BUSINESS SCHOOL


ACCT3013: Financial Statement Analysis
Semester 1, 2022

Individual Assignment
The individual assignment is designed for students to demonstrate and apply the knowledge and skills covered
in lectures/tutorials to a real-world financial analysis scenario.
Each student will be required to perform an analysis of the financial statements for one of the three listed
Australian companies that will be randomly assigned through Canvas. These companies are:
1. Carsales.com Limited (ASX code: CAR)
2. Seek Limited (ASX code: SEK)
3. Xero Limited (ASX code: XRO)
You will then collect information through public sources in order to critically evaluate the financial
performance/position of a company in addition to using the restated financial information in the templates for
each company provided on Canvas. Students will be assessed on their ability to formulate an understanding
of an entity’s operations and how this is reflected through their financial statements. To succeed in this
component, students need to demonstrate their ability to:
• Locate and collect financial and operational information of a company.
• Use pro-forma financial statements of the company to complete a financial analysis template
• Use financial statement information to assess the performance of the company
• Draw insights through analysis of financial ratios to arrive at conclusions on the financial
position/performance of the company
• Make simple projections of key financial information

The individual assignment is worth 15% of your final mark and is due at 4:00pm on Thursday, 19th May 2022.
Submission Instructions
Your submission should address the questions outlined in the next page. Supplementary information such as
the required ratio calculations and forecast financial information can be done in MS excel and copy/paste into
the document. Any information placed in an Appendix, including the list of references, will not be counted
towards the word limit.
Format: The report is to be submitted using Word doc, 12-point font (Times New Roman, Arial or
Cambria), paragraphs formatted with 1.5-line spacing, and with margins not less than 2cm.
Filename/submission: Use the following file name format: “ACCT3013_IA_SID” and submit through Turnitin.

Referencing: Students should follow the rules set out in the APA 7th referencing style. Please refer to the
library site for further information and expectations about consistent referencing:
https://libguides.library.usyd.edu.au/citation/apa7
Word limit: The word limit for the entire report is 800 words.

Late Submissions

A student that submits an assessment late (after the due date), and is not covered by an approved Special
Consideration, or submits after the extension granted under a Special Consideration, the penalty of 5% of the
Total Available Marks per day or part thereof, until the close date will apply, after which the student will receive
0 marks.

Assessment task (5 questions, 30 marks):

1. For the company assigned through Canvas, using the respective template also provided on Canvas
complete the financial ratio analysis with the traditional and alternative approach to decomposition of
profitability (ROE) for 2021 financial year. [6 Marks]

2. With reference to the condensed financial statements, and ratio analysis competed from the above question,
critically evaluate the financial performance of the company. You should evaluate the company’s
performance by identifying the key drivers of profitability and incorporate your understanding of the industry
and company strategy. [10 Marks]

3. Provide forecasts for the components of ROE calculated from question 1, to arrive at an estimate of ROE
for the 2022 financial year. Provide justifications for your answer, including the assumptions you have made
(you will need to make simple projections of revenue and expenses). [5 Marks]

4. Briefly analyse the company’s requirements for funds using the reported financial information and the
information discussed in question two. What conclusions do you make about the requirement for funding of
the company with respect to sources of funding historically and in the immediate forecast period. Calculate
at least one key financial ratio in support of your conclusions. [5 Marks]

5. Briefly describe the quality of earnings in the latest reporting period. Has the company made any
adjustments to reported profit to indicate underlying earnings? How useful are these adjustments for
assessing the company’s future financial prospects? [4 Marks]