BF3304 Financial Analysis: CW (Groupwork and Individual Assignment Combined)

Assessment Brief

Purpose of an assessment brief

(How should I use this brief to help with my assessment?)

This brief gives you key information and guidance about your assessment. It’s the starting point for your work, and your module tutors will refer to it during assessment discussions. Read the brief carefully, along with any other materials your tutors provide, and use them to help you plan and complete your assessment.

1.0   Essential Information

2.0   Assessment Overview

Assessment Mode (What do I need to produce at the end?)

You are an analyst working for a leading international accounting organisation which provides a variety of accounting, auditing and business advisory services for its global client base.

Your organisation has been approached by a major client asking your firm to perform initial due diligence work, based solely on publicly available information, on a potential investment target. You have been seconded to the team that will be producing the report.

You have been asked to prepare the section of the report which analyses the FTSE listed target company in terms of its recent financial performance and position. Your report should include a commentary on the key drivers and causes of your findings and be presented in a manner acceptable and informative in a professional context. Your report should include a conclusion as to whether the client should continue to explore their investment options in the target, given your findings.

A valuation of the company and consideration of the synergies with your client’s business will be performed by others within your firm and are not necessarily for your report. Your manager would like you to structure your report as follows:

Task Description (What do I have to do for this assessment?)

Task 1: executive summary

You have been asked to provide an appropriate executive summary that succinctly summarises all of the key points made throughout the report. Note that an executive summary is NOT simply an introduction to a report, it is a summary of all the key points for the senior executive team so that they can quickly digest your findings.

Task 2: critical review

You are required to critically evaluate the effectiveness of the financial analysis techniques used within the report. The evaluation should be supported by reference to up-to-date academic literature.

Task 3: the analysis

Your analysis must contain the following elements:

• A discussion of the key aspects of financial performance identified during the analysis performed, referenced to appropriate benchmarks where relevant.

• A discussion of the key aspects of financial position identified during the analysis performed, referenced to appropriate benchmarks where relevant.

• A discussion of the investment performance of the shares of the company, from the perspective of the ordinary shareholders.

You should benchmark the performance and position of your company against normal standards and a close competitor, where information is available.

All the data, quotes and external information used must be adequately referenced to a comprehensive bibliography.

Task 4: Conclusions

 Your conclusion must contain a brief summary of the analysis performed and suggest recommendations for the company based on that analysis. You should also cover any limitations of the ratio analysis you have carried out, and any further information you might require to supplement the report and improve the analysis and recommendations. Finally, should give a firm recommendation to your client as to whether they should continue to pursue their investment objectives for the company

Tasks 1 through 4 are an individual submission. Each member of the group analysing a particular company must submit their own written report. These will be reviewed for similarity with other reports using Turnitin.

The Appendices

These will comprise a number of task sheets completed by groups during workshops. These will be used to create the data necessary to complete the report, including ratios calculations, and as such these will make up the appendix to the report.

 The portfolio of task sheets will be compiled within the groups analysing each company and will be assessed as a group submission.

PLEASE NOTE: you will be required to include the names of the group members present in the workshop when the task sheet is completed. If a group member did not attend the workshop, it will be assumed that they did not contribute to the task sheet. The marks for this task will therefore not be awarded to the absent group member unless they can provide evidence of their contribution to the group’s task in another way (at the discretion of the module leader).

Submission Instructions (When and Where do I submit?)

Groupwork submissions via email to module leader by Friday, although submission on a week-by-week basis is encouraged.

Individual assignment submissions via Turnitin by Wednesday

3.0   Purpose of Assessment

Link to Learning Outcomes (How does the assessment help you demonstrate the outcomes of this module?)

• Understand and apply common financial analysis techniques to real company reports.

• Discuss the limitations of company information and techniques used to analyse it.

• Critically analyse the information presented in a variety of company disclosures.

• Use the results of financial analysis to inform a variety of stakeholder groups with regard to potential financial decisions.

Purpose of Assessment (Why am I doing this? How does this link to my future role as an professional in the discipline? What knowledge, concepts or skills should I demonstrate?

Critical analysis skills, essential to a future business finance professional, are at the heart of this module. You will gain experience in using real company data (Annual Report and Accounts) to produce industry-facing reports, concluding on the financial health of real organizations.

4.0   Feedback Expectations

When and where can I find my grades and feedback?

 Staff will aim to return provisional marks for coursework assessments to students within 4 weeks of the submission deadline during term time.

 For this module feedback and/or provisional grade will be released/provided on 22nd May 2026 via Turnitin

 Any grades that you see outside of My Aston Portal (MAP) should be thought of as provisional. Only final Exam Board approved grades will appear in MAP. Feedback and provisional grades can be accessed in Blackboard via Turnitin. For Turnitin assignments, see our guide to accessing your Turnitin feedback.

 5.0   Guidance on AI Usage

Can I use AI in my work and how?

6.0   Assessment Top Tips

What further information and advice might help me to complete this task?

 Other than material provided on the Blackboard module page, and the readings identified in the existing reading list, no further additional readings are required to complete this assignment other than the company specific information that you identify as part of your research into your organisation.

7.0   Assessment Criteria and Rubrics

What will my work be marked against?

Please refer to the detailed marking rubric provided as a separate document in the Assessment Area of Blackboard