Prepare a CORE analysis of a listed company of your choice (it should not be a company that you have used for a previous assignment in this module). Your analysis should be presented in REPORT FORMAT and focus on the financial performance and position of the company over the last four years using data from the ‘Annual Report and Financial Statements’. In assessing the financial performance and position of your chosen company, you are required to calculate and interpret a minimum of ten ratios to include profitability, efficiency, liquidity and financial gearing. Maximum word limit: 2,500 words (excluding appendices). This will contribute 75% to your individual mark.

§ Prepare a self-reflective discussion outlining your reflections on why you did not achieve a pass mark on first submission and what you have done differently in preparing your individual resit CORE analysis. Maximum word limit: 1,000 words. This will contribute 25% to your individual mark.

Guidance in the preparation of your assessment:

1. Please present your work in Arial font, size 12, double line spacing.

2. Please indicate the word count of both parts of your assignment on the front cover of your submission.

3. All ratio definitions and assumptions made in your report should be stated clearly and provided in an Appendix.

4. All materials used in the preparation of your analysis should be clearly referenced using the Harvard style1 (for example, reference to academic articles, books, newspaper articles or analyst reports).

5. Marks will be awarded for:

a. evidence of independent research carried out, particularly in the context of the external and internal context discussion;

b. calculations and interpretation of relevant financial ratios;

c. conclusions reached.

Guidelines – Suggested Report Format

Accounting and Finance: Assessment

Executive summary

This section should summarise the objective of the report, how you went about your analysis, your main findings and any key recommendations/issues that your report has identified.

Introduction

This section should summarize some brief details of the company you have chosen and how you are going to conduct your analysis.

Main body of the report

CORE Analysis

A significant part of your report will be devoted to undertaking an analysis of the listed company of your choice using the CORE analysis:

· Context (C)

· Overview (O)

· Ratios (R)

· Evaluation (E)

· You should use appendices to include the detailed ratios, definitions, workings etc.

Appendices

This section should contain the definitions for all ratios calculated and the detailed ratio calculations.

References

This section should contain a list of all references (in alphabetical order) that you have specifically referred to in your assignment. Please ensure that all references are referenced using the Harvard style2