ACCTFIN 7005 - Research Project in Financial Statement Analysis (M)

North Terrace Campus - Semester 2 - 2019

This research based capstone course allows students to develop business research skills through the analysis of accounting, finance and industry information. This will be achieved through the delivery of a series of topics allowing students ample time to practice their research skills through the preparation of an investment portfolio. This course will require application of attained knowledge in previous accounting and finance courses in order to provide a portfolio fitting for the assumed investor. As such students will be provided with sufficient opportunities to develop appropriate communication skills to ensure the investor is fully aware of all necessary information. The pedagogy adopted for this course is deliberately designed to allow students to develop their own research style through the opportunity to source and synthesise a diverse range of material as part of the development of a business research report.

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Course Details

Course Code	ACCTFIN 7005
Course	Research Project in Financial Statement Analysis (M)
Coordinating Unit	Adelaide Business School
Term	Semester 2
Level	Postgraduate Coursework
Location/s	North Terrace Campus
Units	6
Contact	Up to 36 hours
Available for Study Abroad and Exchange	N
Prerequisites	Completion of 30 units in the Program, CORPFIN 7017/ACCTFIN 7017
Assessment	Research Projects

Course Staff

Course Coordinator: Associate Professor Janice Loftus

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

Course Timetable

The full timetable of all activities for this course can be accessed from Course Planner.

Course Learning Outcomes

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

1. Integrate advanced theoretical and technical knowledge of financial analysis and related areas
2. Apply advanced technical knowledge and skills to critically analyse financial data to investigate problems in accounting or finance contexts
3. Select and use information from data bases used in accounting and finance
4. Design and execute research in collaboration with others
5. Communicate research findings to specialist and non-specialist audiences

University Graduate Attributes

This course will provide students with an opportunity to develop the Graduate Attribute(s) specified below:

University Graduate Attribute	Course Learning Outcome(s)
Deep discipline knowledge informed and infused by cutting edge research, scaffolded throughout their program of studies acquired from personal interaction with research active educators, from year 1 accredited or validated against national or international standards (for relevant programs)	1, 2, 3
Critical thinking and problem solving steeped in research methods and rigor based on empirical evidence and the scientific approach to knowledge development demonstrated through appropriate and relevant assessment	2, 3, 4
Teamwork and communication skills developed from, with, and via the SGDE honed through assessment and practice throughout the program of studies encouraged and valued in all aspects of learning	4, 5
Career and leadership readiness technology savvy professional and, where relevant, fully accredited forward thinking and well informed tested and validated by work based experiences	3, 4, 5
Self-awareness and emotional intelligence a capacity for self-reflection and a willingness to engage in self-appraisal open to objective and constructive feedback from supervisors and peers able to negotiate difficult social situations, defuse conflict and engage positively in purposeful debate	4

Learning Resources
Required Resources

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

Recommended Resources
- Subramanyam, K. R. 2014. Financial Statements Analysis, 11th Edition, McGraw-Hill New York.
- Palepu, K. G., Healy, P. M., Bernard, V. L., Wright, S., Bradbury, M.,Lee, P. 2015. Business Analysis and valuation using financial
  statements: Text and cases. South Western, Cengage Learning.
- 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
Online Learning

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

Learning & Teaching Modes

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

engage in additional readings, as well as the provided readings to gain a full appreciation of all aspects of the course
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.

Workload

The information below is provided as a guide to assist students in engaging appropriately with the course requirements.

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

Learning Activities Summary

Week	Topic / Activities during class
1	Financial statements and introduction to research
2	Research in accounting and finance and introduce research projects
3	Industry analysis technigues, confirm groups and organise group communication
4	Developing research, teamwork and communication skills: Using databases
5	Portfolio anlaysis, test on topics 1 - 3

6	Developing research, teamwork and communication skills: Report writing workshop, and group meeting
7	Developing research, teamwork and communication skills: Oral presentation workshop, and group meeting
8	Developing research, teamwork and communication skills: Oral presentations of industry analysis (each student presents to own group)

9	Developing research, teamwork and communication skills: workshop on using and providing feedback on writing, and group meeting
10	Developing research, teamwork and communication skills: Group meeting and consultation
11	Developing research, teamwork and communication skills: Group meeting and consultation
12	Presentation of report - oral presentations

Small Group Discovery Experience

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

The University's policy on Assessment for Coursework Programs is based on the following four principles:

Assessment must encourage and reinforce learning.
Assessment must enable robust and fair judgements about student performance.
Assessment practices must be fair and equitable to students and give them the opportunity to demonstrate what they have learned.
Assessment must maintain academic standards.

Assessment Summary

#	Assessment Task	Task Type	Length	Weight	Learning Outcomes
1	Class test	Individual		10%	1, 2
2	Research proposal	Group	up to 1,500 words	15%	1, 2, 4
3	Assignment	Individual		15%	1 - 5
4	Participation in group activities	Individual		10%	4, 5
5	Research report - oral presentation	Individual		10%	1 - 5
6	Research report - written report	Individual (25) and Group (15)	up to 8,500 words	40%	1 - 5
	Total			100%

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

Assessment Related Requirements

The following additional conditions apply:

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.)
Industry selection: Each group will select sufficient industries to ensure each group member will have their own unique industry to investigate.
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).

Assessment Detail

Class test (10%) to be held in class on Tuesday Week 5

Group research proposal (15%) Due 23.59 (11.59 p.m.) Tuesday Week 6
A written submission of a draft research design outlining the approach to be undertaken.

Individual assignment (15%)
The assigment requires you to undertake an industry analysis using techniques covered in topic 3.

Group Research report (50%)

Each group must do an accounting research project OR a finance research project. The assessment of the group research project comprises:

Oral presentation (10%) - presented as a group but assessed individually, during class Tuesday Week 12

Written report (40%) due 23.59 (11.59 p.m.) Friday Week 12 comprising:
- a group component (weighted 15%) and
- an individual component (weighted 25%).

Participation in group activiites (10%)
As observed during class.

More details will be provided on MyUni for each assessment task.

Submission

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.

Communications skills guide: A link is provided on MyUni. This resource 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.

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.

Course Grading

Grades for your performance in this course will be awarded in accordance with the following scheme:

M10 (Coursework Mark Scheme)
Grade	Mark	Description
FNS		Fail No Submission
F	1-49	Fail
P	50-64	Pass
C	65-74	Credit
D	75-84	Distinction
HD	85-100	High Distinction
CN		Continuing
NFE		No Formal Examination
RP		Result Pending

Further details of the grades/results can be obtained from Examinations.

Grade Descriptors are available which provide a general guide to the standard of work that is expected at each grade level. More information at Assessment for Coursework Programs.

Final results for this course will be made available through Access Adelaide.

Student Feedback

The University places a high priority on approaches to learning and teaching that enhance the student experience. Feedback is sought from students in a variety of ways including on-going engagement with staff, the use of online discussion boards and the use of Student Experience of Learning and Teaching (SELT) surveys as well as GOS surveys and Program reviews.

SELTs are an important source of information to inform individual teaching practice, decisions about teaching duties, and course and program curriculum design. They enable the University to assess how effectively its learning environments and teaching practices facilitate student engagement and learning outcomes. Under the current SELT Policy (http://www.adelaide.edu.au/policies/101/) course SELTs are mandated and must be conducted at the conclusion of each term/semester/trimester for every course offering. Feedback on issues raised through course SELT surveys is made available to enrolled students through various resources (e.g. MyUni). In addition aggregated course SELT data is available.
Student Support
Policies & Guidelines
This section contains links to relevant assessment-related policies and guidelines - all university policies.
Fraud Awareness

Students are reminded that in order to maintain the academic integrity of all programs and courses, the university has a zero-tolerance approach to students offering money or significant value goods or services to any staff member who is involved in their teaching or assessment. Students offering lecturers or tutors or professional staff anything more than a small token of appreciation is totally unacceptable, in any circumstances. Staff members are obliged to report all such incidents to their supervisor/manager, who will refer them for action under the university's student’s disciplinary procedures.

The University of Adelaide is committed to regular reviews of the courses and programs it offers to students. The University of Adelaide therefore reserves the right to discontinue or vary programs and courses without notice. Please read the important information contained in the disclaimer.

Authorised by:	Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Vice-President (Academic)
Maintained by:	Course Outlines Administrator