Success in the business world requires participants to have a good
understanding of how companies perform. This is made possible by
examining the various ratios based on the financial statements. Whereas
the ability to calculate ratios is important, the real value of ratios
lies in the insight that can be gleaned from them. Therefore, the most
important aspect – as well as the goal – of this assessment is the
interpretation of ratios.
Students are required to produce a 1200 words MS Word document
(font-size 12 and line spacing of 1.5) to analyse a company of their own
choosing, using ratios generated based on financial statements of a
firm, as well as reports on the chosen company’s recent business
performance, strategic decisions and financing decisions.
One of the challenges of this assignment is that usually in financial
statements there will be a lot of details that can be very
accounting-wise technical. One way to get around this is to aggregate
the details into major categories (e.g. if there are different types of
interest expenses, just add them all up to form one single “interest
expense”). The idea is to take a step back and focus on the big picture
instead of getting bogged down by unnecessary details.
You are welcome to place tables and references (and nothing else) in the appendix, which will not be counted as the 1200 words.
Quality Indicators (how will it be graded; what constitutes a good assignment):
Insights, interpretations and implications if the ratios deployed
- Logic of the analysis
- Error-free writing/quality control
- Keeping it precise and concise – get to the point
- Consistent formatting
Since this is a graduate-level course, it is expected that the final output would be produced to professional standard.