FINC450 Research Requirement

Your term paper will have the following outline

The elements that must be included are:

• Industry introduction
• Industry analysis -Should do a trend analysis here (perhaps the last 5 years)
• Company research
• PowerPoint presentation individually prepared one the selected company within the industry. (IF THE CLASS IS NOT DISTANCE LEARN)

You can still present in PowerPoint as it is a skill you should have developed but a concise write-up must accompany it.  Using voiceovers is an excellent technique.

• Data sources used
• Your premise or objective in the analysis-In other words what perspective are you taking? Are you an investment analyst, a banker, a CFO etc. You develop the scenario and perform the analysis in response.
• Conclusions based on the data, including recommendations re: the above perspective

I will show you how to find this information by using the

www.nasdaq.com site.

I will show you how to access the information on the 10Q or 10K using this site and I will explain how to get the needed into

In addition you can go to your company's website    or search

www.economist.com

www.bloomberg.com

finance.yahoo.com

or another site you choose

the paper is not graded by pages, it is graded on how well you answer the above however this is a capstone course so I am expecting good data analysis, a strong write-up both for the industry trend

analysis and the firm along with  supporting charts, graphs and other documentation.  This is not your run of the mill term paper. Depending upon your premise a certain amount of ratio trend analysis must also be performed as well as the integration of economics, statistics, etc. where warranted.

all papers have the same format 

first  (the opening paragraph) tell me what your paper is about and what you are trying to prove or say  ( see my perspective comment above  This is where you lay out the scenario that you are choosing for analysis.

second (the middle paragraphs) give me the proof, back up what you are trying to say  This is the meat of the research.  Supporting documentation is key in proving your theory or premise.

third (the final paragraph) give me your conclusions or summarize what you have done  This is your recommendation based on the scenario you have developed  ( i.e the firm is a strong buy sell or hold; the firm's request for a credit line increase is approved, etc.)

I DO NOT COUNT PAGES, 20 PAGES OF GARBAGE WILL GET YOU A POOR GRADE. QUALITY NOT QUANTITY COUNTS.  3, 4, 5 PAGES OF QUALITY WILL GET YOU AN A 

Needless to say 3, 4 or 5 pages will not even handle the introduction of your scenario.  Remember this is a capstone course.  This is the culminating course in your education in Finance.

if you have questions ask,

if you needed help ask

If anyone has any questions please ask immediately I still do not have everyone's choice of firm so it is imperative that you send them in to me for approval NOW.  This project cannot be left until the last minute so the sooner you get an approval the sooner you can start the research.

Remember ask for help immediately upon the need arising.

**********I NEED YOUR COMPANY"'S BY FEBRUARY 1.  I MUST APPROVE OF YOUR CHOICE.  IF YOU DO NOT SUBMIT YOUR COMPANY NAME BY

YOUR TERM PAPERS,  IF I HAVE NOT RECEIVED YOUR COMPANY    I NEED IT        NOW

Additional sources are as follows:

http://www.businessfinancemag.com/  

http://web.utk.edu/~jwachowi/part4.html

                 ( Working capital management)

http://www.answers.com/topic/list-of-finance-topics

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page

http://www.seekful.com/indx.cfm?

http://www.cfo.com/              

http://www.ipl.org/IPL/Finding?&

http://www.valuebasedmanagement.net/

http://www.netmba.com/site/terms/

http://web.utk.edu/~jwachowi/part8.html#MA     

as an example,  i will show you how to research a company, we will look at APPLE   the trading symbol is  AAPL

first lets go to      www.nasdaq.com        this is the site for the nasdaq or national association of securities dealers  stock trading site

you will see a big blank box    please type in    AAPL    and click on REAL TIME QUOTES.  you are now on the page that will give you extensive information on APPLE    please look at the banner on the left of the page.   ALL OF THOSE TOPICS CAN HELP YOU GET INFO ON YOUR COMPANY.  for example click on INCOME STATEMENT    this will give you the last four years of apple's income statements, cash flows, balance sheet and ratios.  Please click on these sites and explore   you will be able to find information on their competiors and industry,  historical stock price chars, company news,  what analysts think of the company, etc.

now lets go to

www.economist.com  in the search box, put in APPLE   and search, look at all of the articles on apple

now go to

www.finance.yahoo.com  in the big empty box  put in AAPL  and search look at all of the info available to you