Coursework assignment
Sainsbury’s
You are required to:
· Obtain the company’s financial statements for, at least, the last three years.
· Reformulate the company’s most recent balance sheet and income statement, and discuss the company’s strategy that informed by the reformulated financial statements.
o You may need to make subjective decisions in reformulating the financial statements. Please use notes to explain how a particular item is reformulated
· Conduct common-size, trend, and ratio analysis, and interpret the results.
· You should choose another company from the same sector of your case company as a benchmark in your analysis. You do not need the tutor’s approval for the choice of this benchmark company
1. What should be included in the written report
· An introduction to the company (refer to lecture 1 for the framework of “knowing the business”)
· Two parts of analysis and interpretation: reformulated financial statement analysis, and common-size, trend, and ratio analysis.
With ratio analysis, you are expected not just to calculate the key profitability ratios, such as return on capital employed (ROCE), but also to explore the drivers of profitability.
Non-financial information should be incorporated into your interpretation.
The notes explaining the calculation of particular items and ratios should be provided.
· Concluding on the company’s profitability from the viewpoint of shareholders
· Bibliography: sources of the data including those of non-financial information
· Between 3,000 and 4,000 words (excluding bibliography and appendices). It must not exceed 4,000 words.
· Typed/processed in 1.5 line spacing, and Times New Roman 12-point font.
Assessment criteria for written report
The report will be marked according to the following criteria:
· The proper preparation and interpretation of reformulated financial statements (30%);
· The proper calculation and analysis of the ratios (30%);
· The use of non-financial information in the analysis (10%);
· The introduction to the company (knowing the business) (10%);
· The clarity and structure of the presentation, including bibliography and adhering to word limit (20%).
