Financial Strategy Assignment Brief

Assignment

This comprises of:

Assignment 1- Business Plan 40 % weighting
Assignment 2 - Case Study 60% weighting
Answer all sections of the assignments.
Candidate guidance

Learning outcome:

To be familiar with the principles and requirements of financial strategy in an international corporate context.

Specific Skills :

Demonstrate the formulation of financial strategies
Distinguish the principles and requirements of financial strategy
Assess the financial implications of strategic decisions
Recognise the importance of the role of financial strategy in context of a business

Subject Skills

Demonstrate an understanding of the corporate planning process
Using Financial strategic theories to identify competitive advantages via business models
Assess the financial implications of strategic decisions

Key Skills

Determine problems within the selected business plan
Apply appropriate analysis and techniques to problem solving
Confidently apply own judgement to the consideration of practical events ∙ Present formally to members of the learning group and engage effectively in debate

Assignment Brief

Assignment 1 - Business Plan 40 % weighting

This will be a business plan based on an opportunity of the student’s own choice. It may be for a business plan that you wish to put into effect on graduation or within a year or so of graduation. The emphasis is on a realistic plan.

You may need to secure your funding from a financial institution to help grow your business. Also you might want to show potential investors why your product or service will be successful with a business plan.

Your assignment should have the following

A clear description of the product or service you plan to offer
Who are the customers you will be targeting in order for your business to grow?
What are the methods you plan on using to promote your product or services?
Who are the main competitors in the target market?
You have to show the financial statements projected for your investment. This should also address analysis on start-up costs and breakeven analysis.
Detailed information about the investment you are seeking to secure and how the loan will be used.
What is the percentage return of your investment?
A realistic timeline for the repayment of the loan.
The business plan should take account of key issues in the areas of operations, sales, marketing, legal, regulatory and finance.
A well-researched plan. Need to demonstrate the thoroughness of the investigation into the opportunity and viability of the business plan.
A critical discussion on the merit of the plan from the investor’s perspective and a conclusion on the viability of your business.
Specifically the business plan will be assessed for its viability, credibility and quality of supporting evidence and accuracy of financial forecasts.

Present all the references and bibliography as per Harvard method

sample

Grading of this Assignment:

You will be graded in accordance with the grading criteria given in the Study Guide. Skills which will form part of the assessment are:

Learning skills
Analytical skills
Problem solving skills
Communication skills
Time management skills

Following are important guidelines and marking criteria applicable for both assignments1& 2. Assessment Grades

In order to obtain a Grade A, you will need to produce work of distinguished quality which is based on research and strong technical competence. An authoritative grasp of the financial products will be expected. You will demonstrate a clear understanding and insight into the financial needs of the individuals and the most appropriate products to meet those needs.

A Grade B requires work of good quality, based on a range of properly referenced sources, demonstrating a sound understanding of the financial products you are recommending.

A Grade C will be awarded where work is of sound quality and is based on satisfactorily referenced sources and demonstrates a grasp of the main issues to be addressed. Your work will be well structured and your arguments effectively organised. What you have done will be mostly accurate, clearly communicated and provide some evidence of ability to critically analyse the individuals circumstances. There will be no serious omissions.

A Grade D indicates work of satisfactory quality which covers the basic subject matter adequately and is appropriately organised and presented, but which is primarily descriptive rather than analytical. You will have identified the key financial products of most benefit to the individuals. There will be some evidence of research and ability to construct an evaluation, but it may be narrowly focused and may have some omissions.

Other Instructions:

The assignment must be word processed with an appropriate front sheet
The work will reflect good presentation and complete referencing
Please use letter type ‘Arial’ or ‘Verdana’ with letter size 12 and double line spacing.

Word Count Penalties

All assessments have a word count with a tolerance of 10% only. Submissions that exceed the word count will be penalised as follows-one grade point for every 150 words or part thereof.
The grade point refers to one grade movement.
Example - a one point penalty when the assessment grade is B+ will be downgraded to B. A two point penalty would down grade the assessment to B-, three points to C+.

Example - An assignment 1, was submitted with a word count of 4000 word. The initial grade was recorded as B-. The word limit for the assignment is 2000 plus 250 words tolerance = 2250 words. Word count penalty is 3 grade points reducing the grade to C.

Other penalties

References and Bibliography - missing penalty is three grade points minimum ∙ Front sheet missing - penalty one grade point

Assignment 2 - Case Study 60% weighting

Learning outcome:

Acknowledge the role of financial strategy in the context of the wider International competitive corporate environment
Acknowledge the role of financial strategy in the context of the wider International competitive corporate environment
Identify problems within case study scenarios and apply appropriate analysis and techniques to problem solving.
Confidently apply own judgement to the consideration of practical events present formally to members of the learning group and engage effectively in debate.

Question:

You will choose one company from the following list, which are quoted on the UK FTSE (100) Stock Exchange, to research and prepare your 2nd assignment:

Centrica Plc (British multinational utility company)
The Sage Group Plc (British multinational enterprise software company)
Associated British Foods plc (ABF) (British multinational food processing company) ∙ GlaxoSmithKline plc (GSK) (British pharmaceutical company)

Having selected a company, you will research the following set of questions from the annual report and other sources to produce your answers:

Describe the mission statement of your company? What impact it has on the company? (20 marks)
Using appropriate models identify the company’s strategies; critically comment on the companies chosen strategy. (25 marks)
Describe how the company is preventing any scandal and enhance their Corporate Governance in line with the Cadbury Report 1992 and the recent UK Corporate Governance code. (30 marks)
Describe your company’s financial strategy & results over the last three years. Explain any interesting financial innovations. (25 marks)

Your assignment should be about 3,000 words in length.

All assessments have a word count with a tolerance of 10% only. Submissions that exceed the word count will be penalised as follows: one grade point for every 150 words or part thereof. The grade point refers to one grade movement. E.G. a one point penalty when the assessment grade is B+ will be downgraded to B. A two point penalty would down grade the assessment to B-, three points to C+

Example- An assignment was submitted with a word count of 3000 word. The initial grade was recorded as B-. The word limit for the project is 3000 plus 300 words tolerance = 3300 words. The word counts more than that then penalty is 3 grade points reducing the grade to C-.

Grading of this Assignment

You will be graded in accordance with the grading criteria given in the Study Guide. Skills which will form part of the assessment are:

Learning skills
Analytical skills
Problem solving skills
Communication skills
Time management skills

Assessment Grades

A Grade B requires work of good quality, based on a range of properly referenced sources, demonstrating a sound understanding of the financial products you are recommending.

IMPORTANT;

All work submitted needs to contain a bibliography/ reference list and the respective in-text citations, properly referenced as per Harvard Referencing System followed by the University of Northampton. You may find a guidebook on referencing on your learning platform (Path; Assessment section)

NOTE

Submission deadline and the procedure will be informed to students by the academic office of London School of Marketing.

Finance