Accounting and Finance Tutor Marked Assignment 01 | KCL

Assignment Tasks

TMA 01 has two parts. You must answer each part. Before you do it, please make sure that you have read the materials and guidance notes related to each part.

Part 1 (50 marks)

Sophia is the manager of DTO Software. She has asked you to help her understand more about software license sales. Sophia does not have detailed records but has provided some data regarding the total monthly sales of software licenses in 2022, 2023, and 2024. The spreadsheet that contains the data is named The Software Company Sales Data. It is available under the ‘Assessment’ tab on the module website.

Part 1a

Use the data provided in the spreadsheet to calculate descriptive statistics (mean, median, variance, standard deviation, and minimum and maximum values) for:

• The monthly sales of software licenses for each year separately
• The monthly sales of software licenses for the whole period.

Present all summary statistics in a table and then copy and paste this into a Word document. Your table should include four columns representing the years 2022, 2023 and 2024, and the whole period. (30 marks)

Your answer to Part 1a is computational, and no word limit is imposed here.

Part 1b

Based on the calculated statistics in Part 1a, discuss what these figures might indicate about the performance and stability of DTO Software’s sales over the three years. For example:

• What insights do the mean and median sales provide about overall sales trends?
• What does the variation in sales (as indicated by variance and standard deviation) suggest about the predictability of the business?
• What is your interpretation of the trends in the minimum and maximum values?

Analyse each summary statistic separately and conclude with overall insights. (20 marks)

Your answer to Part 1b should be no more than 500 words. Read the guidance notes for Part 1 before preparing your answer.

Part 2 (50 marks)

Part 2a

Use the data provided in Part 1 to produce the following charts:

• A line chart to illustrate the software license monthly sales over the entire period. (5 marks)
• a histogram to represent the frequency distribution of monthly software license sales over the entire period. (5 marks)
• a bar chart to compare the sales of software licenses by quarter over the entire period and show all the working procedures. More specifically, compute the total sales recorded in quarters 1 to 4 and chart them. (10 marks)
• a bar chart to compare the total software licenses sold for each year within the data set and show all the working procedures. (10 marks)

Add labelled axes and a proper title for each chart, and then copy and paste them into your Word document.

Your answer to Part 2a is computational, and no word limit is imposed here.

Part 2b

Prepare a report for Sophia that:

• Describes what each chart from Part 2a shows and reveals about monthly software license sales in her business over the past three years. (12 marks)
• Based on your analysis, what recommendations could you give Sophia regarding potential strategies to improve or stabilise sales in the upcoming years? Consider aspects like marketing, product development or sales strategies in your discussion. (8 marks)

Your answer to Part 2b should be no more than 400 words. Read the guidance notes for Part 2 before preparing your answer.