Assessment description and marking criteria

Learning Outcomes

Anglia Ruskin modules are taught on the basis of intended learning outcomes and, on successful completion of this module, you will be expected to be able to demonstrate you have met these outcomes.

The assessment is based on meeting these learning outcomes, shown explicitly in Assessment Section, where the assessment task is linked to these learning outcomes.

Element 010

1.1 Assessment Information and Marking Criteria

The assessment for this module consists of one element with final submission date provided below.

Important: You are allowed to submit assignments up to five working days after the published (or extended) deadline. If you do so, the element of assessment to which the assignment contributes will be capped at 40%. If you have any questions about Turnitin submission, please contact administration team via BL-SEFL@anglia.ac.uk.

1.1.1 Element 010 – END TERM ASSIGNMENT 3000 WORDS (100%)

Assignment brief 010: case study

Covid-19 has had a significant impact on business over the last 12 months. Some businesses, such as supermarkets, have done well but many others have gone into liquidation. It will be necessary for all businesses to re-assess their plans for the immediate future as the restrictions imposed in the UK are gradually eased. The world has changed since 2019 and many people have changed their habits and preferences.

To help with this planning, you should use four ratios (not more than one from each category) to report on which aspects of the business have been most affected this last year. Using this information suggest how the main budget may be used to plan activities for the next year. Explain how Performance management can be used to monitor the plans and guide decision making throughout the next twelve months.

With mass vaccinations gradually being rolled out across the globe, your business is looking to develop a new product or service for the post Covid-19 world. The investment proposed is £50 million and should have a lifespan of ten years. You are to suggest a suitable project, and, using NPV and IRR appraisal methods, show how (if) the investment will benefit your company.

Required:

Suppose you are appointed as the CFO for ONE of the companies listed below [I have added links. Osiris seems to be better as it has the up to date 2020 accounts, Fame has most only up to 2019] :

SSP Group PLC (The Company is a leading operator of branded food and beverage outlets in travel locations across 29 countries in the United Kingdom, Europe, North America, Asia Pacific and the Middle East.) Make sure you find the correct company, there are several with similar names.

BP PLC (The Company is an oil and petrochemicals company. The Company explores for and produces oil and natural gas, refines, markets, and supplies petroleum products, generates solar energy, and manufactures and markets chemicals.)

Ocado Group (The principal activities of the group are the retailing, logistics and distribution of grocery and consumer goods and the development and monetisation of intellectual property and technology for the online retailing, logistics and distribution of these goods.)

Adidas Group (The company designs, develops, produces and markets a broad range of athletic and sports lifestyle products.)

J D Wetherspoon PLC (The principal activities of this company are the development and management of public houses.)

You are required to write a report to the senior management team, fully referenced, and addressing the following:

1. Evaluate financial performance: Choose FOUR categories from the list of five categories of financial ratios below and use ONE financial ratio from each category to assess the financial health of your chosen company using past 5-year financial information:
   1. Profitability
   2. Efficiency
   3. Liquidity
   4. Financial gearing
   5. Investment

Note: Analyse your chosen financial ratios using information from financial statements. Considering word limit, please choose ONE financial ratio from FOUR different categories listed above; therefore, you should focus on four ratios in total in this part of analysis. Critical analysis of the four ratios under four categories is required for a good work. Please critically evaluate past five-year firm performance, using your chosen ratios and discuss the problems and limitations of financial ratios as a tool of financial analysis before make recommendation to the board of directors. Create your own small tables, diagrams and charts in your analysis and present professionally. Financial ratios can be collected using Osiris and Fame through ARU library (https://anglia.libguides.com/az.php?a=o), annual reports or other professional resources. Comparison with competitors and industry will be helpful. Suggested wordcount: 800 – 900 words.

1. Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of making a budget for the next year. Explain two different approaches to drawing up a financial plan for the business. Critically evaluate how performance management can be used to make better decisions. Suggested wordcount: 750 – 800 words.
2. Investment appraisal: You plan to use NPV and IRR techniques to evaluate the project. Critically discuss NPV and IRR techniques and the implications of the investment on the Company. Risk and uncertainty in investment appraisal should be considered before you make recommendation. The discount rate is 10% for the Company (Ignore inflation and taxation). Discuss the best way to finance this project.

Note: Please present NPV and IRR results using small tables. You need to make the decision on which investment appraisal format that you will choose. The project will be based on your chosen company, therefore, you have the flexibility to decide the project using your ESTIMATE. The investment should be around £50m, but how the money is invested would depend on the nature of the investment. Sensitivity analysis will be helpful to analyse different scenarios for the appraisal. Suggested wordcount: 650-750 words.

1. Appendix:

Supporting information to help the senior management team make their final decision. Present your own tables and do NOT copy and paste annual report in your appendix.

1.1.2 Assignment submission guidance

1. Please name your assignment submission using your SID number.
2. You should attach the Front Sheet before your own work, followed by title page and content page before the main body of your work.
3. You should adhere to the 3,000 word limitation. Any misuse of tables with aims to avoid word limit will be subject to penalty. There is ±10% tolerance on word limit, but in worse scenarios of deliberately using tables to avoid word limit could lead to more penalty. There will be a 10% penalty if the assignment is too short. Please indicate the word count on the Front Sheet.
4. Your Module Tutor is available to support you in preparing your report. For on-campus students, feedback sessions will be provided in seminar sessions. For DL students, conference session times for you to live chat with your Module Tutor about the assessment will be posted on the announcement page. As well, you are encouraged to email your Module Tutor with any questions you have at any time. Please also note that you are welcome to submit rough drafts of your work for comments at any time up until the end of Week 11 (but earlier if possible), while your tutor would be able to provide detailed feedback on a single page summary of your work. Each student may receive a one-off feedback using their preferred feedback channel.
5. The actual word count excludes tables, charts, graphs, formulas, appendices and reference list. In sum, the word count refers only to the narratives from introduction to conclusion. Tables can be used to present numbers and some brief points.
6. We treat assessment offences seriously at ARU (more information is available at http://web.anglia.ac.uk/anet/academic/qad/module_guide/modguide_assessmentoffences.phpLinks to an external site.). All the resources must be properly cited in your assignment. The formatting must follow Harvard Referencing guideline (6th Edition) for both the construction of the reference list and the proper in-text citation formats – pay attention to §3.1 in particular. You can obtain the guide here: http://libweb.anglia.ac.uk/referencing/harvard.htmLinks to an external site.
7. You should provide an extensive list of references comprising a combination of: academic journal articles, textbooks, good quality periodicals such as FT or WSJ or The Economist, etc. Good quality websites will be helpful, but please refrain from using Wikipedia or Investopedia heavily in your work.
8. Check your Turnitin access at least one week prior to submission. If you have any queries regarding Turnitin submission, please contact our faculty admin team directly via BL-SEFL@anglia.ac.uk. More submission guidance will be available on Turnitin submission point.
9. You should use either Arial or Times New Roman 12 font sizes and use double spacing throughout. Use `justified’ margin whenever possible and centre all graphs, charts, figures, tables, etc. You should create your own small tables, rather than copying the annual report for example.

Front Sheet

1. This sheet must be attached in the front of your assignment.

Checklist before submission

1. Have you read, understood and acted in accordance with the referencing guidelines set out in the Harvard Reference Guide?
2. Where you have quoted directly from or where you have paraphrased the work of others, have you acknowledged and appropriately referenced the source of your quotation in the body of the text?
3. Have you placed all direct quotations in inverted commas?
4. Have you listed and correctly presented all your sources in the reference list?

Declaration by the candidate

1. I declare that this assignment is my own work (or, in the case of a group assignment, the work of my group), that it has not been copied from elsewhere and that any extracts from books, papers or other sources have been properly acknowledged as references or quotations.
2. The work contains no material drawn from unattributed sources.

Please tick the box to confirm acceptance of the above declaration.

Date ________________________

Signature ________________________

1.1.3 Marking Criteria for Element 010 – END TERM ASSIGNMENT 3000 WORDS