7025CL Management Finance Coursework 1 Assignment Brief 2025/26

7025CL Assignment Brief

This coursework is to be prepared and submitted by group of FOUR persons from within the same seminar class.

No student will be allowed to submit work of a company that has not been selected for this coursework. Please ensure that you submit work based on the given Company (listed on the London Stock Exchange (londonstockexchange.com). This company is listed at the end of this document.

Your seminar tutor will maintain a list of students’ names together with choice of organisation. This Tutor held list is the definitive record; submitted work will not be assessed if it does not agree with the list.

Requirements:

1. Based on the information from the published annual reports of the selected listed company for the two years 2023 and 2024:

(a) Compute the following categories of ratios:

i) Profitability
ii) Liquidity
iii) Efficiency
iv) Leverage or debt
v) Investors’ ratios.

(b) Perform a vertical and horizontal analysis of the statement of profit or loss and the statement of financial position.

2. Based on the financial ratios, the vertical and horizontal analysis that you have computed in part 1 and any other relevant information from the annual report, provide a report to the board of directors of the company on the performance of the company over the two years.

3. In addition to the financial analysis and interpretation of the company, design a balanced scorecard to measure both the financial and non-financial performance of the company to help the management of the company meet its strategic objectives. Include in the scorecard: the strategic objectives, the performance measures, targets and the initiatives. A strategy map is required showing the links to the four perspectives.

4. Make recommendations to improve the company’s performance considering the competitive and changing business environment.

Your approach to this task must reflect your ability to carry out research, understanding key principles to the financial and non-financial performance management and apply these to a real business situation.

The outcome of this task should be in the form of a detailed and structured report addressed to the directors of the organisation. You must also include evidence of your research materials including full workings of your financial analysis in the appendix section of your assignment.

Assignment Guidelines Structure

1.The maximum word count for the main text excluding tables is 4,000 words. Exceeding the word count will result in deduction of marks by up to 10 %. Only the main text excluding any tables and diagrams counts, this also excludes the contents page, executive summary, list of references and appendix. (Only use tables to show workings and the Balanced scorecard)

2.The assignment must have a front cover stating:

• Module number and name and seminar group number
• Title of the assignment
• Student names and IDs for each group member
• Submission date
• Word count as defined above

3. An executive summary is required (not included in the word count), but this should not exceed 1⁄2 page. A short introduction is required (and included in the word count), as stated in the assessment criteria.

4. A reasonable number of appendices may be used for relevant supporting information and to demonstrate your calculations and analysis.

5. Only Word documents can be submitted through Turnitin, the University’s plagiarism detection software, therefore you are advised to create tables in Word and not to cut and paste Excel or other software into the document. The marker will not be able to access your spreadsheets and see your workings.

The rubric by which your report will be assessed will be posted separately (Coursework 1 Guidelines). It is important that prior to you submitting your work, you read this and objectively assess your response against the rubric. This will ensure that you have done enough to attain the marks you wish to achieve.

Layout

Your work should be word processed in accordance with the following:

• Font style, Arial, font size 12
• 5 line spacing.
• The page orientation should be ‘portrait’
• Margins on both sides of the page should be no less than 2.5 cm
• Pages should be numbered
• Your name should not appear on the script.

Approved Listed Companies for Coursework 1:

Burberry PL

Pearson LC

Glencore PLC

Smith & Nephew PLC

Sainsbury PLC