Help Topic 8 Failed again

hi there i failed 2nd time on my RR. we used to do ratio analysis from co anual report.
most commonly student work out the % then explain this and also describe the possible impact
of such ratio.
is this the right way of analysing ratio? if i take all the information from co annual reports to analyse ratio then do i need to link this with any external commentary like analyst report?
i am really confused.1st time when i did ratio the marker didnt give me feedback specifically what he did after 2nd submission.
i have got only last attempt left.so i dont want to fail anymore.if anyone please help me i will really appreciate .

Well most of the analysis in the financial performance (ratios) has to be taken from the company’s annual reports. However, try to bring in something extra like your own evaluation about the scenario. This adds a lot to your report and tells the marker of your firm judgement. However, be sure of your judgement. You cannot use words like maybe, can be or could be as this gives an impression of indecision on your part to the marker.
When it comes to profitability ratios, I’m sure there are other sources or news sites that mention the changes in profitability as Apple is a famous company. Try to relate those to the changes in your ratios apart from the annual reports. For business analysis, you have to use other sources without relying solely on Apple’s annual reports. Eg: The global IT industry, the economy of USA and how it impacts Apple, domestic/global demand for Apple products, how Apple has expanded over the three years etc are all those you can bring into your report. What I meant was the list of references that you provide as a separate document. This has to be in alphabetical order and is also mentioned in the OBU Information Pack.

No worries. Failing only makes you a lot stronger but believe in yourself. I’ve failed in 3 ACCA subjects before and in my 1st RAP submission but every failure has been a well taught lesson. I’m sure you can submit a better RAP this time but before that go through the Info. Pack thoroughly so you are well aware of the requirements. God bless!

There are lots of articles written about Apple – you need to read these and use them to show that your analysis is balanced. Just relying on the annual reports is a sure way to fail on Evaluation as you are not evaluating, you are just repeating what is generally available and showing that you haven’t bothered to look elsewhere for info (sorry if this sounds harsh, but I am trying to help – so don’t shoot the messenger!) Aviator has made some really good comments, so suggest you take note of them. (Graphs have to have a title, clear legend, labelled axes and show whether show the units – percentage, currency etc, and if the units are in they in thousands or millions otherwise it can all be totally meaningless + a reference if the figures in them originate from elsewhere e.g. the annual report). Remember with good graphs you don’t have to mention lots of figures or their movement in the text as the graphs will show this. With the increase in word count to 7,500 this gives you lots of scope now to do an indepth analysis. I would suggest with Apple if you are doing Topic 8 for your resubmission that you should make sure that you include some information about the strategic objectives pre and post Steve Jobs and back it up with articles from the press, web etc as that will really strengthen your analysis and show that you have done research beyond the company accounts. Make some good comparisons with the competitor’s overall performance – if possible try to show how their strategic objectives have influenced Apple and v.v. – then you will certainly impress. Avoid generalisations e.g. saying things like: this might be caused by/ this could be due to etc as they want to see what you have found out for yourself not just what a text book says might be the reason for it. Yes lots of your own original analysis is the way to go and ditch the textbook and annual report approach as academics hate it when students show they are only capable of rote learning and repeating stuff like parrots! Good luck!

Often failing or passing is the difference between understanding what they want and ensuring all the formalities such as referencing are met. Referencing is tedious – ideally you should do your draft reference list as you go along as it is much harder and takes longer to do it after you have finished your RAP if you are starting from scratch with it (and never underestimate just how long it can take – allow plenty of time!). Try to keep a note of absolutely everything you read and use in the Harvard format at the time and save it as a Word Document – don’t worry about the alphabetical order at this point, in fact it is more helpful for you to just keep it in the order the items appear in your RAP at this stage as you can tidy it up into alphabetical order once you have finished your RAP. The rule of thumb in the text is that every time you make a statement where you are relying on some source (including the annual reports) you have to support it with a reference, in addition to all statements of fact, or opinions of others, and as mentioned all charts and tables should be referenced too . They don’t like long website addresses in the text either so you should try to use something along the lines of this for example: referring to this item – (Open Tuition, n.d.) in the text and then in the reference list – Open Tuition, n.d.: https://opentuition.com/topic/help-topic-8-failed-again/?bbp_reply_to=163366&_wpnonce=ad38007ebd#new-post, accessed 27 March 2014

In a nutshell for anyone else reading this: they want some original analysis that shows you have used other sources as well as the annual reports and can think a bit for yourself (perhaps shown how the company has built on its strengths from the SWOT in its strategic decisions for example), that is clearly laid out (lots of headings and subheadings) inter-spaced with good appropriate graphs (graphs or bar charts are better than tables as they show the trends better than lists of figures) and is well referenced. If you tick all of those boxes and have a decent SWOT/PESTLE or other model and have done a bit of relevant comparator analysis and included the spreadsheet evidence then you should meet the criteria. Don’t worry too much about the English provided it generally makes sense.

Maybe you did not CITE………..there is a SMALL difference between citing and referencing (which i myself did not knew before :D)………….maybe you did not cite

You need to show exactly what you are referencing in the text like this (Trephena, 2014) where you are using an external source (including the annual report) and if you are citing directly then use citation marks “like this” in addition, to show the words were originally someone else’s and not yours. Then all the sources should be listed in the Reference list using the Harvard system. If you don’t do this you are likely to fail on referencing as you will be judged to have used the ideas and work of others without acknowledging this and that becomes a plagiarism issue. Just doing a list is not sufficient, you’ve got to identify where you have used it in the RAP itself.

Google has answers about citation :D…….and its a fundamental part of every referencing system, including Harvard system :))

Topic number 8 is the most demanding topic among all students as under this topic students don’t need to use primary sources of information (as access to primary sources of information is very difficult for major chunk of students) and entire project can easily complete through usage of secondary sources of information. Some key points that student must consider during preparation of RAP are as follows;
? Choose company for which you have sufficient information and you should well aware off different parameters of associated sector of your selected company. Without , fair knowledge at inception of project, your analyses will not be more focused and it is high probability that you may discuss various aspect in your project that are not important. In short, basic understating of overall operations of selected company and associated sector is essential to get good grades under topic number 8.
? Discuss all aspects of ratio analysis logically and properly link with providing various internal and external factors along with micro and macro level factors.
? Whenever, discuss trend of any ratio then student must consider and discussed various internal and external factors along with micro and macro level factors that actually impact on movement of specific ratios under specific span of time. Internal reasons for movement in different ratios of your selected company mainly gets from annual reports (especially report to shareholders section, key achievement sections, financial performance section, chairman/MD review section etc.) of the company along with articles on websites and newspapers pertaining to your selected company. On the other hand, External reasons for movement in different ratios of your selected that mainly you get from sector reports (in which your selected company operates) over websites (especially website related to business activities or economy of country), articles related to associated sectors over online journals , business magazines , newspaper etc.
? Discuss performance of competitor with your selected organisation in parallel rather than at the end of each ratio as inline discussion of both primary (i.e. selected) company and opponent company will help reader of your report to analyze your work quickly.
? Keep balance of information gathered from various mediums (e.g. annual reports, newspaper, online journals, books, etc.) so that marker can understand that you used vast mediums of information as vast research is essential to pass good grades and proper presentation of usage of vast information is an important key to pass RAP under topic number 8.
? Use one or maximum two business models so that you can describe each aspect of selected model in good manner by also consider overall allowed words under part 3 of RAP (i.e. 4,500 Words).
? Provide enough graphs to reader of your RAP so they can easily get an idea of which company is performing well without even reading text within your RAP. This aspect is called IT skills which is extremely important to pass RAP under topic number 8.

There are many others key success factors of passing RAP under topic number 8 that cannot explain here in detail so student should engage well qualified mentor for their RAP so that they can get regular advise from him/her on various technical aspects of this topic that ultimately help him/her to get good grades.