Accounting Report

START DATE: 09 May 2013 DUE DATE:30 May 2013 by 3pm PART A WRITTEN REPORT = 50% of Coursework Marks Task 1 Using your text book, other books, journals and/or internet resources explain the key advantages of one key source of finance for a company. (5 marks) Task 2 Collect the latest annual reports of two publicly traded companies (companies whose shares are bought and sold on the stock market) in the same industry and carry out the following tasks: a) Explain the long and short term sources of finance utilised by each company in two consecutive years. (6 marks) b) Calculate gearing ratios and comment on the long term debt to equity ratios in each company for two consecutive years. (6 marks) c) Calculate the dividend cover, dividend yield and interest cover ratios for both companies for two consecutive financial years. Based on your calculations and other relevant information, explain the risks and reward for shareholders and loan providers for both companies. (15 Marks) d) How would the return to both (shareholders and loan providers) vary if the ‘Profit before Interest and Tax’ rises or falls? (A sensitivity analysis is required by simulating data within a reasonable range) (8 marks) Task 3 Based on your calculations above and other relevant information, conclude which of the two companies is less risky in terms of its capital structuring and give reasons in support of your views. (5 marks) NOTE: Structure, Presentation, and Referencing: (Total 5 marks) Writing and presenting the assignment in the form of a report and referencing it using the Harvard System of Referencing (5 Marks) PART B – PRESENTATION: 50% of Coursework Marks Prepare a 10 minute PowerPoint presentation on your report explaining your findings and how you reached your conclusion. The presentation must be emailed to by Thursday 30th May 2013 at 1500. You can find companies’ Annual Reports from several sources such as libraries and Company’s House. An online source where Annual Reports can be downloaded quickly is [login to view URL] (search under Annual Reports and look on the right hand side of the screen for “Annual Report Service”), or from the companies’ own websites, usually found under ‘Investors’ relation’. Instructions: • The assignment is a report, and should be written in report format. 5 marks are awarded for this. • The assignment should be between 900 and 1,300 words (Excess writing will be disregarded). • Assignment must be typed in Times New Roman, font size 12 with double line spacing. Pages should be stapled together (top left hand corner). • All workings, extract of the annual report (balance sheet, director’s report etc.) must be included in the appendix. • The report contributes to 10% of your final grade. Presentation is worth another 10%. • The FINAL version of the report MUST be handed in at INTO reception and a signature obtained for submission on Thursday 30th May 2013 at 1500 • The coursework excluding the PowerPoint presentation slides must also be submitted through Turnitin. The Turnitin Originality Report must be attached to the submitted hardcopy. The deadline for this is Thursday 30th May 2013 at 1500 • Any student who fails to hand in the work by this time will lose marks. (See point 5 for details).