Reference no: EM131301202

Find Your Firm's Annual Reports and Spreadsheet

This assignment is the first stage of your major assignment for this course. It is made up of five steps.

This assignment will give you the opportunity to explore what your own company does and what your firm's financial statements may have to tell you about your firm.

The key things to achieve in your ASS#1 is to find your company's latest annual report and to have a look at it; to get a feel for what your firm actually does and what you are able to understand about your firm from your first look at its financial statements. You will also input your company's last four years of financial statements into your spreadsheet. As well, you will have the opportunity to experience how interacting with others in the course may be able to help you to better understand your firm.

Step 1:
Step 1 involves you setting up your personal profile on Moodle and your blog. This will help others in the course to get to know you, as we all work together to learn and gain our own personal insights into the (possibly) exciting world of accounting.

Go to your personal profile on Moodle.

Tip: When in our course Moodle site, click on the Administration tab (on the left hand side of the page) then click on My profile settings, then click on Edit profile.

Include a few words introducing yourself in the Description box.

Include a link to your blog (once you have set up your blog below) in the Description box and also in the Blog Links Forum in the Communication box, the top box on the right hand side of Moodle.

Include your photo, with a description of your photo.

Tip: Reformat your photo for a website to reduce its size.

Set up your personal blog on WordPress: WordPressBlog.

If you are familiar with another blog software, you can set up your blog using that software if you wish.

Tip: For guidance on how to set up your blog on WordPress: Set up your blog on WordPress

This video will show you how to set up a blog (including selecting a theme) and also how to include posts and pages in your blog.

Also, the following video is great for some further guidance on using WordPress, particularly use of pages, menus and submenus:

WordPress - Further Guidance

And this is a useful URL on some of further tips and ideas in setting up your blog: WordPress - Further Tips and Ideas.

Tip: if using the university's computer network, and if you find the university's computer network blocks your access to WordPress, try using a different email account to you your university email account to set up your blog. If using a computer at work, you may find a similar problem if using your work email to set up your blog. In such cases, use another email account to set up your blog. This usually does the trick.

Include a short welcome message on the front page of your blog and have a look at how the WordPress software works.

Do not forget to include a link to your blog in the Description box and also in the Blog Links Forum in the Communication box, the top box on the right hand side of Moodle.

Tip: Do not put your link to your blog in the Web page box under Optional in your personal profile on Moodle (other students cannot see what is in this box)

Check out the blogs of other students in our course and leave a comment onsome people's blogs introducing yourself and saying ‘Hi'. They will be glad to hear from you. You can find links to other people's blogs in the Blog LinksForum.

You will be using your blog to communicate with your peers throughout the term. You can use your blog to share your thoughts about our assessed learning tasks that youwill be doing over the coming months, and other aspects of our subject. So your blog can be a great place to comment and discuss with others in our course as we face similar challenges about learning about accounting in the coming months.

Note: There is no need to submit anything for Step 1 in the ASS#1 section on Moodle. Your profile and blog will be reviewed as they are on Moodle.

Note: If you do not include a link to your blog in the Description box, in the Blog Links Forum in the Communication box in Moodle AND ALSO in your ASS#1 Word document you will not get any marks for setting up your blog. We cannot give you a mark for your blog if we cannot find it.

Please allow up to about 1 - 1 ½ hours to complete Step 1. The time it takes to set up your blog will depend on how familiar you are with blogging.

Step 2:

Step 2 involves you identifying your own company, posting on your blog some background information on your company and its industry, and commenting on other people's blogs.

Find your Firm's Annual Report and Spreadsheet

Go to the list of companies on Moodle called ‘Find Your Company'. This will be available in the top central panel in Moodle from 5.00pm Friday of Week 1. For those not enrolled in our subject by then (and we should, of course, be enrolled in our subjects at least two weeks before they start), you will need to email me, John Mcgrath, at [email protected] to be allocated a company.

Find the company you have been given and click on its URL. This will take you to your firm's website, where you should be able to find your firm's annual reports under the Investor Relations section. This section might also be called Shareholders' Information, Financial Information or something similar. For some companies, in the ‘Find Your Company' list there is a comment in the Notes section to help you navigate your firm's website. Save a soft copy of the Annual Report for your firm for each of the last three years. For example, if your firm's latest Annual Report is for the year ended 30 June 2015, save your firm's Annual Reports for 30 June 2015, 30 June 2014 and 30 June 2013.

Only save your firm's Annual Reports. Do NOT save its interim or half-yearly reports; also do not save its concise annual reports. You can ignore these. Only save its full Annual Reports with its full financial reports for each of the last three years. I also suggest you have a quick browse through your firm's website. This will give you some initial insights into your firm's operations and activities. You can also do a Google search which usually locates your company's annual reports as well.

A key thing for you to achieve in your ASS#1 is to make sure you have got hold of your firm's Annual Reports for the last three years. As each Annual Report will actually have two years of financial statements, this will mean you will have the financial statements for your firm for the last four years.

Read Your Firm's Annual Report: Identify Clearly What Your Firm Actually Does

Carefully and thoughtfully read through your firm's latest Annual Report. For example, your firm's latest Annual Report may be for the year ended 30 June 2015. While you do this, note down key concepts and questions (KCQs) that occur to you. In particular, identify areas of your firm's financial statements you are having difficulty understanding, areas of its business that seem most important or critical to you, key challenges the firm appears to be facing, how successful it appears to be in meeting these challenges and its apparent strategy. Some people's companies may have very long annual reports. There is no need to read every word (or page) of your Annual Report. Simply seek to gain an initial familiarity with your firm and its latest Annual Report.

Discuss your KCQs with other people in the course, for example with those on your own campus, or online on the ASS#1 (Step 2) forum on Moodle, or through our various blogs, or by email with other students. What similarities or differences are there between your firm and the firms of other people and in the way they present their financial statements? Are you happy with the firm you have been given, or would you have preferred to be given a different company? What concerns, if any, do you have at this stage?

Know Your Firm

Find useful news articles, blogs and videos about your firm, its industry and some of the opportunities and challenges your firm is facing. Provide links to these resources on your blog. Also, comment on some other students' blogs about their firms. The example company used in the e-study guide on Moodle is Ryman Healthcare. Here are links to two videos produced by groups of residents in two of Ryman Healthcare's retirement villages. They are quite a bit of fun: 80-odd Years of Happy and 80-odd Years of Disco. And they give some insights into Ryman Healthcare's business and customers. The first video, 80-odd Years of Happy, has gone viral and has over 8 million views. There is also a great video on the search among Ryman's 28 retirement villages in 2015 to find the kindest staff in each village: Try a Little Kindess. What does this last video suggest about the culture management are seeking to support at Ryman Healthcare?

Discuss with others, perhaps f2f, through our blogs, Moodle forums or email about what you learnt about each other's firms. Also discuss with others about how this helped, or did not help, you to understand more about what your firm does and about aspects of its businessperformance.

Comment on other people's blogs. Tell us which was your favourite blog and why. Rate your top three blogs (giving your opinions, supported with reasons and evidence). Include links to your top three blogs. Also comment on your favourite blogs in their blogs and also on the Blog Links forum in the Communication box, the top box on the right hand side of Moodle.

Step 3:

Step 3 involves you inputting your company's financial statements into your spreadsheet.

You can find your company's spreadsheet template by clicking on ‘Company Spreadsheet' in the top centre box on Moodle.

Listen to the video ASS#1: Getting Started. You can view this video by clicking on the link. Alternatively, you can find this video in the third top box on the right hand side of Moodle called ‘Videos'. This will tell you what you need to do to tailor the Company Spreadsheet to your firm.

You will see your company's spreadsheet has four worksheets: ‘Financial Statements', ‘Restated Financial Statements', ‘Ratios' and ‘NPV & IRR'. We will use the Financial Statements worksheet in our ASS#1, the Restated Financial Statements worksheet in our ASS#2 and the Ratios and NPV & IRR worksheets in our ASS#3.

Open up your firm's Financial Statements worksheet by clicking on the Financial Statements tab in your company's spreadsheet.

You will find in this worksheet some space for you to enter your firm's Statement of Changes in Equity, Balance Sheet and Income Statement. Carefully enter in each of your firm's Statement of Changes in Equity, Balance Sheet and Income Statement for the past four years. You will notice that your firm's Annual Reports will each contain financial statements for two years. So even though you have downloaded three years of Annual Reports in Step 2, this will give you four years of financial statements. This is also covered in the lectures conducted by Maria Tyler, which are available on Moodle. You can find an index of what Maria's lectures cover in the top central panel of Moodle.

Tip: Your firm's financial statements may be called a range of different names, such as Consolidated Statement of Financial Position (which is your firm's balance sheet) and Consolidated Statement of Financial Performance (which is your firm's incomestatement).

Tip: Your firm's Statement of Changes in Equity may contain a series of columns showing changes in various sub-categories of equity. You can ignore these columns. For your Statement of Changes in Equity, simply enter the total column in your spreadsheet.

Step 4:

Step 4 involves you writing down some of your ideas, reflections and reactions to reading Chapter 1 and Chapter 3 in the Study Guide.

Read Chapter 1 (‘A Way of Viewing Business') and also Chapter 3 (‘Introducing Financial Statements') in the Study Guide. Read it like you would a novel or any book, actively seeking to engage with the author (who is me) and to understand what you are reading. What is the author trying to say? Let the author take you on a journey: go with him and see what you think of some of the key ideas and concepts beingdiscussed.

And while you do this, note down key concepts that occur to you. That's right; just write them down as you go along. Write them in your own words. Also, include any questions that occur to you as you are reading. What do you find confusing, difficult to understand or believe, boring, exciting or surprising? Include some of your key concepts and questions (KCQs) in a Worddocument.

Your personal engagement with the reading is what I am interested in. Do not simply summarise the readings. I will say it again, do not simply summarise the readings. I am interested in your reactions, understanding, and questions from the readings. I know what the readings say, as I wrote them. So simply giving me a summary of the readings will not be telling me anything I do not alreadyknow.

Use the words "I" and "me" in your Step 4. Different people will have different reactions to the readings. Tell me what your reactions actually are. This is what I am interested in. Do not tell me what you think I might want to hear. Be genuine and honest in your reactions to the readings. Give me something of yourself in your Step 4.

There are some exemplars for ASS#1 from previous students in the course available in the Communication box on the right hand side of Moodle. Check these out to give you some ideas about how you could approach your ASS#1, and in particular Step 4. Please note: some aspects of ASS#1 may have changed slightly since these past students completed their ASS#1.

Step 5:

Step 5 involves you providing (and receiving) feedback to three other students in our course on their draft ASS#1.

The main benefit for you of Step 5 is in you giving quality and thoughtful feedback to others in our subject. The process of thinking about the feedback you give to others will help you greatly with your own assignment as you think about what the assignment requires and how others have addressed these requirements for their own companies.
Prior to 5.00pm Friday of Week 3, please:
- post draft work of your ASS#1 on your blog;
- provide a link to your blog on the Draft ASS#1 Feedback Forum (which you should already have done in Step 1) and post in the Draft ASS#1 Feedback forum a comment that your draft ASS#1 is ready for student feedback and, if you wish, specific areas where you would particularly value feedback for your ASS#1.

Prior to 5.00pm Friday of Week 4, please ensure you have provided quality feedback to at least three other students, using the Peer Feedback Sheets for ASS#1 (see below).

Include the feedback you have given to at least three other students in the course in your ASS#1. If you wish, you can include and/or comment on feedback others may have given you on your draft ASS#1.

Also, comment in your ASS#1 whether or not you found feedback from other students useful and why this was the case. You can include in your discussion both how useful (or not) you found feedback you received from other students through your interactions with them f2f, on discussion forums, on our blogs and through other means.
Please allow 3 - 4 hours to complete Step 5.

Please submit (online) your ASS#1 as a single Word document and also your firm's Excel spreadsheet. Do not include your firm's spreadsheet as a table in your Word document. Instead, make sure you submit your firm's spreadsheet as a separate Excel file. That way we can look into your spreadsheet's cells.

Include in your Word document links to your blog and any other resources you wish to include.

Your ASS#1 should include your KCQs on your firm's Annual Report, a link to your firm's Annual Report (or include a pdf of your company's annual report) and the results of your discussions with other students (Step 2); your company's spreadsheet with its last four years of financial statements entered (Step 3); your KCQs for Chapter 1 and Chapter 3 (Step 4); and feedback you provided at least three other students, and (if you wish) feedback others may have given you on your draft ASS#1 and your comments on how useful you found this and any other feedback from people in our course in completing your ASS#1 (Step 5).