Monash University
Department of Accounting
ACX3150 Financial Analysis and Valuation
Assignment 1 (individual) – 25%
Marking guide and submission guideline
Evidence in the form of facts, figures, graphs and charts must be provided to support the analyses in each section.

Sections Sub-sections Suggestions Maximum
marks
Suggested word
count
(approximately)
Front end An abstract and brief introduction to the company and
the whole assignment (assignments 1 and 2)
2 200
Section B Business analysis 16 1,200
Macro-level
analysis
 Consider TEMPLES for analyses, but do not have
to address all of the TEMPLES factors.
 Only focus on factors that have
important/significant effects on the growth and
profitability of the industry of your company.
 Factors discussed should be directly related to the
company you are analysing within that industry.
 The effect of the factors on the industry/company
profitability should be clearly stated (i.e., positive
or negative).
 Remember your company’s key reporting
segments when conducting macro-level analysis
 Provide facts using graphs, charts, diagrams, etc.,
to support your analysis
5 400
Industry analysis
(Porter’s five
forces)

 You must analyze each of Porter’s five forces,
then conclude whether its power is higher,
medium, or low.
 Some important forces may require deeper
analyses.
 Focus only on Porter’s five forces framework.
 No other analysis (e.g., PEST, SWOT) is
required.
 Conduct industry analysis to cover at least 80%
of the company’s business (by revenue) based on
key reporting segments.
 Provide facts using graphs, charts, diagrams, etc.,
for illustration (e.g., name/number of major
competitors; market share).
 An overall conclusion should be provided at the
end.
 Complete the summary template of five forces.
8 600
Business strategy
analysis

 Focus on the key strategies of the company.
 Determine whether the company follows cost
leadership or differentiation strategy, or a
combination of both.
 Determine whether the strategies are working.
 Identify strategy across key reporting segments.
 Provide facts using graphs, charts, diagrams, etc.,
to support your analysis.
3 200
2

Section C Management
quality and
corporate
governance
analysis
7 600
Management
quality
 Analyse the quality of the CEO of the company
 Analysis would include:
– Education
– Experience within the company
– Experience within the industry of the company
– Tenure
– Compensation arrangements and effectiveness
of the compensation package
– CEO shareholding
2 200
Corporate
governance
analysis

 Internal corporate governance (2 marks)
– Level of independence of the board of
directors
– Audit Committee
 independence
 accounting/financial expertise of
audit committee members
 External monitoring (2 marks)
– Quality of external auditor
 Big Four versus others
 Independence of auditor
 Non-audit services offered by the
auditor
– Quality of analysts (if available publicly)
 Number of analysts
 Analysts forecast dispersion
5 400
Deduction
s
The report should be
professionally
written
Report formatting, data sources, headings for any
tables, grammar, and layout logical for the reader.
(Up to 5 marks deducted for noncompliance)

TOTAL (Marked out of 25%) 25 2,000
 Note: Students will choose a company from a list of companies provided in the tutorial via Google form. Students will
follow the same company for presentation, assignment 1, and assignment 2.

Other comments and suggestions:
There is a strict word limit of 2,000 words based on suggested approximate word limit information. It is suggested
that the number of words/ sentences for each section/subsection be proportionate to the marks allocated and/or the
approximate word count suggestion. No appendix is allowed in the report. All tables and illustrations must be
included in the main report. Tables, illustrations, and charts are not included in the word count (unless they are very
wordy). A reference list is required and is not counted towards the word limit.
Facts and figures must be provided to support the analyses in each section.
Submission guidelines:
 This is an individual assessment
 Submit the assignment via the Moodle page of ACX3150 using the submission link in the section at the bottom
of the page under assessment.
 The submission should be a Word file and not a PDF.
 The due date is 11:55pm (Melbourne time) on Friday of week 8.
 Feedback and marks will be provided via Moodle within 3 weeks.
 Before submitting the assessment document, students may either complete the electronic student statement
(eCoversheet) or attach the Word cover sheet document to the submission file (do not upload two separate file).
 Turnitin must be used when submitting the assessment.