AFM211 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Refinancing, Cash Flow, Financial System

Following the nine-step assessment process introduced below and detailed in Assessing a Company’s Future Financial Health:

Analysis of fundamentals: goals, strategy, market, competitive technology, and regulatory and operating characteristics.

Analysis of fundamentals: revenue outlook.

Investments to support the business unit(s) strategy(ies).

Future profitability and competitive performance.

Future external financing needs.

Access to target sources of external finance.

Viability of the 3-5-year plan.

Stress test under scenarios of adversity.

Current financing plan.

Prepare a Project Proposal that includes the nature of the project, the sources of information you plan to use, and the most important concepts and techniques to be applied.

The outline topics should include the following:

A brief summary of the company you have chosen, such as business lines, and its industry;
Information sources (e.g. industry studies, market share reports, financial statements, etc.);

The analyses you will include in your study. This will likely require a summary review of the material in later sections of the course, such as competitor analysis;

If you have access to, and permission to use, internal company documents, please discuss so in the outline.

You are required to complete a course project that reveals mastery in application of the strategic managerial accounting and performance management concepts emphasised in the course. This involves reporting on a specific organisation within an industry, analysing the firm’s competitive position (e.g., market position, cost competitiveness, market power, innovation, SWOT, etc.), its managerial accounting approach, and the non-financial performance metrics should be used in monitoring firm performance, all aligned with value creation for the chosen firm.

This project should be a formal business report that covers all elements of the strategic management process: mission statement, strategic goals, strategic objectives, actionable plans (if available, analyse the specific budget planning process used by the Firm; if not, search for relevant articles for the subject company and recommend a process that you believe is appropriate for the company), and performance monitoring processes employed by the Firm, including its board of directors. These processes and strategies are to be supported with managerial accounting and performance management concepts.

In selecting a company to analyze, first focus on information availability. If you work for the company, ensure that you can obtain the information required to do a proper job on this assignment. If you choose a company you do not work for, begin your search among larger public companies with ample information available. Company websites are often the best place to begin, in particular the investor relations site. Look for annual reports, quarterly reports, press releases, white papers, and other sources of information (e.g., public filings, such as for the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission at http://www.sec.gov./

Your tasks are to:

· Briefly describe the business of the Firm (i.e. industry segments, geographic service area, market position, and size as measured by revenues, employees, and market capitalisation). Describe the mission statement and strategic objectives of the Firm.
· Analyse the behaviour of expenses of the business, distinguishing between variable costs and fixed costs (or estimates thereof), describe the relationships between sales volume, costs, and profit. Estimate a break-even point for the Firm and support with relevant calculations and discussion.

· Discuss the level of the Firm’s operating leverage.

· Assess the budgeting process and procedures for the Firm, bearing in mind the context of the business and its characteristics. Identify methods employed for budgeting, managerial reporting, and control, and make recommendations for improvement. Justify your recommendations.

· Summarise the Firm’s performance over the past five years in terms of sales and earnings growth, return on equity, return for shareholders, and non-financial performance measures (e.g. market share, recognition, customer satisfaction).

· Analyse the fixed capital needs (i.e. capital expenditures) of the company, and discuss significant capital projects, how they fit with the strategic goals of the Firm. Evaluate risks associated with major capital projects and suggest risk mitigation strategies. Justify your suggestions.

· Briefly profile two or three key competitors and analyse the basis for competition (e.g., is it cost? Innovation? Capital intensity? Branding?). Compare the Firm with these key competitors on key performance metrics (e.g., revenue growth, profit margins, return on equity, financial leverage, receivables turnover, payables turnover, asset turnover, operating costs, market share, market share growth, etc.). Identify areas where the Firm may outperform or underperform the peer group, and suggest improvements for weaknesses.

· Design a Balanced Scorecard for the Firm.

This project should follow a structured approach and should be prepared and presented as a professional business report.