Assignment Requirements

Please follow this instruction: 1. Key Information Module/Unit title: Financial Analysis and Management Module Leader: Dr. Sudesh Sangray All modules are delivered by the University of Chester at its main campuses in the UK. In the unlikely event of any discrepancy between the Academic Regulations and any other publication, including this module guide, the Academic Regulations, as the definitive document, take precedence over all other publications and will be applied in all cases. 2. Introduction to the Module The module provides students with a comprehensive overview and understanding of the strategic management of finances and financial concepts within an organisation and of the relationship between management decisions related to financial matters and other conceptual values within financial planning areas as well as to business performance. As such the module is aimed at developing the critical understanding of the role of financial principles and their utilisation in an organisation at the strategic level and their impact at the level of decision-making within organisations. Students are introduced to the financial focussed toolkit, which supports their critical awareness and understanding of the management of financial responsibilities in a business. The module explores, evaluates and differentiates between the three main types of decision and decision making facing finance managers, namely: investment decision making, financing decision making and dividend decisions. In evaluating these types of decisions and their rationale the ways in which financial analysis contributes to our understanding of financial decision making is explored and this is used to illustrate and evaluate how decision making issues and outcomes are interconnected and interrelated with key principles of finance namely the time value of money; the risk-return trade-off; cash flows as a source of value and market prices and their reflection and relationship to information. The module also discusses and considers the relationship of strategic financial principles and decision making to the regulatory framework of accounting, the analysis of financial statements, and investment analysis and ethics in accounting. This module is therefore aimed at enabling students to understand the financial decision-making process and to interpret the impact financial decisions will have on value creation in an organisation or business context 3. Intended Learning Outcomes Chester University modules are taught on the basis of intended learning outcomes and that, on successful completion of the module, students will be expected to be able to demonstrate they have met those outcomes. • LO1: Compare, contrast, and critically evaluate comparative models of business performance and interpret findings within the finance related decision making frameworks with a demonstrable understanding of the limitations of the models. • LO2: Define and discuss the key concept(s) and models underpinning successful business organisations • LO3: Comprehend the key functions of financial related data and be able to systematically and effectively interpret and form critical judgements on data and formulate reports on their findings • LO4: Discuss and analyse the time value of money concept and provide supporting calculations, including the measurement and treatment of risk • LO5: Analyse, and interpret financial accounting reports and relate this analysis to the formulation of Financial Strategy and financial decision making • LO6: Identify, analyse and solve financial problems confronting business enterprises, particularly problems relating to corporate investment and make appropriate recommendations. 4. Outline Delivery Session Lecture Student-managed learning 1 Financial Statement Coverage of Assessment. Chapter 1 of the recommended text. Students should also obtain and cursory read any weekend edition of the Financial Times, London Edition and bring a copy to class for discussion. The above learning satisfies the requirement for the intended Learning Outcome 5. 2 Sources of Finance Weighted Average Cost of Capital Capital Structure Chapter 5 of the recommended text in preparation for class-based exercises. The above learning satisfies the requirement for the intended Learning Outcome 3. 3 Investment Appraisal. Chapter 1 and 3 of the recommended text. The above learning satisfies the requirement for the intended Learning Outcome 1 and 6. 4 Capital Structure continued… Working Capital Management The Dividend Decision Chapter 16 and 17 of the recommended text. The above learning satisfies the requirement for the intended Learning Outcome 1. 5 Risk Management and Options Trading Students should extract and bring along copies of the Financial Times LIFFE tables. The above learning satisfies the requirement for the intended Learning Outcome 3. 4.1 Attendance Requirements 100% attendance is required. Attending all your classes is very important and one of the best ways to help you succeed in this module. In accordance with acceptable standards of student behaviour, you are expected to arrive on time and take an active part in all your timetabled classes. University of Chester will closely monitor the attendance of all students and will contact you by e-mail if you have been absent without notice for two weeks. Continued absence can result in various consequences including the termination of your registration as you will be considered to have withdrawn from your studies. International students who are non-EEA nationals and in possession of entry clearance/leave to remain as a student (student visa) are required to be in regular attendance at Chester University. Failure to do so is considered to be a breach of national immigration regulations. Chester University, like all British Universities, is statutorily obliged to inform the UK Border Agency of the Home Office of significant unauthorised absences by any student visa holders. 5. Assessment There are two different types of assignment (both of which are worth 50% of the total marks): • Written assessment (50%) • One 2-hour exam (50%) 5.1 Written assignment 1. Assignment Question: 1. Assignment Question: 1. Your are required to select any two (2) companies within any of the following sectors: i. Hospitality ii. Real Estate iii. Automobile iv. Pharmaceutical v. Mining 2. Using an appropriate financial platform (such Financial Analysis Made Easy – FAME; OSIRIS; Morning Star; Annual Reports etc.), obtain financial relevant information for each of your chosen companies for a period of 5years (say 2009-2013). 3. Extract the following financial ratios (or the necessary information to calculate the ratios), for each company over a period of 5 years: i. Profitability Ratios [Any 3 ratios] ii. Liquidity Ratios [Any 2 ratios] iii Gearing Ratios. [Any number] iii. Investment Ratios [Any 2 ratios] 4. Critically examine the performance of the two companies using the ratios extracted over the period under consideration (use graphs of the ratios extracted to support your analysis). Recommend the best company for investment (with the necessary justifications) 5. What are the main weaknesses associated with such analysis? 6 Your individual report should : Business Report The Business Report is an opportunity for you to apply some of your learning from the module to your chosen organisation. Your Business Report must be focused on your chosen organisations. The main focus of your research must be an analysis / evaluation of the relevant ratios and concepts studied in this module in the context of your chosen organisations. Your actual choice of what to research for your Business Report will depend on the access you have to internal and external sources of information within your chosen sector organisation. To produce a successful Business Report you have to evaluate and /or analyse information from a range of academic, professional and business sources to attach meaning to what you have found, or when making a judgement or coming to a conclusion 7. Presentation A Business Report may be presented in whichever format appears to be most suitable for supporting the analysis, arguments, conclusions and recommendations. Make sure the accounting theories and business models you are applying are consistent with your objectives. Tables, graphs, business reports and charts are a convenient way of organising your findings, help you analyse data and makes it easier for the marker to understand your findings. Provide evidence of analysis to show that you understand how to link an organisation’s business activities to its performance – you must discuss why and because. In the analysis identify weaknesses in the way and organisation is being run. Providing recommendations at the end of the Business Report is a way of demonstrating that you understand the issues affecting the organisation as how they can be dealt with. 8. Assessment Requirements: The submission of your work assessment should be organised and clearly structured in a report format. Maximum word length allowed is 2000 words, excluding words in charts & tables and in the appendices section of your assignment. Student is required to submit a type-written document in Microsoft Word format with Times New Roman font type, size 12 and line spacing 1.5. This assignment is worth 50% of the final assessment of the module. Indicate the sources of information and literature review by including all the necessary citations and references adopting the Harvard Referencing System. Students who have been found to have committed acts of Plagiarism are automatically considered to have failed the entire module. If found to have breached the regulation for the second time, you will be asked to leave the course. Plagiarism involves taking someone else’s words, thoughts, ideas or essays from online essay banks and trying to pass them off as your own. It is a form of cheating which is taken very seriously. Topic Learning Outcome Possible Marks What the examiners will assess Use of an appropriate financial platform LO3 10 Students should demonstrate an ability to discriminate between the necessary and un-necessary detail in the financial statements and then extract, through accessing the appropriate software, the financial statements of the required firms. Use of financial ratios LO1 25 Students need to be able to apply and manipulate ratio models from the perspective of management decisions. Critical examination the performance of the two companies LO5 25 Students need to provide a clear demonstration, through application of the models, as to how the respective companies are performing. Justified recommendations LO6 15 Students need to highlight adverse performance and advise on pragmatic corrective action that company management can take. Evaluation and /or analyse information from a range of academic, professional and business sources LO6 10 Students need to provide a context for the above in the light of contemporary business practices and as reported in the financial pages. Post Report Reflection (Learning Statement) LO1 5 Students need to demonstrate a clear and thorough of the limitations of the models and how they may still be effectively utilised in the context of these limitations. Presentation 10 Total Mark 100 9. Report Structure • Table of Contents • Introduction • The Context of Your Chosen Organisations (2 firms within the sectors given) • Main Body – (Ratio Analysis for the two firms over the period under consideration) • Research into Existing Literature Synthesised With Analysis And Evaluation Of Examples from the Chosen Organisation • Conclusion and Recommendations • Post Report Reflection (Learning Statement) • References • Appendix The assessment weighting for the assignment is 50%. Submission of the assignment: • Date: • Procedure: o All assignments must be submitted online via the Turnitin platform. • Late work: A late submission of an assignment attracts a penalty of 10% per day. Feedback You are entitled to feedback on your performance for all your assessed work. For all assessment tasks which are not examinations, this is provided by a member of academic staff completing the assignment coversheet on which your mark and feedback will relate to the achievement of the module’s intended learning outcomes and the assessment criteria you were given for the task when it was first issued. Examination scripts are retained by University of Chester and are not returned to students. However, you are entitled to feedback on your performance in an examination and may request a meeting with the Module Leader or Tutor to see your examination script and to discuss your performance. University of Chester is committed to providing you with feedback in a timely manner. This may be extended in the case of feedback for a Major Project module (please note that working days excludes those days when University of Chester is officially closed; eg: between Christmas and New Year and in breaks between terms). It is important to note that, in these cases, the marks for these pieces of work are unconfirmed until after the DAP (see below). This means that, potentially, marks can change, in either direction! 6. How is My Work Marked? After you have handed your work in or you have completed an examination, University of Chester undertakes a series of activities to assure that our marking processes are comparable with those employed at other universities in the UK and that your work has been marked fairly and honestly. These include: • Anonymous marking – your name is not attached to your work so, at the point of marking, the lecturer does not know whose work he/she is considering. When you undertake an assessment task where your identity is known (eg: a presentation or Major Project), it is marked by more than one lecturer (known as double marking) • Internal moderation – a sample of all work for each assessment task in each module is moderated by other University of Chester staff to check the marking standards and consistency of the marking • External moderation – a sample of student work for all modules is moderated by external examiners – experienced academic staff from other universities (and sometimes practitioners who represent relevant professions) – who scrutinise your work and provide University of Chester academic staff with feedback, advice and assurance that the marking of your work is comparable to that in other UK universities. Many of the staff at University of Chester act as external examiners at other universities. 7. Assessment Offences As an academic community, we recognise that the principles of truth, honesty and mutual respect are central to the pursuit of knowledge. Behaviour that undermines those principles diminishes the community, both individually and collectively, and diminishes our values. We are committed to ensuring that every student and member of staff is made aware of the responsibilities s/he bears in maintaining the highest standards of academic integrity and how those standards are protected. You are reminded that any work that you submit must be your own. When you are preparing your work for submission, it is important that you understand the various academic conventions that you are expected to follow in order to make sure that you do not leave yourself open to accusations of plagiarism (eg: the correct use of referencing, citations, footnotes etc.) and that your work maintains its academic integrity. Definitions of Assessment Offences Plagiarism Plagiarism is theft and occurs when you present someone else’s work, words, images, ideas, opinions or discoveries, whether published or not, as your own. It is also when you take the artwork, images or computer-generated work of others, without properly acknowledging where this is from or you do this without their permission. You can commit plagiarism in examinations, but it is most likely to happen in coursework, assignments, portfolios, essays, dissertations and so on. Examples of plagiarism include: • directly copying from written work, physical work, performances, recorded work or images, without saying where this is from; • using information from the internet or electronic media (such as DVDs and CDs) which belongs to someone else, and presenting it as your own; • rewording someone else’s work, without referencing them; and • handing in something for assessment which has been produced by another student or person. It is important that you do not plagiarise – intentionally or unintentionally – because the work of others and their ideas are their own. There are benefits to producing original ideas in terms of awards, prizes, qualifications, reputation and so on. To use someone else’s work, words, images, ideas or discoveries is a form of theft. Collusion Collusion is similar to plagiarism as it is an attempt to present another’s work as your own. In plagiarism the original owner of the work is not aware you are using it, in collusion two or more people may be involved in trying to produce one piece of work to benefit one individual, or plagiarising another person’s work. Examples of collusion include: • agreeing with others to cheat; • getting someone else to produce part or all of your work; • copying the work of another person (with their permission); • submitting work from essay banks; • paying someone to produce work for you; and • allowing another student to copy your own work. Many parts of university life need students to work together. Working as a team, as directed by your tutor, and producing group work is not collusion. Collusion only happens if you produce joint work to benefit of one or more person and try to deceive another (for example the assessor). Cheating Cheating is when someone aims to get unfair advantage over others. Examples of cheating include: • taking unauthorised material into the examination room; • inventing results (including experiments, research, interviews and observations); • handing your own previously graded work back in; • getting an examination paper before it is released; • behaving in a way that means other students perform poorly; • pretending to be another student; and • trying to bribe members of staff or examiners. Procedures for assessment offences An assessment offence is the general term used to define cases where a student has tried to get unfair academic advantage in an assessment for himself or herself or another student. We will fully investigate all cases of suspected assessment offences. If we prove that you have committed an assessment offence, an appropriate penalty will be imposed which, for the most serious offences, includes expulsion from University of Chester. For full details of our assessment offences policy and procedures, see the Academic Regulations. 9. Reading List Essential Reading • Brooks, R. (2009) Financial Management: Core Concepts, 1st edition, Pearson Education Recommended reading • Arnold, G. & Estrada, J. (2006) The Handbook of Corporate Finance, Prentice Hall • Block, S.B. & Hirt, G.A. (2008) Foundations of Financial Management, 12th edition, McGraw-Hill Education • Brealey, R. A., Myers, S.C. & Allen, F. (2008), Principles of Corporate Finance, 9th edition, McGraw-Hill • Drury C. Management & Cost Accounting (2007) 7th Edition Business Press Thomson Learning • Grundy, T. Exploring Strategic Financial Management (1998) FT/ Prentice Hall • Higgins, R. Analysis for Financial Management, I(2007) SE edition, McGraw-Hill Education • Neale& McElroy Business Finance A Value-Based Approach ( 2004) FT/ Prentice Hall • Neale, B. & Pike, R. Corporate Finance and Investment Decisions and Strategies, (2009) 6th edition, Prentice Hall • Proctor, R. Managerial Accounting for Business Decisions (2006) F/T Prentice Hall • Simon & Schuster Riahi- Belkaoui A. Accounting Theory 5th edition (2004) Thomson Learning • Titman, S., Martin, J. & Keown, A. Financial Management: Principles and Applications (2010) International Edition, 11th edition, Pearson Education Other: – Useful web Sites: – www.bloomberg.com – www.corporateinformation.com – www.hoovers.com – www.londonstockexchange.com – http://finance.yahoo.com/ – www.hemscott.com 10. Module Evaluation During the second half of the delivery of this module, you will be asked to complete a module evaluation questionnaire to help us obtain your views on all aspects of the module. This is an extremely important process which helps us to continue to improve the delivery of the module in the future and to respond to issues that you bring to our attention. The module report in section 11 of this module guide includes a section which comments on the feedback we received from other students who have studied this module previously. Your questionnaire response is anonymous. Please help us to help you and other students at University of Chester by completing the Module Evaluation process. We very much value our students’ views and it is very important to us that you provide feedback to help us make improvements

1. Key Information

Module/Unit title: Financial Analysis and Management

Module Leader: Dr. Sudesh Sangray

All modules are delivered by the University of Chester at its main campuses in the UK.

In the unlikely event of any discrepancy between the Academic Regulations and any other publication, including this module guide, the Academic Regulations, as the definitive document, take precedence over all other publications and will be applied in all cases.

2. Introduction to the Module

The module provides students with a comprehensive overview and understanding of the strategic management of finances and financial concepts within an organisation and of the relationship between management decisions related to financial matters and other conceptual values within financial planning areas as well as to business performance. As such the module is aimed at developing the critical understanding of the role of financial principles and their utilisation in an organisation at the strategic level and their impact at the level of decision-making within organisations. Students are introduced to the financial focussed toolkit, which supports their critical awareness and understanding of the management of financial responsibilities in a business.

The module explores, evaluates and differentiates between the three main types of decision and decision making facing finance managers, namely: investment decision making, financing decision making and dividend decisions. In evaluating these types of decisions and their rationale the ways in which financial analysis contributes to our understanding of financial decision making is explored and this is used to illustrate and evaluate how decision making issues and outcomes are interconnected and interrelated with key principles of finance namely the time value of money; the risk-return trade-off; cash flows as a source of value and market prices and their reflection and relationship to information.

The module also discusses and considers the relationship of strategic financial principles and decision making to the regulatory framework of accounting, the analysis of financial statements, and investment analysis and ethics in accounting. This module is therefore aimed at enabling students to understand the financial decision-making process and to interpret the impact financial decisions will have on value creation in an organisation or business context

3. Intended Learning Outcomes

Chester University modules are taught on the basis of intended learning outcomes and that, on successful completion of the module, students will be expected to be able to demonstrate they have met those outcomes.

LO1: Compare, contrast, and critically evaluate comparative models of business performance and interpret findings within the finance related decision making frameworks with a demonstrable understanding of the limitations of the models.
LO2: Define and discuss the key concept(s) and models underpinning successful business organisations
LO3: Comprehend the key functions of financial related data and be able to systematically and effectively interpret and form critical judgements on data and formulate reports on their findings
LO4: Discuss and analyse the time value of money concept and provide supporting calculations, including the measurement and treatment of risk
LO5: Analyse, and interpret financial accounting reports and relate this analysis to the formulation of Financial Strategy and financial decision making
LO6: Identify, analyse and solve financial problems confronting business enterprises, particularly problems relating to corporate investment and make appropriate recommendations.

4. Outline Delivery

Session

Lecture

Student-managed learning

Financial Statement

Coverage of Assessment.

Chapter 1 of the recommended text. Students should also obtain and cursory read any weekend edition of the Financial Times, London Edition and bring a copy to class for discussion.

The above learning satisfies the requirement for the intended Learning Outcome 5.

Sources of Finance

Weighted Average Cost of Capital

Capital Structure

Chapter 5 of the recommended text in preparation for class-based exercises.

The above learning satisfies the requirement for the intended Learning Outcome 3.

Investment Appraisal.

Chapter 1 and 3 of the recommended text.

The above learning satisfies the requirement for the intended Learning Outcome 1 and 6.

Capital Structure continued…

Working Capital Management

The Dividend Decision

Chapter 16 and 17 of the recommended text.

The above learning satisfies the requirement for the intended Learning Outcome 1.

Risk Management and Options Trading

Students should extract and bring along copies of the Financial Times LIFFE tables.

The above learning satisfies the requirement for the intended Learning Outcome 3.

4.1 Attendance Requirements

100% attendance is required.

Attending all your classes is very important and one of the best ways to help you succeed in this module. In accordance with acceptable standards of student behaviour, you are expected to arrive on time and take an active part in all your timetabled classes.

University of Chester will closely monitor the attendance of all students and will contact you by e-mail if you have been absent without notice for two weeks. Continued absence can result in various consequences including the termination of your registration as you will be considered to have withdrawn from your studies.

International students who are non-EEA nationals and in possession of entry clearance/leave to remain as a student (student visa) are required to be in regular attendance at Chester University. Failure to do so is considered to be a breach of national immigration regulations. Chester University, like all British Universities, is statutorily obliged to inform the UK Border Agency of the Home Office of significant unauthorised absences by any student visa holders.

5. Assessment

There are two different types of assignment (both of which are worth 50% of the total marks):

Written assessment (50%)
One 2-hour exam (50%)

5.1 Written assignment

1. Assignment Question:

Your are required to select any two (2) companies within any of the following

sectors:

Hospitality
Real Estate
Automobile
Pharmaceutical
Mining

Using an appropriate financial platform (such Financial Analysis Made Easy – FAME; OSIRIS; Morning Star; Annual Reports etc.), obtain financial relevant information for each of your chosen companies for a period of 5years (say 2009-2013).

Extract the following financial ratios (or the necessary information to calculate the ratios), for each company over a period of 5 years:

i. Profitability Ratios [Any 3 ratios]

ii. Liquidity Ratios [Any 2 ratios]

iii Gearing Ratios. [Any number]

iii. Investment Ratios [Any 2 ratios]

Critically examine the performance of the two companies using the ratios extracted over the period under consideration (use graphs of the ratios extracted to support your analysis). Recommend the best company for investment (with the necessary justifications)

What are the main weaknesses associated with such analysis?

6 Your individual report should : Business Report

The Business Report is an opportunity for you to apply some of your learning from the module to your chosen organisation. Your Business Report must be focused on your chosen organisations. The main focus of your research must be an analysis / evaluation of the relevant ratios and concepts studied in this module in the context of your chosen organisations. Your actual choice of what to research for your Business Report will depend on the access you have to internal and external sources of information within your chosen sector organisation.

To produce a successful Business Report you have to evaluate and /or analyse information from a range of academic, professional and business sources to attach meaning to what you have found, or when making a judgement or coming to a conclusion

7. Presentation

A Business Report may be presented in whichever format appears to be most suitable for supporting the analysis, arguments, conclusions and recommendations. Make sure the accounting theories and business models you are applying are consistent with your objectives. Tables, graphs, business reports and charts are a convenient way of organising your findings, help you analyse data and makes it easier for the marker to understand your findings. Provide evidence of analysis to show that you understand how to link an organisation’s business activities to its performance – you must discuss why and because.

In the analysis identify weaknesses in the way and organisation is being run. Providing recommendations at the end of the Business Report is a way of demonstrating that you understand the issues affecting the organisation as how they can be dealt with.

8. Assessment Requirements:

The submission of your work assessment should be organised and clearly structured in a report format. Maximum word length allowed is 2000 words, excluding words in charts & tables and in the appendices section of your assignment. Student is required to submit a type-written document in Microsoft Word format with Times New Roman font type, size 12 and line spacing 1.5.This assignment is worth 50% of the final assessment of the module.

Indicate the sources of information and literature review by including all the necessary citations and references adopting the Harvard Referencing System. Students who have been found to have committed acts of Plagiarism are automatically considered to have failed the entire module. If found to have breached the regulation for the second time, you will be asked to leave the

Plagiarism involves taking someone else’s words, thoughts, ideas or essays from online essay banks and trying to pass them off as your own. It is a form of cheating which is taken very seriously.

Topic	Learning Outcome	Possible Marks	What the examiners will assess
Use of an appropriate financial platform	LO3	10	Students should demonstrate an ability to discriminate between the necessary and un-necessary detail in the financial statements and then extract, through accessing the appropriate software, the financial statements of the required firms.
Use of financial ratios	LO1	25	Students need to be able to apply and manipulate ratio models from the perspective of management decisions.
Critical examination the performance of the two companies	LO5	25	Students need to provide a clear demonstration, through application of the models, as to how the respective companies are performing.
Justified recommendations	LO6	15	Students need to highlight adverse performance and advise on pragmatic corrective action that company management can take.
Evaluation and /or analyse information from a range of academic, professional and business sources	LO6	10	Students need to provide a context for the above in the light of contemporary business practices and as reported in the financial pages.
Post Report Reflection (Learning Statement)	LO1	5	Students need to demonstrate a clear and thorough of the limitations of the models and how they may still be effectively utilised in the context of these limitations.
Presentation		10
Total Mark	100

9. Report Structure

Table of Contents
Introduction
The Context of Your Chosen Organisations (2 firms within the sectors given)
Main Body – (Ratio Analysis for the two firms over the period under consideration)
Research into Existing Literature Synthesised With Analysis And Evaluation Of Examples from the Chosen Organisation
Conclusion and Recommendations
Post Report Reflection (Learning Statement)
References
Appendix

The assessment weighting for the assignment is 50%.

Submission of the assignment:

Date:

Procedure:

o All assignments must be submitted online via the Turnitin platform.

Late work: A late submission of an assignment attracts a penalty of 10% per day.

Feedback

You are entitled to feedback on your performance for all your assessed work. For all assessment tasks which are not examinations, this is provided by a member of academic staff completing the assignment coversheet on which your mark and feedback will relate to the achievement of the module’s intended learning outcomes and the assessment criteria you were given for the task when it was first issued.

Examination scripts are retained by University of Chester and are not returned to students. However, you are entitled to feedback on your performance in an examination and may request a meeting with the Module Leader or Tutor to see your examination script and to discuss your performance.

University of Chester is committed to providing you with feedback in a timely manner. This may be extended in the case of feedback for a Major Project module (please note that working days excludes those days when University of Chester is officially closed; eg: between Christmas and New Year and in breaks between terms).

It is important to note that, in these cases, the marks for these pieces of work are unconfirmed until after the DAP (see below). This means that, potentially, marks can change, in either direction!

6. How is My Work Marked?

After you have handed your work in or you have completed an examination, University of Chester undertakes a series of activities to assure that our marking processes are comparable with those employed at other universities in the UK and that your work has been marked fairly and honestly. These include:

Anonymous marking – your name is not attached to your work so, at the point of marking, the lecturer does not know whose work he/she is considering. When you undertake an assessment task where your identity is known (eg: a presentation or Major Project), it is marked by more than one lecturer (known as double marking)

Internal moderation – a sample of all work for each assessment task in each module is moderated by other University of Chester staff to check the marking standards and consistency of the marking

External moderation – a sample of student work for all modules is moderated by external examiners – experienced academic staff from other universities (and sometimes practitioners who represent relevant professions) – who scrutinise your work and provide University of Chester academic staff with feedback, advice and assurance that the marking of your work is comparable to that in other UK universities. Many of the staff at University of Chester act as external examiners at other universities.

7. Assessment Offences

As an academic community, we recognise that the principles of truth, honesty and mutual respect are central to the pursuit of knowledge. Behaviour that undermines those principles diminishes the community, both individually and collectively, and diminishes our values. We are committed to ensuring that every student and member of staff is made aware of the responsibilities s/he bears in maintaining the highest standards of academic integrity and how those standards are protected.

You are reminded that any work that you submit must be your own. When you are preparing your work for submission, it is important that you understand the various academic conventions that you are expected to follow in order to make sure that you do not leave yourself open to accusations of plagiarism (eg: the correct use of referencing, citations, footnotes etc.) and that your work maintains its academic integrity.

Definitions of Assessment Offences

Plagiarism

Plagiarism is theft and occurs when you present someone else’s work, words, images, ideas, opinions or discoveries, whether published or not, as your own. It is also when you take the artwork, images or computer-generated work of others, without properly acknowledging where this is from or you do this without their permission.

You can commit plagiarism in examinations, but it is most likely to happen in coursework, assignments, portfolios, essays, dissertations and so on.

Examples of plagiarism include:

directly copying from written work, physical work, performances, recorded work or images, without saying where this is from;
using information from the internet or electronic media (such as DVDs and CDs) which belongs to someone else, and presenting it as your own;
rewording someone else’s work, without referencing them; and
handing in something for assessment which has been produced by another student or person.

It is important that you do not plagiarise – intentionally or unintentionally – because the work of others and their ideas are their own. There are benefits to producing original ideas in terms of awards, prizes, qualifications, reputation and so on. To use someone else’s work, words, images, ideas or discoveries is a form of theft.

Collusion

Collusion is similar to plagiarism as it is an attempt to present another’s work as your own. In plagiarism the original owner of the work is not aware you are using it, in collusion two or more people may be involved in trying to produce one piece of work to benefit one individual, or plagiarising another person’s work.

Examples of collusion include:

agreeing with others to cheat;
getting someone else to produce part or all of your work;
copying the work of another person (with their permission);
submitting work from essay banks;
paying someone to produce work for you; and
allowing another student to copy your own work.

Many parts of university life need students to work together. Working as a team, as directed by your tutor, and producing group work is not collusion. Collusion only happens if you produce joint work to benefit of one or more person and try to deceive another (for example the assessor).

Cheating

Cheating is when someone aims to get unfair advantage over others.

Examples of cheating include:

taking unauthorised material into the examination room;
inventing results (including experiments, research, interviews and observations);
handing your own previously graded work back in;
getting an examination paper before it is released;
behaving in a way that means other students perform poorly;
pretending to be another student; and
trying to bribe members of staff or examiners.

Procedures for assessment offences

An assessment offence is the general term used to define cases where a student has tried to get unfair academic advantage in an assessment for himself or herself or another student.

We will fully investigate all cases of suspected assessment offences. If we prove that you have committed an assessment offence, an appropriate penalty will be imposed which, for the most serious offences, includes expulsion from University of Chester. For full details of our assessment offences policy and procedures, see the Academic Regulations.

9. Reading List

Essential Reading

ü Brooks, R. (2009) Financial Management: Core Concepts, 1st edition, Pearson Education

Recommended reading

ü Arnold, G. & Estrada, J. (2006) The Handbook of Corporate Finance, Prentice Hall

ü Block, S.B. & Hirt, G.A. (2008) Foundations of Financial Management, 12th edition, McGraw-Hill Education

ü Brealey, R. A., Myers, S.C. & Allen, F. (2008), Principles of Corporate Finance, 9th edition, McGraw-Hill

ü Drury C. Management & Cost Accounting (2007) 7th Edition Business Press Thomson Learning

ü Grundy, T. Exploring Strategic Financial Management (1998) FT/ Prentice Hall

ü Higgins, R. Analysis for Financial Management, I(2007) SE edition, McGraw-Hill Education

ü Neale& McElroy Business Finance A Value-Based Approach ( 2004) FT/ Prentice Hall

ü Neale, B. & Pike, R. Corporate Finance and Investment Decisions and Strategies, (2009) 6th edition, Prentice Hall

ü Proctor, R. Managerial Accounting for Business Decisions (2006) F/T Prentice Hall

ü Simon & Schuster Riahi- Belkaoui A. Accounting Theory 5th edition (2004) Thomson Learning

ü Titman, S., Martin, J. & Keown, A. Financial Management: Principles and Applications (2010) International Edition, 11th edition, Pearson Education

Other:

– Useful web Sites:

– www.bloomberg.com

– www.corporateinformation.com

– www.hoovers.com

– www.londonstockexchange.com

– http://finance.yahoo.com/

– www.hemscott.com

10. Module Evaluation

During the second half of the delivery of this module, you will be asked to complete a module evaluation questionnaire to help us obtain your views on all aspects of the module.

This is an extremely important process which helps us to continue to improve the delivery of the module in the future and to respond to issues that you bring to our attention. The module report in section 11 of this module guide includes a section which comments on the feedback we received from other students who have studied this module previously.

Your questionnaire response is anonymous.

Please help us to help you and other students at University of Chester by completing the Module Evaluation process. We very much value our students’ views and it is very important to us that you provide feedback to help us make improvements.

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