ACCT7106 Financial Statement Analysis

Objective 

The project provides students with an important opportunity to ‘learn by doing’. You will be asked to apply most of the analysis from the first six seminars to an Australian public company. 

Start working on the project early. Leaving it to the last minute will be stressful and may result in poor performance. 

Company 

You need to analyse the financial statements of Carsales (ASX ticker: CAR). The financial statements and notes in Excel format and the annual reports for Carsales for FY 18, FY 19, and FY 20 will be shared with you on Learn.UQ. 

Deliverables 

The project consists of both short answer questions and Excel spreadsheet work. Please submit answers to short answer questions in one Word or PDF document (PDF document is recommended) and answers to spreadsheet questions in one Excel workbook, as indicated in the questions. 

Page Limits 

I have specified page limits for the questions that are to be answered in the Word document. These are maximum page limits. I will enforce maximum page limits by simply not marking any material that appears beyond the page limit for a particular question. You do not necessarily need to write as much as the page limit if you can provide a correct, but succinct, answer. 

Cover pages and references lists are not counted towards the page limit. 

Formatting 

Your written answers should be in A4 page size, in Times New Roman font, 12pt font size, at least single line-spacing, margins at least 2cm on all sides. 

Please clearly separate and label your written answers to each question. 

Your Excel file should be formatted neatly and following the conventions described in class. 

Marking Guide 

A marking guide is provided at the end of the document. This contains the number of marks assigned to each part of the project. 

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) 

I may issue, and regularly update, an FAQ addressing frequently asked questions about the project. Please ensure that you check the Assessment tab on Learn.UQ on a regular basis. 

Submission of the Project 

The project is to be completed individually. 

Cover Page  

Please include a cover page at the beginning of your Word or PDF document with your name and  student number. This is not strictly necessary, as Learn.UQ manages assignment submissions and  matches them to students, but it provides a useful backup for me to identify the author of each  submission. 

Please include your name and student number in the excel file as well in “Student Details” worksheet. 

Project Submissions Instructions 

For the project, please submit two files by the submission date/time: 

- Your written answers must be submitted through the Turnitin link on Learn.UQ. Please use a format that Turnitin can accept, such as a Word document or PDF. 

- Your Excel file must be submitted through the Blackboard submission link on Learn.UQ. 

Note that both your written report and Excel workings must be submitted to achieve any marks. This is because I need to see your workings for financial calculations. 

Retention of Submission Receipts 

Please keep all submission receipt numbers provided by submission systems such as Turnitin and Learn.UQ as proof of your submission.