5022ACC Principles of Business Accounting : Essay – Ratio Analysis Assignment Brief | CU

5022ACC Assignment Task

Ratios in the Context of Ryanair and EasyJet – a Report 

5022ACC The Task 

Through a business report for which the template below, page 6, must be used, your task is to support/confirm or refute/disconfirm the contents and conclusions of the Ryanair-Easyjet Information Dossier provided with reference, as far as possible, to appropriate evidence. Appropriate evidence will include ratios, percentages and indices, which should be referenced so that all sources can be traced.  In terms of using Artificial Intelligence, this assignment has an Amber rating – see below.
 
Two prompts/examples are given in the template below in red, 1a (98 words) and 4a (82 words).  The reference needed for the comment is shown in blue below.  You should put your references in a footnote, something that, as well as making life easy for the person grading the work, represents words outside the word limit. The Comments (which should be deleted from what you hand in), in purple, are information for you to see how markers might think about this, were it submitted as student work.

You should download the template on page 6.  With their sub-sections, all sections require specific comment, though, as noted above, not all items will necessarily be determinable from the company accounts or take the form of a ratio.  For further details, see the marking Scheme within the Template.  Item 6a, for which 20 marks are given, functions as a kind of integrated picture.

The “appropriate ratios” may be drawn from a wide range of sources and not only the published reports and accounts from these two companies.  You are not limited to the most recent versions of these reports, which are provided at:

A. Ryanair Report and Accounts for the Year to 31st March 2024
B. A link to Easyjet information, including the Report and Accounts for the Year to 30th September 2023 

Where a proposition in the report cannot be substantiated through a ratio, percentage or index, you should comment as to why a number-based metric is not either not available or an inappropriate item.  Furthermore, not every item in the template needs detailed comments.  If you think, for example, that it is not significant enough to be worth detailed attention, you may wish to spend the words liberated by this omission to make points that you can consider more important.

You should assume that your readership is familiar with the definitions of all standard accounting and business ratios and related terms of art, such that these will not need to be defined.  The Readers are looking to you for specific evidence and further refinement of and understanding from the report to the extent that that is possible through looking at the ratios you compute and your comments.  They have got copies of the two companies’ original Reports and Accounts and therefore already have substantial knowledge of the performance of these two companies.

Word Count

The 302 words in the template are noted and will be deducted from your total word count to ensure that you are writing within the word limit of 1,250 words (plus 10%). To save words for the substance of your report, we are happy with abbreviations, so, for example, RRA22p34 (which counts as one word) would tell the reader that you have drawn this from page 34 of the Ryanair Report and Accounts 2021/22 (up to 7 words).

Some of the ratios will come directly from the accounts, whereas others you might wish to calculate.  So save words, you should put all your calculations into the footnote, along with the source of the figures in the calculation.

Submission Instructions:

• The coursework is to be completed as a single MS Word document incorporating the 2 templates provided to you above (the Report, p. 6, and the Uses of AI, p. 8).  The coursework submission point is to be found within the Journey/Assignments section of the module’s Aula page, and students should use the Turnitin link that they will see.
• Students should submit both documents in MS Word: PDFs are not acceptable.
• Referencing.  Students should use APA7, but we require you to list the references through footnotes on each page, not at the end of the document (which would be standard practice for APA7).  That ties your reference information closely to what the reference is supporting and thereby increases the accuracy, efficiency and speed of the grading process.

You are welcome to provide a bibliography in addition to the references.

Development of Skills and Attributes 

In terms of Graduate attributes, this assessment develops the following

• Communicate effectively
• Adapt to the situation facing you, and
• Think creatively.  

For the record, because the assignment involves commenting on publicly available documents, acting with integrity does not enter into the process for this assignment.  Similarly, getting things done is left to managers: the focus of this assignment is information.

Marking and Feedback

How Will My Assignment be Marked?

Your assignment will be marked by the module team using the marking scheme in the Template.

How Will I Receive my Grades and Feedback?

Provisional marks will be released once internally moderated.
Feedback will be provided by the module team alongside the grades release
General feedback will be provided publicly using Aula.  This is in addition to the individual feedback provided by the “blue bubbles” within Turnitin and the section comments. 
Your provisional marks and feedback should be available within 2 weeks (10 working days).

What Will I be Marked Against?

In terms of quantities (5, 10 & 20), the marks can be seen on the Report Template.  In qualitative terms, we are looking for a consistently good quality of evidence and referencing, logical rigour, comprehensiveness and professional expression, taking account of the fact that you are writing for a knowledgeable readership.  Adjectival qualifications of these terms can be found in the table at the bottom of this assignment brief. 

5022ACC Assessed Module Learning Outcomes

The Learning Outcomes for this module align with the marking criteria, which can be found at the end of this brief. Ensure you understand the marking criteria to ensure achievement of the assessment task. The following module learning outcomes are assessed in this task: LO2 - Utilise accounting ratios to appraise the financial performance of a business organisation.

5022ACC Assignment Support and Academic Integrity

If you have any questions about this assignment, please see the Student Guidance on Coursework for more information. 

Spelling, Punctuation, and Grammar:

You are expected to use effective, accurate, and appropriate language within this assessment task. 

Academic Integrity:

The work you submit must be your own, or in the case of group work, that of your group. All sources of information need to be acknowledged and attributed; therefore, you must provide references for all sources of information and acknowledge any tools used in the production of your work. We use detection software and make routine checks for evidence of academic misconduct.

It is your responsibility to keep a record of how your thinking has developed as you progress through to submission. Appropriate evidence could include: version-controlled documents, developmental sketchbooks, or journals. This evidence can be called upon if we suspect academic misconduct. 

If using Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools in the development of your assignment, by using the Use of AI Template (p. 8), you must detail which tools you have used.  

Definitions of academic misconduct, including plagiarism, self-plagiarism, and collusion, can be found on the Student Portal. All cases of suspected academic misconduct are referred for investigation, the outcomes of which can have profound consequences to your studies. For more information on academic integrity, please visit the Academic and Research Integrity section of the Student Portal.

Support for Students with Disabilities or Additional Needs:

If you have a disability, long-term health condition, specific learning difference, mental health diagnosis or symptoms and have discussed your support needs with health and wellbeing, you may be able to access support that will help with your studies.

If you feel you may benefit from additional support, but have not disclosed a disability to the University, or have disclosed but are yet to discuss your support needs, it is important to let us know so we can provide the right support for your circumstances. Visit the Student Portal to find out more.

Unable to Submit on Time?

The University wants you to do your best. However, we know that sometimes events happen which mean that you cannot submit your assessment by the deadline or sit a scheduled exam. If you think this might be the case, guidance on understanding what counts as an extenuating circumstance and how to apply is available on the Student Portal. 

Administration of Assessment

Assignment Category: Written 
Attempt Type: Standard
Component Code: Cw

Assessment Marking Criteria

All the items in the Report Template, p6, contribute to you demonstrating your mastery of Learning Objective 2, “Utilise accounting ratios to appraise the financial performance of a business organisation.  In terms of quantities (5, 10 & 20), the marks can be seen on the Report Template.  

In qualitative terms, we are looking for a consistently good quality of evidence and referencing, logical rigour, comprehensiveness and professional expression, taking account of the fact that you are writing for a knowledgeable readership.

Adjectival qualifications of these terms can be found in the table below.