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ASSIGNMENT GUIDELINES AND TOPIC
Due Date: 5 PM, 11th Sep 20
Weight: 30%
Task Description and Guidelines
This will be a maximum of 1,500-word report assignment to be submitted on or before
September 11, 2020 at 5pm. Each student is randomly assigned to a company. The
allocated company becomes available on the course website (Learning@Griffith) in the
first week of the trimester. Given the weight of assignment, it is important to spend a
substantial amount of time on this task and start as soon as possible.
Please note that Griffith University uses text-matching software to educate students about
the process of academic writing and how to avoid plagiarism. For more information, please
refer to the link below:
https://www.griffith.edu.au/academic-integrity
https://www.griffith.edu.au/academic-integrity/academic-misconduct
Note: Please make sure that you do not share the contents of your assignment with any
other people to avoid further issues.
Note: For referencing, if you have copied information (ex. data) from any resource you
should cite that source to avoid plagiarism.
Submission of Assignment
The assignment report needs to be in a Word format and is to be submitted electronically
through blackboard.
The data used in the assignment should also be submitted with the assignment in a excel
format (important: students must clearly state each source of data in the excel file).
https://www.griffith.edu.au/academic-integrity
https://www.griffith.edu.au/academic-integrity/academic-misconduct
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Late Submission and Request for Extension of Time for Submission
Late submission will attract a deduction of 10% a day. Assignments submitted more than
five working days after the due date will be awarded a mark of zero. Excuses such as
computer breakdown, work commitments, etc. will not be acceptable.
Requests for an extension of time for submission of an assessment item must be lodged
before the due date for the assessment item. Requests received on or after the due date will
only be considered in exceptional circumstances. Extension requests must be made in
writing to the Course Convenor and be accompanied by appropriate supporting
documentation. Please refer to Griffith University Assessment Policy in the Griffith Policy
Library.
Length of Semester Paper
The length of the semester paper is a maximum of 1,500 words excluding tables, figures or
graphs and references/bibliography.
For papers that exceed the limit of 1,500 words, only the first 1,500 words will be considered.
Format of the Semester Paper
The semester paper should be typewritten, double line-spaced, presented on A4 paper, with
4 cm left-hand margin, and with appropriate citations and referencing. Use sub-headings
that you deem appropriate such as, for example: Introduction or Aims and Objectives,
Conceptual Framework or Theoretical Framework, Approach or Methodology, Results,
Conclusion, References.
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The Assignment Should Be About Real-World Issues NOT hypothetical; should be
analytical not simply descriptive
The emphasis of the project should be on the analysis of the issue(s), not simple description
of events. In its analysis, the project should clearly demonstrate the interaction between
theory and real-world data. In other words, the project should analyse real world event(s)
guided by concepts and theories in international finance. Thus, in this regard, purely
theoretical or purely descriptive (simple discussion of data without any attempt or resort to
the use of theories) will not be acceptable and therefore will not receive a passing mark.
The Assignment Should Not Just Rely on Quoting the Works of Others; It Should Do
Its Own Analysis Supported by Data or Information
The semester paper should undertake its own analysis. In undertaking its own analysis, it
should take into account the analyses done by others, but it should not just be simply re-
stating the analysis done by others. Rather, it should add or extend the analysis conducted
by others. Thus, the semester paper should not just be simply quoting the findings of others.
It should do its own analysis of the data or information and use the results of this analysis
to arrive at answers to the questions or issues that the semester paper has intended to analyse.
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TOPIC
You are doing an internship at Money Maker Ltd. The trainer asked you to conduct a foreign
currency analysis on the assigned company and write a professional report. She instructed you
to identify THREE currencies that the allocated company is exposed against. This can be (1)
due to its business structure (i.e. location of factories, customers and suppliers, and the currency
that the products/services are quoted), and (2) arising from the competition against its rivals.
Your trainer asked for the rationales of your selection. Then, you need to make exchange rate
forecasts, and show how sensitive the company’s value is against the change in the value of
the foreign currencies that you have selected against the U.S. dollar.
Note: As this needs to be a professional consultancy report, you need to provide an in-depth
analysis on the company’s business activities and where the exposure against the foreign
currencies might be arising from. Thus, in the introduction, you need to briefly explain the
business activities and environment of the company from the perspective of foreign currency
exposure.
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The following are some suggestions to prepare the report (you do not have to structure your
report in the order of the suggestions); however, students may cover beyond these suggestions
in order to obtain higher marks:
(1) To select foreign currencies that you believe are important to the assigned company, you
may check the company’s website and/or annual report first.
(2) To make foreign currencies forecasts, you may use the notions of International Fisher
Effect and Purchase Power Parity. Here, you need to explain what these are and discuss the
accuracy of these techniques in forecasting exchange rate.
(a) In making one-year currency forecasts, for the IFE use the current spot exchange
rates and the interest rates, and for the PPP use the current spot exchange rates and
the inflation rate forecasts for 2020. For the IFE, if you cannot find the bond yield
of government bill/note/bond rates for a relevant period, you may use the yield of a
bond with a maturity date closest to 1 year from now.
(3) For the foreign currency exposure, you may
Obtain foreign exchange rates of the selected currencies against USD (in the notation
of “foreign currency/USD”) from Jan/2010 to Jan/2020 in a monthly basis (if the
selected company only has a shorter data period, then only use the available period).
Obtain the stock price of the selected company for the same period in the same basis.
Compute monthly percentage change of those market data. Then,
(a) prepare graphs having the monthly percentage change in the stock price and
the currency rate, and rationalise the results.
(b) conduct a regression using the monthly percentage change in the stock price
as a dependent variable and the monthly percentage change in the foreign
exchange rates as the independent variables. Explain the results.
(c) Discuss why or why not your initial hypotheses regarding the importance of
the selected currencies are supported by the above analyses.
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To support your arguments, ensure that you provide sufficient subjective evidence (e.g., based
on the company’s business and the theoretical supports). We expect you to read at least 10
relevant articles from scholarly journals. Examples of these journals are the Journal of Finance,
Journal of International Money and Finance, Applied Economics, Economic Modelling,
Journal of Banking and Finance, Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and
Money, etc.
Obtaining data and information:
Potential publicly available sources of information include the company and its website,
financial and other publications (Business Review Weekly, Australian Financial Review, The
Australian, etc.), some websites (e.g. Yahoo Finance, investing.com, tradingeconomics.com,
HSBC forward rate calculator, websites of central banks such as the Reserve Bank of Australia,
World Bank, the International Monetary Fund World Economic Outlook), and Organisation
for Economic Cooperation and Development..
In addition, useful databases available via the university library include ABI/INFORM
Complete (ProQuest), Business Source Complete, Factiva, Informit Search (multiple
databases), Annual Reports Collection, Aspect Annual Reports, Aspect Fin Analysis,
Company360, Hoover's Company Records (via ProQuest), Morningstar DataAnalysis, and
OSIRIS.
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ASSIGNMENT 2 MARKING GUIDE
3209AFE International Finance
Trimester 2, 2020
Criterion Sub-Criterion Excellent Very Good Good Satisfactory Unsatisfactory Weights
Introduction/Conclusion XXXXXXXXXX
Accurately and succinctly
outlines all critical elements
of the document; information
is tailored toward audience.
Accurately outlines many
important elements of the
document; information is
appropriate for the
audience.
Outlines some but not all
elements of the document;
information is generally
appropriate for the audience.
Attempts to provide an
overview of the document;
information shows some
evidence of audience
awareness
Little or no attempt to
provide key information;
information is not
tailored toward audience.
The document presents a
succinct and focused
summary of the key points
presented; drawing clear,
highly insightful and well-
supported conclusions
The document presents a
succinct and generally
focused summary of the
key points presented;
drawing clear, insightful
and well-supported
conclusions.
The document presents a
detailed summary of the key
points presented; providing
supported conclusions.
The document provides
limited detail with no clear
summary of the key points
presented; drawing limited
conclusions.
There is little or no
summary of key points
presented; drawing very
limited or no
conclusions.
Presentation of the Report XXXXXXXXXX
Paper was presented in a
highly professional manner,
and has virtually no grammar,
spelling and/or formatting
errors.
Paper was presented in a
professional manner, and
has minimal grammar,
spelling and/or formatting
errors.
Paper was well presented. In
addition, paper has some
grammar, spelling and/or
formatting errors.
The presentation of the
paper is in a satisfactory
level. Also, paper has many
grammar, spelling and/or
formatting.
Paper was presented very
poorly, and has little or
no evidence of editing
and revising.
Bibliography XXXXXXXXXX
Completely follows the
reference style guidelines;
Generally follows the
reference style guidelines;
Attempts to follow the
reference style guidelines
Minimal attempt to follow
the reference style
guidelines
Little or no adherence to
style guidelines;
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Responses to the tasks
Foreign Currencies Selection XXXXXXXXXX
Company
analysis and
justification of
the selection
Information and description
of the allocated company's
business is thoroughly and
clearly reported, including all
relevant current and long-
term opportunities and
threats.
Information and description
of the allocated company's
business is thoroughly
reported, including current
and long-term opportunities
and threats.
Information and description
of the allocated company's
business is reported,
including most current and
long-term opportunities and
threats.
Basic information about the
allocated company's
business is reported,
although some information
that may be critical is
missing.
Information about the
allocated company's
business is vague, lacks
coverage of key points
and provides little
direction.
Foreign Currency Forecast XXXXXXXXXX

Knowledge of the
theories taught in
the course
Demonstrates a balanced and
very high level of knowledge
of the theories and concepts
learnt in the course. Student
provides significant insight
into the area of interest.
Demonstrates a balanced
and high level of
knowledge of the theories
and concepts learnt in the
course. Student provides
good insight into the area
of interest.
Demonstrates a good level of
knowledge of some of the
theories and concepts learnt
in the course. Student
provides some insight into the
area of interest.
Demonstrates limited
knowledge of the theories
and concepts learnt in the
course. Student provides
few insights into the area of
interest.
Demonstrates little, if
any, knowledge of the
theories and concepts
learnt in the course.
Student provides
misinformed and/or
misguided insight into
the area of interest

Accuracy of the
calculations/esti
mations
Calculations have no error,
and all the workings are
presented clearly and
thoroughly explained.
Calculations have limited
errors, and all the workings
are presented and
explained.
Calculations have some errors
but mainly all the workings
are presented and explained.
Calculations have errors.
The workings are presented
and explained with some
ambiguities.
Calculations have a lot of
errors and the workings
are not presented well.
Foreign Currency Exposure XXXXXXXXXX

Knowledge of the
theories taught in
the course
Demonstrates a balanced and
very high level of knowledge
of the theories and concepts
learnt in the course. Student
provides significant insight
into the area of interest.
Demonstrates a balanced
and high level of
knowledge of the theories
and concepts learnt in the
course. Student provides
good insight into the area
of interest.
Demonstrates a good level of
knowledge of some of the
theories and concepts learnt
in the course. Student
provides some insight into the
area of interest.
Demonstrates limited
knowledge of the theories
and concepts learnt in the
course. Student provides
few insights into the area of
interest.
Demonstrates little, if
any, knowledge of the
theories and concepts
learnt in the course.
Student provides
misinformed and/or
misguided insight into
the area of interest

Accuracy of the
calculations/esti
mations
Calculations have no error,
and all the workings are
presented clearly and
thoroughly explained.
Calculations have limited
errors, and all the workings
are presented and
explained.
Calculations have some errors
but mainly all the workings
are presented and explained.
Calculations have errors.
The workings are presented
and explained with some
ambiguities.
Calculations have a lot of
errors and the workings
are not presented well.