ACCT 20051/20077: Practical and written assessment

Due date:	Thursday of Week 6 [11:45pm [AEST] 24 December 2015]	ASSESSMENT
Weighting: Â	20% Â	Part B

Objectives

This assessment item relates to the course learning outcomes 1, 2, 3, and 4.

Details

The assignment must be completed as anindividual assignment. There is a specific writing style and required to write an executive report.Word limit is 1500 words. Please do not repeat the question in your answer, and simply provide the answer.

Students are not allowed to either directly or indirectly contact the companies for which annual reports are used in this assignment. Students are also not allowed to contact analysts directly or indirectly to gather information and/or advice about this assignment. Students must base their analyses purely on the information that is provided on the company’s website and/or on the Australian Stock Exchange.

In all your calculations, show the absolute figures from the financial statements. Also support any arguments with absolute figures from the financial statements.

Retain a copy of your assignment for your records.

Don’t:

· Spend time unnecessarily paraphrasing any information provided in the course material and textbooks.

· Just simply identify and mention the issue. You need to elaborate on it, explain exactly what you mean and justify your arguments with the help of literature where appropriate.

Academic Learning Centre (ALC)

It is highly recommended to seek help and guidance from the ALC as early as possible, especially if English is not your first language. The ALC can help you with the written communication by checking your assignment for grammatical correctness and that your arguments are logical. They will also help you to ensure that you understand the questions and answer them by applying theoretical knowledge in answering the questions. You will not receive any marks if you make generic, theoretical, vague and stray claims and statements without applying them to the particular situation.

Allocation of marks

Please use the marking criteria sheet as a guideline for how marks will be allocated. You will note that marks are allocated for referencing as it is expected that you do research in this assignment. If you choose to support your answer with using the work of others, please ensure that you use the correct referencing style (Harvard referencing style) as stated in the Course Profile.

Formatting

Please keep in mind that marking is done in soft copy, hence allocating marks for the formatting. To obtain these marks, ensure you comply with the following:

· Font: Time New Roman, 12 point, 1.5 line spacing

· Document submitted onto Moodle must be inWord format, allowing the marker to use track-changes to provide comments and indicate where you received marks. Please do not submit a pdf document or copy from another source such as for example include screen shots of calculations done in excel. The track-changes function cannot be used to do the marking in these and hence only information created inWord will be marked.

· Page: portrait orientation

· Footer: Your full name and student ID, page number and number of pages (i.e. Pat Bird s0123456, page 1 of 3)

· Marking criteria sheet is completed and attached as thefirst page of the assignment.

Please note: 3 marks are allocated for complying with formatting and submission requirements.

Plagiarism

Work submitted by a student that is the work of another person with no referencing or acknowledgement is considered to be plagiarism. If plagiarism is suspected, your assignment and results will be withheld and a Plagiarism Incident Report (PIR) lodged. You will then receive notification from the University with details of the necessary course of action.

Submission requirements

You must submit your assignmentWord document electronically through the secure upload facility in the Moodle system. Please do not email your assignment to your lecturer or the Course Coordinator.Please ensure you add your student name and your student ID in the marking criteria sheet and ensure that it is the FIRST page of your assignment.Word limit is 1500 words. Also ensure you include your student ID and name in the file name when you save the document, and ensure that you include the appropriate .doc or .docx at the end. For example, save your file name as: Pat Bird s0123456.docx

 

Assignment question

Your task is to compare and contrast the historical (for the last 2 years – 2014 and 2015) and expected future performance of BHP Billiton Limited (a listed company) and Rio Tinto Limited (a listed company) a competitor in the same industry, and present your findings in the form of an executive report which will cover quantitative performance elements in a logical cohesive format.(Word limit is 1500 words). Please use the figures provided in the most recent annual reports.You must use the ratios and formulae given in chapter 8 of the prescribed textbook. Show all the formulae and absolute figures used in calculating all the ratios as an appendix. You do not have to show any graphs to illustrate trends in the ratios. Show ALL your calculations. You will note marks are provided for correct figures. Partial marks can only be provided if you provide your workings and the marker can identify where you went wrong in the calculations.

The executive report based on quantitative analysis should include(butis notconstrainedto):

§ An executive summery

§ A brief introduction on each company including how they are placed within the industry.

§ An initial analysis of trends in the items contained in the profit and loss statements, balance sheets and statements of cash flows; appropriate relevant ratios measuring Profitability (Return on Assets and Net Profit Margin), Liquidity (Current Ratio and Quick Ratio), Capital structure (Debt to Equity Ratio and Equity Ratio) and Market performance (Earnings per share and Dividend per share).

§ A highlighting of the most important changes within these ratios and an identification of the reasons for these changes. A comparison of the quantitative analysis for the two companies onProfitability, Asset efficiency,Liquidity, Capital structurean identification of the reasons for any differences.

§ Conclusions - You should include a conclusion in which you comment on the strengths and weaknesses of your overall analysis encompassing what your analysis has accomplished and what are its limitations.

§ Recommendation.

Taking into account the quantitative analysis, you are required to make a recommendation which will fall into one of the following three categories:

1. Invest in the company

2. Invest in the competitor

3. Invest in neither

When you prepare the executive report based on quantitative analysis, you will be able to get some important data and information from following web sites(butis notconstrainedto):

Industry standards - from the IBISWorld website http://clients1.ibisworld.com.au

Amigobulls 2015, ‘Rio Tinto Balance Sheet’http://amigobulls.com/stocks/RIO/balance-sheet/quarterly

Amigobulls 2015, ‘Rio Tinto Income Statement’http://amigobulls.com/stocks/RIO/income-statement/annual

 

ASX 2015, ‘BHP Billiton Limited’http://www.asx.com.au/asx/research/company.do#!/BHP

ASX 2015, ‘Rio Tinto Limited’http://www.asx.com.au/asx/research/company.do#!/Rio

 

Student name Â	Student ID Â
Marking Criteria Sheet: ACCT20051 and ACCT20077
Â		Marks available	Marks awarded
Knowledge and understanding		2	Â
Reasoning and analysis Profitability analysis: two ratios(1.25 marks for each ratio, 0.625 marks per year for correct figures) Liquidity: two ratios(1.25 marks for each ratio, 625 marks per year for correct figures) Capital structure: two ratios(1.25 marks for each ratio, 625 marks per year for correct figures) Market performance:two ratios(1.25 marks for each ratio, 625 marks per year for correct figures)		10	Â
Writing skills and presentation		2	Â
Cohesiveness		2	Â
Referencing, use of references and background reading		2	Â
Submission requirements		2	Â
Total		20	Â
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