Assignment Question:

1. You are required to select any mature company within any one of the
following sectors:
i. Pharmaceuticals & Biotech
ii. Food and beverages
iii. Telecommunication
iv. Energy
v. Retail
vi Utilities

2. Using an appropriate financial platform (such Financial Analysis Made Easy - FAME; OSIRIS; Morning Star; Annual Reports etc.), obtain financial relevant information for your chosen company for a period of 5 years (for example 2009-2013).

3. Critically analyse the following aspects of performance over the period of 5 years.
i. Profitability
ii. Liquidity
iii. Efficiency
Iv Capital Structure
v. Stock market performance
You may select and use a maximum of 16 accounting ratios extracted over the period under consideration to support your analysis.

4. What are the main weaknesses associated with this type of analysis?

2. Your attempt should be in the form of a Business Report

- The Business Report is an opportunity for you to apply some of your learning from the module to your chosen organisation

- Your Business Report must be focused on your chosen organisation. The main focus of your research must be an analysis / evaluation of the relevant ratios and concepts studied in this module.
- Your actual choice of what to research for your Business Report will depend on the access you have to internal and external sources of information within your chosen sector organisation.

- To produce a successful Business Report you have to evaluate and/or analyse information from a range of academic, professional and business sources to attach meaning to what you have found, or when making a judgment or coming to a conclusion.

3. Presentation

- A Business Report may be presented in whichever format appears to be most suitable for supporting the analysis, arguments, conclusions and recommendations.

- Make sure the accounting theories and business models you are applying are consistent with your objectives.

- Tables, graphs, business reports and charts are a convenient way of organising your findings, help you analyse data and make it easier for the marker to understand your findings.

- Provide evidence of analysis to show that you understand how to link an organisation's business activities to its performance.

- In the analysis identify weaknesses and strengths in the way the organisation is being run.

- Providing recommendations at the end of the Business Report is a way of demonstrating that you understand the issues affecting the organisation as how they can be dealt with.