ACC4043-N Contemporary Management In Operations And Finance ECA 2026

Part A – Financial Analysis – 40 Marks

Produce an informal report not exceeding or falling short (+/- 10%) of 2000 words (excluding cover page, table of contents, references and appendices) which:

Select a company (not a financial institution) and evaluate their performance using at least the most recent two years’ financial statements.

1. Describe its operating context within its industry.
2. Using at least most recent two years’ figures from your chosen company’s annual report, calculate key ratio categories, namely liquidity, solvency, efficiency, profitability, and market performance, depicting their performances.
3. Evaluate the performance of your chosen company against a key competitor (s), including their sustainability performances.

(Data from the LSEG/Fame database or other information sources for comparative data can be used provided a formula of how each ratio was calculated necessary to be demonstrated in your work).

The report

An informal report style should be used, and the following areas should be addressed:

1. A brief description of the market in which the organisation operates, including key features of differentiation, and a brief analysis of its industry / operational activities. To support this section, SWOT or PESTEL analysis or both can be used.
2. A calculation from the annual reports of your company of appropriate financial ratios. The calculation of the ratios and formula must be fully and clearly shown. Where you get the ratios from the LSEG/FAME database, you must still show ratios and formulas before your explanations.
3. Compare your chosen company’s performance with your selected competitor (s). Ensure your comparison covers all five areas of performance required as well as sustainability performance and suggest for improvement (if any).

IMPORTANT

You can calculate ratios for your selected company from the annual reports, and or from the LSEG/FAME database. The source of the figures used must be clearly and explicitly shown and referenced. Ensure the annual report of your chosen company, and that of your competitor company has a minimum of two years period to facilitate trend analysis and comparative analysis. (Financial Institutions such as banks, insurance companies etc CANNOT be used for this assignment).

Sources of Information

Select a company from LSEG/FAME database, who has published their 2023/24 annual report/financial statements and MUST be used as the basis of the evaluation of your chosen company’s performance. Extracts from the Annual Report which you used MUST be submitted (only the used components) with the report within the appendices. FAME database or a similar site can be used to obtain comparable data BUT must be referenced and extracts shown in the appendix section. As this is an academic writeup, we expect a minimum of 20 references (use the Harvard Style for referencing) for this section

Part B – Managing Operations – 60 Marks

ECA Assignment Part B – Case Study 

TEES VALLEY PARKERS (TVP) is a major UK manufacturing conglomerate with significant potential and large-scale operations across diverse sectors, including textiles, pharmaceuticals, ceramics, marine produce, information and communication technology (ICT), financial services, and energy. Despite this broad portfolio, the CEO is dissatisfied with the company’s reported performance and is seeking to identify areas for operational improvement. Key concerns include selecting the right proposals for execution and determining how to enhance overall business performance and control inventory levels. A recent customer satisfaction survey, which scored 3.0 out of 5.0, underscores the need for enhancement in both products and services. Furthermore, the company is consistently failing to meet its manufacturing output targets.

A singular positive is that the company’s entire production output, however limited, is sold rapidly. This is due to a strong, loyal customer base and the high market acceptance of its flagship textile products, bolstered by an excellent after-sales service rating. The organisation operates with a dynamic structure, comprising a Board of Directors (which is predominantly non-executive), an Executive team, and a talented management team overseeing: Sales and Marketing, Customer Service Support, Finance, a Transformation and Manufacturing Centre, an Advertising and Media Hub with integrated ICT, dedicated R&D for energy, and Human Resources.
TVP’s core product theme is: “To stand out from the rest, choose our textiles and stay with us for everything else.” The company positions its textiles as quality, luxury clothing accessible at an affordable price. Products are presented in eco-friendly packaging, a specific attraction for its primary demographic of Generation Z, who are drawn to its trendy and fashionable designs.

Key Financial Targets

The CEO, Dr. Rudrigo Leyanage, is worried about the recent performance report of TVP; hence, at a recent board meeting, it was agreed to investigate it further to ensure the company meets its returns on the capital employed expectation of 20% and profit before tax of £25.00 million. It also agreed that the selling price of TEXTILE per unit is kept at £65.00. The current TEXTILE variable cost per unit is £35.00. Some new equipment will be bought, bringing the company’s fixed cost figure to £10 million.

Transformational and Manufacturing (T&M) Issues

The company board had agreed that standards must be kept high and that only the best-qualified person should be employed to join the existing team. The T&M Division Director, Ms Florence Nass, thus reminded the Human Resources Director, Dr. Fiu Ming, that although manufacturing is generally very efficient and meets high-quality standards, only staff with BSc in operations/manufacturing-related degrees should be considered for entry-level. Managers/Supervisors should be qualified to a minimum of MSc in operations/manufacturing- related degrees plus three years minimum experience. To support quality and enhance product acceptability, Ms Florence Nass set an ambitious target for defective finished products requiring rectification at a maximum of 5%.

TVP’s Customer Sales and Service Policy

TVP’s policy is to continue its excellent after-sales satisfaction feedback tracking to find out customer experience with the product and their customer service journey whilst buying the product. This weekly customer feedback survey is to be continued. TVP’s target is 98% rating of TEXTILE products as “Fantastic”, while at least 95% of customers shopping at their outlets rate their experiences as “Excellent”. However, the Customer Support Manager, Mr Chen Ho, is concerned about the speed of response to customer complaints and would like to see an improvement. So, the company introduced a new objective of responding to all product-related customer complaints within 18 working hours from its existing 24 working hours response rate. It also set up a rewards scheme for meeting this target.

Employee Welfare Policy

To sustain the current high job satisfaction rate within the company, the Human resources Director, Dr. Fiu Ming, held a crisis prevention and staff retention meeting with Mr McRoy Stephen, TVP Operations Director, as it was noted that a competitor is poaching and hiring their staff. The current annual staff turnover is 8.0% but may exceed that by year-end if some action is not taken. Both directors agree to offer staff a new, improved welfare package agreed upon at a recent board meeting to boost morale/retain staff and meet the new annual staff turnover rate target of 5% set by the company.

Current Developments

The external auditors led by Mr Christ Campher in a recent report were not entirely happy with the budgetary reporting and control system in place at the company. They recommended hiring someone with management accounting and finance expertise. To resolve the situation, TVP hired Ms Angelina Libbey as the new company Head of Finance. This CIMA-qualified management accountant also holds an MSc in Accounting and Finance and she also completed B.Sc. in Accounting and Finance from Teesside University, England.

At a recent management meeting, the CEO, Dr. Rudrigo Leyanage, highlighted the following issues that needed urgent attention.

1. The CEO explained that she is fully aware of the importance of management accounting, inventory valuation, costing, annual budgetary process and detailed budgetary control. However, she is having great difficulties explaining this to fellow directors as a non-accounting person. Moreover, the audit report shows the need to examine the existing process to improve it carefully. She would also like to clearly understand the number of units the company must sell to achieve the target profit of
£25.00 million set at the recent board meeting. Prepare a report with required calculations and explanations for the new head of finance to present at her next meeting with the CEO.

2. The CEO wants a careful look on 31 August 2025 budget report so the board can better understand that quarter’s report. The T&M Division Director, Ms Florence Nass, was asked to review the budgetary control report so management could better understand the performance of her division. Ms Angelina Libbey, the new company Head of Finance, provided the following report submitted by Mr Mark Butcher – Centre Manager. You are required to provide Ms Florence Nass with the required report for her board meeting presentation.

BUDGETARY CONTROL REPORT: URGENT

3. The CEO also noted that they are considering four proposals and would appreciate some guidance before taking a decision. Ms Angelina Libbey, the new TVP, Head of Finance, provided the following cash flow and discount table below. The company’s overall cost of capital is 5%. Which of the project proposals would you recommend to the company to accept? The following cash flows and discount factors in the table below were obtained for TVP’s four proposals but can use different discounting rate from 2%-11% for computing IRR.

4. TVP also in dubious about the closing value of the stock which remain in the warehouse and the production and procurement department are not affirmed the year-end value of the stock. Hence, the CEO also demands for providing the necessary information based on the following information:

2025 August    1    Purchased 100 units @ £10 each.
2    Purchased 200 units @ £ 10.2 each.

5    Issued 250 units to Job X vide M.R.No.12
10    Purchased 300 units @ £10.80 each.
13    Issued 200 units to Job Y vide M.R.No.15
20    Purchased 100 units @ £11 each.
25    Issued 150 units to Job K vide M.R.No.25

In addition to the above instances, TVP wants to buy its next year’s annual requirement of 36,000 units in six instalments. Each unit would cost £1, and the ordering cost would £25. The inventory carrying cost is estimated at 15% of unit value. Hence, it is also advised the manager of the concerned department to provide policy suggestions regarding whether this decision will be effectively reflected with operational efficiency or not considering a key question ‘how much money can be saved by using economic order quantity comparing to the existing policy?’

5. The CEO is concerned that despite the wide acceptance of their TEXTILE products and good customer base, there was a need to adopt a more strategic performance measurement approach. She wants all staff to buy into TVP’s aspirations to foster better operational outcomes. The CEO has recently been introduced to several performance measurement and management tools, including the Balanced Scorecard (BSC). You are required to introduce the BSC and its benefits to the company’s CEO. It would help if you built a novel BSC using information from the case study and literature to show how the tool can help the company structure its strategic objectives better. You can also include sustainability/greening issues from literature in your novel BSC for TVP. Your report and recommendations will be presented to directors at the company’s next board meeting.

Task

Now, it is currently not sure about its reported performances and is wondering what areas of its operations require improvement, what proposals to be chosen and if necessary, how performance can be improved and controlled the inventories. You are required to develop your own ideas and recommendations for the effective operation of the organisation. You are required to produce a 2,500-word report that evaluates the role of operational, financial and performance management in the case study organisation.

Students are required to employ a range of analytical techniques, communicate effectively and demonstrate a both theoretical and practical understanding of the key issues addressed by the module.

Detailed requirements are as follows:

1. Critically discuss the importance of management accounting to enhance the ability of the top-level managerial decision making and identify the major differences between management accounting and financial accounting. Mention at least three techniques which can be used effectively in operational activities in management.

2. Employ capital investment appraisal techniques (i.e., Payback Period, Accounting Rate of Return, Net Present Value, and Internal Rate of Return) in selecting projects and critically discuss the techniques in making investment decisions (use rank table based on applied techniques).

3. Critically discuss the role of the Business Plan and Budget in the operational management of the case study organisation. Recommend the areas of improvement and prepare a new report to illustrate this, using the information provided in the case study.

4. Critically analyse and employ the different techniques (at least two) to identify the value of closing inventories and identify the optimal reorder quantities and provide policy suggestions for the areas of improvement and control.

5. Critically discuss the usefulness of the Balanced Scorecard Approach and prepare an example of a Balanced Scorecard for the case study organisation.

6. As this is an academic writeup, we expect a minimum of 20 references (please use the Harvard Style for referencing) for this section.

For ECA assessment parts A and B, you are to demonstrate

• A depth of knowledge of the topics, supported by evidence of extensive and relevant reading.
• The ability to apply theories or techniques in practice.
• A critical understanding of your topics.
• An awareness of topical and other significant developments.
• A conclusion that is logically derived and cohesive.
• Minimum reference requirement for this ECA assignment is 20.
• For this ECA assignment, you MUST submit only one Microsoft WORD document containing both Sections A and B. For your ease, a format outline is also available on your blackboard.
• For this assignment work, you MUST provide your detailed computations along with the main file as appendix.
• For part B, the TEES VALLEY PARKERS (TVP) case study is provided as a separate document for ease of understanding; see the assignment folder.
• For the financial analysis part, A of the ECA, students can choose companies from any other database provided the company(s) chosen meets the requirement of this assignment.

Guidelines for Presentation of Assessed Work

Assignment Format

The detailed format can be found in the support outline in your learning material section. It includes sections such as:

• Title Page.
• Assignment.
• Reference List.
• Appendices (if applicable).

Title Page

This should contain the following information:

• Name of programme (and pathway if applicable).
• Your name, preferably in a larger font and highlighted.
• Module title (exactly as identified in your module guide or specification).
• Module code (exactly as identified in your module guide or specification).
• Module leader or group tutor.
• The assignment title.
• The date of submission.
• The word count of your report

The Assignment 

This should be presented as follows: 

• Text should be in a minimum of font size 12 in Arial.
• Line spacing of 1.5 (one and a half) as a minimum.
• Margin sizes should be the default ones used in Microsoft Word (usually 2.54 cm left and right, 2.54 cm top and bottom).
• A clear gap should be left between paragraphs to make it clear where they start and end.
• Each page should be numbered as a minimum standard.  As you become more skilled in word processing, you are encouraged to include a header or footer that includes your name and the module code.
• All work must be proofread, and spell checked to rectify spelling and typographical errors.
• You should use an appropriate academic writing style.
• Part a and Part b clearly outlined.

The Reference List This should: 

• Start on a new page entitled ‘Reference List’ rather than ‘Bibliography’.
• Not include a separate bibliography.
• Be presented with a clear gap between references.
• Be presented following the University standard style format.  For guidance see
• References information on the  Learning Hub site.

Appendices

These should be clearly numbered and appropriately referred to in your assignment and should not include information that is essential for the main body of the assignment.  Appendices should not be used as a device for getting around the word limit.

You are to submit your ECA assignment in the prescribed format to the Blackboard Ultra on or before Friday, 4 pm (UK Time), on January 09, 2026, as highlighted in the assessment section of the CMOF Ultra blackboard VLE. No extensions are planned.  The submission link will be made available by week 12.

ACC4043-N Assessment Criteria

The ECA assessment will be graded using the module ACC4043-N rubrics already uploaded to your blackboard in conjunction with the Generic University Level 7 Criteria included below.

Main Learning Outcomes addressed:

1. Develop a strategic understanding of the impact of a dynamic and challenging resource environment.
2. Develop the ability to select and apply appropriate operational and financial management techniques.
3. Examine the role of financial information in demonstrating accountability and performance.
4. Evaluate and appraise approaches to the management control of operations.
5. Critically apply theoretical perspectives to practical problems.
6. Analyse the role of finance and operations management and evaluate how they impact upon the main functional activities of an organisation and their management.
7. Demonstrate awareness of the legal and professional framework that governs financial management practice.
8. Demonstrate an ability to apply operations and financial models to assist organisational management and control.
9. Successfully apply a range of appropriate approaches to learning.
10. Select and apply appropriate computational skills.

Submission date: Submit electronically to the Blackboard by Wednesday, 09th of January 2026, 4 pm UK Time. Please do not plan for an extension.

Feedback would be provided within 20 working days from the submission date.

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