published within the annual reports plus ratios calculated yourself (the workings for which should be shown in an appendix). 

35

Performance Factors
  • Research and discuss any factors (financial and non-financial) relevant to the company that may have affected their performance during the periods under review, with reasons. 
  • You may wish to consider performance of the different segments of the businesses as shown in the annual reports as well as all other relevant factors, specific to your chosen companies. 
  • Use a wide range of reference material e.g. commentaries, annual reports, corporate websites, trade journals, financial press websites and FAME database.  You must show the source of the information that you use in this section. 

25

Recommendations
  • Based on your research and use of financial tools what recommendations would you give to the company and investors in respect of the company’s financial health and key issues that should be addressed. 

15

Overall Presentation
  • Present your findings in a logical and coherent structure, including Bibliography and referencing, professional language and correct grammar and spelling

10

 

 

 

Total

 

100 

 

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