Group Report: "Measuring Performance and Management Control Systems" - A study of Executive Performance Measurements in Australian Public Companies.
The companies allocated for this assignment are Telstra and Singtel Optus.
Task:
Each member of the group is to research the annual report (and corporate website) for one major publicly listed Australian corporation. The companies will be allocated by your Tutor during the tutorial in Week 6 (following the Mid-Trimester Exam). Much of the information you require for management performance measures is likely to be found in the Remuneration Report within the selected Companies' Annual Report.
To give some consistency and a good basis for comparison, your group will be given companies to research within the SAME INDUSTRY or having close links. (For example NOT a bank and a retailer.)
Please note: The research conducted by examining the Annual Reports of the companies MUST also be matched to research of academic articles assessing the effectiveness of Executive Remuneration schemes and methods!
The following format is a modification to the layout suggested in the Subject Outline. You should follow this guide.
The REPORT component
Each group member is to research and write an individual summary report that includes the following:
1. Research the Academic Literature using EBSCOHOST and/or other Academic Search Engines and discover academic articles discussing methods of measuring Executive Performance. (Note in the USA, remuneration is referred to as Executive Compensation so you may wish to substitute this term in your searches.)
2. Research and discover the corporate goals of each of the companies reviewed. (Review the Chairman and CEO's Statements in the Annual Report and the Corporate Website for this information.)
3. Research and discover the means by which the senior managers are having their performance assessed. The CEO and top 5-10 executives will usually be listed. NOTE - DO NOT REVIEW THE REMUNERATION OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS OTHER THAN THE EXECUTIVE MEMBERS SUCH AS THE CEO.
4. Discover the performance of the company from a shareholder's perspective by reviewing growth (or decline) in each company's share price and dividends paid. (Use a copy of the share price chart for the past 3 years)
5. Research commentary on each company's performance (see newspaper and other reputable financial information sources - all MUST be referenced) and document (cut and paste as referenced materials (use JPEG images of screen grabs/scans etc.) a few (no more than THREE!) to enter into your report.
6. Reflect and COMPARE the information given in the most recent year's annual reports to that given 3 years prior. You should focus on whether there is an increasing level of disclosure for each of these companies, or the same amount and/or a decline in transparency. Thoroughly report your findings and present your comparisons.
7. Your group should write up your findings AND conclude which of these companies are being the most transparent and which company is producing the best result for the shareholders. In essence, you are concluding whether you believe their management control systems are working
8. The GROUP as a whole should then write up a comparison (analyse, compare AND contrast approaches) for each of the companies researched by the individual members.
9. Finally, draw conclusions on which company's performance measurement systems are producing the best results for the shareholders. (Note - there may be more than one conclusion, e.g. Company A is achieving great results in the short term however Company B appears to be setting a good foundation for growth in the long term.)
Attachment:- Assignment File.rar