Posted: March 30th, 2022

Analyse and manipulate financial data so as to assess corporate strategy

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1. Analyse and manipulate financial data so as to assess corporate strategy 2. Perform financial projections and apply various methods for valuating securities 3. Critically evaluate the usefulness of financial and non-financial information in the valuation of securities and corporate strategy 4. Summarize the effects that different accounting measurements have on equity valuation Please note: • Submission Deadline: Assignments should be submitted no later than Thursday 31 March. o According to the regulatory framework, late submission up to seven (7) days, will result in a cap-C grade. Beyond the seven days the student’s grade is Fail (F). • Drafts are a requirement. At least one draft has to be submitted, no later than Thursday 10 March or the final submission will not be considered valid. Assessment Method Each student should adhere to the following technical requirements: a. Documentation – APA style b. Word length – 1.800 up to 2.200 words; it is compulsory to report the number of words at the end of the paper. c. Submission – The project must be word processed, and each student will submit the project electronically and in paper copy. d. Appendices: The data used as well as the technical analysis of the project should be included in the Appendix, leaving the allowed number of words to be used for the literature review, analysis and critical evaluation of the topic. Turnitin – Each student must submit electronically the major written project to Turnitin to the submission to the academic staff, following the Turnitin guidelines found on blackboard. PROJECT the topic is: Financial statement analysis of the last 3 years of Orange S.A. financial statements a. Should provide an overview of the research problem/question and search on relevant academic sources attempting to elaborate and critically evaluate the subject. Questions that need an answer could be: a. What do we want to study (the research question) b. How do we want to study it (the design) c. Whom do we want to study (the ‘Case’ or ‘sample’) d. How best to acquire information (data collection technique) e. How best to analyze or interpret the data we collected (data analysis) f. How and with whom will we share our findings (dissemination process) and g. How to confirm the findings (verification process) b. Should use the database available in the ACG library (i-Mentor), and data from the Simulated Trading Room databases, but they could also include material from non-academic sources such as professional magazines, internet sources and databases. The student’s work is going to be composed of two different parts. b. The second part (Financial Statement Analysis) will be a report composed from the analysis of the data collected from a sample company (absolute study) that each student should select for at least three (3) years. The student should also examine and relate the conclusions derived from the literature review with the data collected and the analysis conducted on the company assigned. Possible sections that the body of the report should include: 1. An Executive Summary (Provide a brief overview of the company selected like its official name, location, dates of the 10-K forms or annual reports, primary products and/or services etc.) 2. A Horizontal Analysis (Used as a tool to evaluate data and trends over time. At least three years of the financial statements are needed.) 3. A Vertical/Common size Analysis (An analysis that tries to express the financial statements as a percentage of a single or base amount.) 4. A Ratio Analysis (Compute a selected group of ratios for the following categories: a) Liquidity b) Solvency or Financial Strength, c) Activity or Efficiency and d) Profitability. A description of each category, the exact ratios to be calculated for each category, and a selected benchmark should be laid out. The calculations used to determine the answers for the ratio analysis must be included in an appendix. For the selected ratios, the student should comment on: i. What is the relative position of the corporation? ii. What is being measured? iii. What does it mean? iv. How does it help you formulate your forecasts? v. At the end of each category/section, comment on: o As a category, what is being measured? o How does it shape your view of the company’s future? 5. Conclusions/Recommendations With the completion of the ratio analysis, the student should comment on the overall position the company has in relation to the project’s topic. You need to: Draw conclusions from the data that were gathered in the previous sections and determine the main assumptions for the company’s forecast financial statements. The conclusions/recommendations could address the following; the thoughtfulness of the analysis will be the most important factor in the evaluation of this section: 1. Analysis of the company’s accounting. Are any adjustments to its financial statements necessary? 2. Analysis of operating management, financial management and investment management, making use of both financial statement data and segment data. What are the primary drivers of the company’s performance? 3. Summary of the key findings of the financial analysis. 4. What is the management’s outlook? 5. Taking into account management’s outlook (and making some simplifying assumptions about future margins and turnover), you should estimate the following year’s free cash flow. What actions could management take to improve the company’s situation? 6. What are the overall strengths and weaknesses of the corporation? 7. What recommendation would you make to current and potential private or institutional investors in the corporation? 8. What recommendation would you make to lenders regarding the credit-worthiness of the corporation? Format Each student will prepare the written project using the following required format: • Title page – includes the title of the project, the student’s name, the course number and name, the project due date, and the instructor’s name. • Table of Contents – identifies the sections (introduction, main body, and conclusion) in the written project and the associated page number for each section. • Introduction – includes a brief statement of what you intend to accomplish in the project, and a summary of what follows in the main body. • Main Body – includes the review of the literature and the application of those ideas to the identified business setting. • Conclusion – includes a brief statement of what you have accomplished through your discussion in the main body of the project. • References – identifies the literature which you have reviewed; please refrain from using Wikipedia and other wiki sources, as generally, they are not considered to be academic sources. • Folder – Place the project in a folder of your choice; it should not be submitted only with the pages stapled or clipped together in the upper left corner. The folder should also contain the CD with all the project’s documents and the Turnitin’ s similarity rate report. Specifically the project should have the following format characteristics: General • Be consistent in naming/labelling items: e.g. use Illustrations or figures, not both; Bibliography, References, or Works Cited. Do not use different titles interchangeably. Margins • The margins of all pages (including the abstract, figures, diagrams, illustrations, tables, appendices, catalogues, etc.) must be 3cm on the left and 3cm on the top, right and bottom. Pagination • Page number location must be consistent. Landscaped pages must be numbered in the same location as other pages in the dissertation • All page numbers are considered part of the text. Therefore, the bottom margin must be 1 inch from the page number to the edge of the page. Size and Spacing • All lists, including the Table of Contents, and the body of the dissertation must be double-spaced. • Subsections within lists should be at 1.5 spaced (e.g., in chapter subsections listed in the Table of Contents; or in individual citations in the Bibliography). • Typeface/fonts must be Times New Roman and its size be equal to 11 pt. for the entire dissertation including footnotes. • Leave at least two blank lines between the last line of text and/or footnote(s) and the page number. Bibliography/References/Works Cited • Please follow the formatting style manual used throughout the dissertation: MLA or APA. Guidance regarding citing with APA can be found in the following address: http://www.bibme.org/citation-guide/apa/ Project’s Evaluation Scheme % Criterion STRUCTURE 10% State the relevant objectives Indication of how essay is structured Use of headings and sections Conclusion supports the content of essay CONTENT Part A’: Literature Review 25% Answers the set question(s) Presentation of evidence Logically developed argument(s) Original and creative thought Critical evaluation of material Adequate acknowledgement of sources Thorough reading, research and analysis. Depth of coverage. Part B’: Company Analysis 25% Answers the set question(s) Presentation of evidence Logically developed argument(s) Original and creative thought Critical evaluation of material Adequate acknowledgement of sources Evidence of thorough reading research and analysis Excel use 25% Forecast reasonableness Consistency Clarity of assumptions Recommendations Demonstrated understanding of sector dynamics Strategic analysis STYLE 10% Fluent writing Succinct and to the point Good paragraph structure Good sentence structure (i.e. low ‘fog index’) Correct spelling throughout, grammatically correct Effective use of figures, tables, and appendices Correct citation of references (Turnitin rate) PROJECT PRESENTATION 5% Well planned and tidy Within the word limit 100% TOTAL

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