Part A – Financial Analysis – 40 Marks
Produce an informal report not exceeding 2000 words (excluding reference and appendices) which: Evaluate the performance of your chosen company in any industry/sector of your choice, excluding the financial institutions. 1. Describe its operating context within its industry. 2. Using at least 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 Fame database or other information sources for comparative data can be used provided a formula of how each ratio was calculated is shown in your work).
Part B – Managing Operations – 60 Marks
ELEGANCE LOCAL LTD is a perfume manufacturing company, with great potential. But 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. 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 role of Management Accounting in the management process and identify the major differences between management accounting and financial accounting. Employ appropriate techniques to analyse and explain how different models of costing could be used in operational management. 2. Employ capital investment appraisal techniques in selecting projects and critically discuss the techniques in making investment decisions. 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 discuss the usefulness of the Balanced Scorecard Approach and prepare an example of a Balanced Scorecard for the case study organisation. 5. As this is an academic writeup, we expect a minimum of 20 references for this