This is an individual assignment of 4,000 words
Briefing:
Students should select three of the topics from (chapters in the study guide) that have been studied on this course and evaluate how well the theories discussed in the three chapters you choose are demonstrated in practice by the UK based supermarket chain J Sainsbury plc ( http://www.jsainsburys.co.uk/ ).
Chapters (topics) are: agency theory, market efficiency, investment appraisal, sources of finance, capital structure, dividend policy, risk, and so on
Requirement:
Write a report to critically evaluate the Financial Management policies and practices of J Sainsbury plc over the last five years. (4,000 words)
The University policy on cheating collusion and plagiarism will be applied to this piece of work.
Helpful Hints:
Whilst students are encouraged to be inquisitive and innovative in their approach as to what should be included in this report the following may be of some use in providing guidance as to what could possibly be included, although this is in no way meant to be prescriptive.
The aim of the assignment is to help you understand how key areas of finance theory are demonstrated in practice by a quoted company. This will include investigating three topics that you select from throughout the course; agency theory, market efficiency, investment appraisal, sources of finance, capital structure, dividend policy, risk, and so on.
You will have to choose your topics with care as you will find more information available for you to write about some topics than others. You should try and identify the theories that you wish to explore in depth and then examine the financial statements and any other documents that you can find for evidence that will support of disprove the theories that you have selected.
You may have to spend a significant amount of time on the initial analysis of the information available to you e.g. Financial Statements. A review of the Financial Statements of Sainsburys plc over the last five years should help you to identify the key areas that you should choose.
With 4,000 words you do not have a lot of room for long introductions to the company and so on. Consequently you can assume you are writing to a sophisticated audience who has a good knowledge of accounting practices, finance theory and the operation of the stock market.
Whilst the skills you should have previously learned such as analysing financial statements will be of use, this piece of work should NOT have such analysis as the main thrust of the work, but should only be used (if at all) to provide evidence to support your findings from your other analysis of your chosen company. Finally I would encourage you to make good use of graphs and tables to present key information and don’t forget to reference everything!
I would make the following observations. Students who reproduce lots of financial information verbatim, or who include calculations in the body of the report will not score highly. Students who produce descriptive analysis rather than insightful and critical analysis will not score highly. An example of this that we often come across is students who have included a table or graph in the body of their work and then go on to describe the table or graph in words. E.g ‘it goes up in the first two years, before going down in the third year, and then goes back up after that. It would be far more important (and hopefully interesting) to ask the question WHY did it go down in the third year? You may not be able to come to a definitive answer, but asking the question is a good first step.
You will find lots of helpful information readily available to you on the internet: http://www.londonstockexchange.com
http://uk.finance.yahoo.com/
http://www.jsainsburys.co.uk/ and then follow the link to Reports. Accounts are available going back to 1989 in the archive section!
Hope this helps.
Marking Guide
The learning outcomes for this module are:
LEARNING OUTCOMES:
On successful completion of the module the student will have:
Knowledge
1. Examined and critically evaluated the key strategic decisions that a business may have to make and appreciated how accounting and finance can assist in making and evaluating those decisions.
2. A critical understanding of specific analytical skills in key decision areas within strategy and finance at local and international level
3. A critical understanding of the limitations of the current state of financial theory in making strategic business decisions
Skills
4. Applied the key valuation concepts and methodologies of financial decision making in order to contribute to the wider decision making of the organisation
In light of this we will be using the following marking grid when assessing your work.
Credit:ivythesis.typepad.com
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