This is an individual project where each student will choose an organization with publicly-available financial statements and will analyze those statements
- You should perform both Horizontal and Vertical analysis on your chosen F/S as described in Chapter 14 of our textbook. With 3 years of F/S data your analysis of this can be a bit richer but 2 years is also acceptable.Sample Horizontal and Vertical analysis will be provided.
- You should include calculations of all key ratios you choose to cover. Each ratio should state the formula you are using and should be calculated using cells in Excel (so that these can be easily checked). Only ratios described in Chapter 14 of our textbook should be analyzed. (seen in file)
COMM 211/611 Project (Individual) – Financial Analysis (15% of overall grade) Preamble: Please re-read the project description as stated in our course syllabus (repeated in the box below). This is an individual project where each student will choose an organization with publicly-available financial statements and will analyze those statements using concepts covered in class. Due date: April 3, 2020 at 11:59pm. Project Parameters: · Submit 1 MS Excel document and 1 Word (or PDF) document · EXCEL: Include (i.e. type in) the financial statements (F/S) in Excel that are required to complete your analysis. At a minimum, you should type into Excel the Statement of Financial Position (2 or 3 years) as well as Income Statement (2 or 3 years). Keep in mind for turnover ratios, you need to find certain average balances and that’s why you may need 3 years of F/S. · You should perform both Horizontal and Vertical analysis on your chosen F/S as described in Chapter 14 of our textbook. With 3 years of F/S data your analysis of this can be a bit richer but 2 years is also acceptable. Sample Horizontal and Vertical analysis will be provided. · You should include calculations of all key ratios you choose to cover. Each ratio should state the formula you are using and should be calculated using cells in Excel (so that these can be easily checked). Only ratios described in Chapter 14 of our textbook should be analyzed. · Suggestion: Try using one Excel worksheet for the F/S themselves, and another worksheet for Horizontal Analysis, one for Vertical Analysis, one for Liquidity analysis, one for Solvency analysis, and one for Profitability analysis. · Strong submissions will include Horizontal & Vertical analysis as well as all or almost all financial ratios as described in Chapter 14 of our textbook. There is no requirement to calculate all ratios, especially if there is missing data. If you are unable to calculate a ratio, you could note the formula and state that you are unable to calculate it and why. · WORD: The report should be four (4) pages or less. Any font, spacing and margins are acceptable. A Title Page and/or Table of Contents, while not required, will not be counted as part of your content. References will not be counted as part of your content. · No citation is required for materials taken from the Annual Report of your organization, however, any other outside material must be acknowledged. There are no formatting requirements for references. (These could be APA style or footnotes within WORD, etc). · Include a link to the website where you downloaded your F/S or 10-K report. You can find F/S on SEDAR.com (Canadian public co’s) or EDGAR.com (US public co’s) or on the organization’s website, within their Annual Report (back half). · Include a brief statement as to why you chose this organization to analyze. How does it fit with your studies and/or interests? · You should discuss your Horizontal analysis, Vertical analysis, Liquidity analysis, Solvency analysis, and Profitability analysis in turn (and with reference to specific ratios you’ve calculated in Excel and what they’re telling you and why), and provide an overall conclusion on the financial health and direction of your chosen organization. · Critically analyze what you’re seeing: are you seeing strengths, weaknesses, improvement or worsening? What’s your opinion of what you’re seeing—how could you interpret it given your understanding of the organization? · You may include some comparisons to either industry averages (if you can find these) or to a competitor; however this is not required. Examples of this can be found in Chapter 14 (done with HBC and Dollarama and Industry average). As stated in our course syllabus: Each student will choose one organization with publicly available financial statements. The organization can be for-profit (i.e. publicly traded) or not-for-profit. I encourage you to choose an organization that relates to your field of study. For instance, if you are studying Geological Engineering then you may choose a mining company. If you’re studying Global Development Studies then you are encouraged to choose a not-for-profit organization whose work relates to your field (e.g. water access) or a social enterprise. Each student will individually analyze the financial strengths and weaknesses of their chosen organization using the financial analysis concepts covered in our course. To do so, students must obtain the most recent financial statements for the organization. Financial statements can be found in the last half of the organization’s Annual Report, which is available from the organization’s website. Students must use comparative analysis and ratio analysis as described in our course to analyze this organization’s financial statements, and provide their own analysis of what key ratios and trends are showing them. Please do not rewrite the opinions of management or financial analysts. No citation is required for materials taken from the Annual Report, however, any other outside material must be acknowledged. This project is an individual effort and is due on the last day of classes (April 3) and must be submitted to the OnQ SmithLearning Assignment Dropbox. Further submission instructions will be shared on our course site.