Semester 1
Professor Alfred Yawson 
Level 12, Room 12.42
Ph    : +61 8 8313 0687
e-mail: alfred.yawson@adelaide.edu.au

Semester 2
Associate Professor Janice Loftus
Location: 13:10, Level 13,
10 Pulteney Street (Nexus 10)
Telephone: 8313 1024
email: janice.loftus@adelaide.edu.au

On successful completion of this course, students will be able to:

1. critically evaluate financial information provided by listed corporate entities
2. apply accounting and finance theories to build a reasoned argument for the investment of funds in a portfolio of assets
3. design an appropriate research plan that allows the sourcing, collation, analysis and reporting of data and information for a business report
4. determine appropriate courses of action to achieve desired objectives
5. utilise business software in the research analysis
6. communicate findings unambiguously to a diverse audience

Suggested readings will be provided, however extensive use of library facilities including texts, journal articles and databases is necessary.

• Subramanyam, K. R. 2014. Financial Statements Analysis, 11th Edition, McGraw-Hill New York.
• High quality accounting and finance journals
• High quality business articles
• Online databases
• Neuman, WL, “Social Research Methods, Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches”, Person Education, Inc., 2013
• Benninga S, “Financial Modeling”, The MIT Press, 2008

The course is supported by a course website on MyUni. Students will need to access this regularly for content, assignment submission and announcments.

This course is run in seminar mode combining the elements of lecture and tutorial in the one class.
 
To facilitate a full understanding of any topic, students are encouraged to both ask questions and participate in in-class activities. If there is material that any student does not understand, asking of questions at any time during the seminar is encouraged. Concepts from previous courses will serve as foundation for many of the topics under consideration.
 
As this is a research based course there is a high expectation that students will

1. engage in additional readings, as well as the provided readings to gain a full appreciation of all aspects of the course
2. undertake their research activities prior to class to ensure that they have the ability to apply the topic under discussion to a number of possible scenarios.

The University expects full-time students (i.e. those taking 12 units per semester) to devote a total of 48 hours per week to their studies. As this course is a 6 unit course it is anticipated that you will be undertaking more study time for this course than you would have undertaken in your previous 3 unit courses.

Students in this course are expected to attend all classes

Week	Topic
1	Financial statements
2	Research in accounting and finance
3	Industry analysis and portfolio analysis
4	Developing research, teamwork and communication skills
5	Developing teamwork and communication skills
6	Class test, group meetings and consultation
7	Developing research and teamwork skills
8	Developing research and teamwork skills
9	Developing research teamwork and communication skills, group meetings and consultation
10	Oral presentations of preliminary industry analyses
11	Group meetings and consultation
12	Presentation of report - oral presentaiton and submission of written report

Engaging in a research project undertaken in a small group is a significant component of this course.

#	Assessment Task	Task Type	Length	Weight	Learning Outcomes
1	Class test	Summative, individual		10%	1, 2
2	Interim report (proposal)	Summative - group	1,500 words	15%	3, 4, 6
3	Participation in group activities	Summative - individual		10%	3, 6
4	Research report - oral presentation	Summative - individual		10%	1-6
5	Research report - written report	summative - Individual and Group	8,500 words	55%	1-6
	Total			100%

All assessment tasks are summative in nature, that is, all tasks form part of your overall grade for the course

The following additional conditions apply:

1. Group composition: Groups will consist of five people. (Exceptions to this number will only be considered by the lecturer-in-charge for exceptional and unavoidable circumstances). At least one group member from the Master of Accounting and Finance or Master of Finance programmes unless approved otherwise by lecturer-in-charge.)
2. Industry selection: Each group will select sufficient industries to ensure each group member will have their own unique industry to investigate.
3. Investigation restrictions: Each group will be assigned parameters that will impact on their selection decisions, such as the concept of risk utility from the investor (tolerant; neutral; averse), style of portfolio (stable; growth, etc.) and trading type (long term, short term).

Class test (10%) to be held in class on Tuesday 28 August

Interim report (proposal) (15%) Due Friday 7 September
Group proposal (15%)
A written submission of a draft research design outlining the approach to be undertaken, including specification of the evaluation technique(s) to be applied to the industry analysis.

2. Full Research report
Oral presentation (10%) - presented as a group but assessed individually, held on Tuesday 23 October.
Written report (55%) Due Friday 26 October
The report comprises a group component (weighted 15%) and an individual component (weighted 40%). The individual component 
is based on the strategic evaluation of the industry and specific company selected under their purview utilising evaluation techniques as developed in the group's research design. 
 


More details will be provided on MyUni.

Notes on Assessment
1. All assignments must be provided by the due date and must be genuine attempts, to complete the course.
2. Presentation, and the quality of English expression are considered to be integral parts of the assessment process. You may lose marks because of poor presentation and/or poor grammar.
3. As this course is a research based course and designed to provide students an appreciation of business conditions extensions to assignment due dates are not available other than in exceptional circumstances in accordance with University policy.
4. A component of the research report requires a group presentation. It is a requirement that all members of the group be present at the presentation. Failure to attend may result in a zero mark, for that component of the assessment, to those members not in attendance unless they have a legitimate reason that is supported by evidence.
   
Presentation of Assignments
• Retain a copy of all assignments submitted.
• All written assignments must be submitted via the MyUni link provided. All team members are expected to contribute equitably to a group assignment as outlined in the research plan required as part of the interim report.
  
Assignments, not complying with the University’s policy on plagiarism, will be forwarded to Academic Integrity for investigation.
  
Assignment Guidelines including Referencing Details
A copy of the Postgraduate Programs: Communication Skills Guide will have been given to you at the beginning of your program. This guide will assist you structure your assignments. A copy of the guide can also be downloaded from https://www.adelaide.edu.au/professions/current-students/downloads-forms/
  
This publication also provides guidelines on a range of other important communication skills including writing essays and management reports, making oral presentations etc. In preparing any written piece of assessment for your postgraduate studies it is important to draw on the relevant ‘literature’ to support critical analysis. Also essential is to reference the literature used. Correct referencing is important because it identifies the source of the ideas and arguments that you present, and sometimes the source of the actual words you use, and helps to avoid the problem of plagiarism. (Further information on plagiarism is provided later in this course outline.)
  
The Harvard system is the preferred style of referencing for this course. Guidelines for the use of this style of referencing can be found in the Communication Skills Guide. Further assistance with referencing is available from the Faculty’s Learning Support Advisors.  
  
In addition we encourage you to utilise the resources available via online links in the Student Support Section of this outline
  
Return of Assignments
Every attempt is made to provide feedback on the mid-semester assessment to students within two (2) weeks of the due date. Assessment of the major component of assessment (the report) is anticipated to take longer than the nominal two (2) weeks.