Select a publicly listed company on any world exchange. Download their most recent annual reports for a minimum of 3 years. Compare and contrast their financial performance using appropriate ratio analysis to comment on their: a) Liquidity b) Efficiency c) Profitability d) Leverage (capital structure) e) Market/Investment worthiness A report of 2500 words maximum addressed to a stakeholder group of your choosing is required. Your report should also contain, but is not limited to: 1. A brief profile on the user of and the need for the report (e.g. BoD, Shareholders at the AGM, Lenders, how much funding is being raised, etc) 2. Industry overview and competitive positioning 3. Share price analysis over the 3-year period. 4. Commentary on each category of ratios listed above. 5. Both Horizontal (trend) and Vertical analysis (common-size) of the company's Balance Sheet and Income Statement to highlight concentration risk areas. 6. Commentary on the quality of the financial reports. This may include issues such as consistency of accounting treatments, clarity of the reports, adequacy of disclosures, compliance with standards/regulations, evidence of earnings management in the statements, etc.. 7. Commentary on industry/company/country specific risk factors. 8. Explicit forecasts/predictions of the impact on next year's financial statements. This is not gambling odds! These must be grounded in the preceding analysis, additional quantitative/qualitative data gathered and evidence based. 9. Any conditions or situations under which your forecasts/ recommendation might change (e.g. incoming/proposed regulation, governmental stimuli, etc). 10 . Summary and References MARKING GUIDELINES - Relevance to question - Organisation, structure, presentation and teamwork - Depth of understanding - Analysis and discussion - Use of sources and referencing - Overall conclusions Select a publicly listed company on any world exchange. Download their most recent annual reports for a minimum of 3 years. Compare and contrast their financial performance using appropriate ratio analysis to comment on their: a) Liquidity b) Efficiency c) Profitability d) Leverage (capital structure) e) Market/Investment worthiness A report of 2500 words maximum addressed to a stakeholder group of your choosing is required. Your report should also contain, but is not limited to: 1. A brief profile on the user of and the need for the report (e.g. BoD, Shareholders at the AGM, Lenders, how much funding is being raised, etc) 2. Industry overview and competitive positioning 3. Share price analysis over the 3-year period. 4. Commentary on each category of ratios listed above. 5. Both Horizontal (trend) and Vertical analysis (common-size) of the company's Balance Sheet and Income Statement to highlight concentration risk areas. 6. Commentary on the quality of the financial reports. This may include issues such as consistency of accounting treatments, clarity of the reports, adequacy of disclosures, compliance with standards/regulations, evidence of earnings management in the statements, etc.. 7. Commentary on industry/company/country specific risk factors. 8. Explicit forecasts/predictions of the impact on next year's financial statements. This is not gambling odds! These must be grounded in the preceding analysis, additional quantitative/qualitative data gathered and evidence based. 9. Any conditions or situations under which your forecasts/ recommendation might change (e.g. incoming/proposed regulation, governmental stimuli, etc). 10 . Summary and References MARKING GUIDELINES - Relevance to question - Organisation, structure, presentation and teamwork - Depth of understanding - Analysis and discussion - Use of sources and referencing - Overall conclusions
