Help Topic 8 Failed again

[Haider Ijaz]

@Terphena Can you not please mentor me for my last attempt? 🙁 you have been so helpful up until now. You almost cleared up everything that I have in my mind. If you can not mentor, can you possibly review and guide me? Pleasee… It would be a great favour. I have no assistance except what I have found out through you and others. If you charge for it somewhat, I will pay you..

[Joelprof12]

@trephena thank u very much for tht, it was very helpful. I did’nt use Wikipedia in my RR as I I have told not to use it, however, I did use investopia for such things as Limitation of SWOT analysis definition of sm ratios. However in RR I did’t refrence in-text citation as (Investopedia, n.d) because all the tht Articles I read was wrtting somebdy and so were CFA holders so I did in-text citation like this (Joel, 2014) (d 2014 is d year d article was published). I guess this is right pls guide me.
Finally, I need u to show me hw annual report and industry or company report tht was produced by investment firms is referenced. I’ve don’t smth I just wanted to sure I’m right. Also I referenced Annual report by these investment firms and Company Annual report the same was is this right?. Thnks once again evryone partIcularly @trephena waiting for reponses

[trephena]

@haider Ijaz and Joelprof12 – I will reply to you guys when I have a chance but a bit busy this week – please bear with me.

PS Joelprof12 your referencing sounds ok – yes if you have the actual author always use that but will answer in full next week

[SalahUddin]

Haider…………if u have a friend who is ACCA member, ICAEW member, they are easily eligible to be your mentor…..even then if u have doubt, then u can email their CV to OBU and they will tell if he is eligible to be your mentor……………………….mentor will just have 3 meetings with you and he will receive an email from OBU about you, to which he will reply something like, yes this is haider’s work……… its that easy…………about advices and queries…………OPENTUITION or EVEN google :))

[SalahUddin]

Joelprof12………………any reason for not using MS Word INTERNAL referencing system……..its SUPER FAST and CORRECT……….I have passed my first attempt……….MS Word will automatically do this referencing by asking you like “fill in the blanks with date, author etc

[SalahUddin]

Joelprof12………..i used Investopedia for my ratios and other accounting things………where i used Inverstopedia in my report………I put a reference using the MS Word Internal system…..and MS Word automatically showed like this (Investopedia, n.d.)…………………………..about definintion of ratios………………i wrote like one line definitions only, (((in my own words))), with reference to where i got the definition from (mostly Investopedia)…………………………………………….u know? some students have failed with the marker saying u have written to many direct quotations and NOT written them in your own words

[Joelprof12]

Thnks @trephena, u’re awesome. Pls do take ur time and thank once again for ur deep concern. @sallahUddin thnk again for ur comment, u’ve been helpfull all the way. I’ve tried MS internal referencing when I wanted to start writing my RR. But it was’nt really explaining where I got d info from so I just decided to stop. For exam MS would say (Annual Report, 2012), without say whether it was my Focus or Benchmarking company. I also had sm issues with it tht was kinda contradicting the Harvard style, so I stopped using it. But since u used it and got a B wuld consider looking @ it again. Thnks so much for ur help. God bless u

[Haider Ijaz]

@SallahUddin I am sorry but you are misunderstanding me. I have passed my SLS already. I have a mentor who signed my project. That isn’t the issue here. I don’t have proper guidance for my RAP. This is the problem and main concern for me.

[luv2break]

I failed in this attempt and the problem was weak financial analysis but the marker said my business analysis was good,since i have to resubmit with latest financial statements i have to change the ratios but should i update the business models too because it contains information relevant to the previous year, and the examiner said my business analysis was good so i was wondering should i keep it as it is or make changes relevant to the latest year?
Thanks

[chowdhury792003]

hi there
i have got a question regarding topic 8.i have explain all the ratios in part 2.but when i analyse ratios do i need to analyse all ratios what i explain in part 2 ?
if i analyse all the ratios in part 3 then i will be over the word limit.
i explained 10 ratios in part 2.so if i analyse at least 6 ratios is this ok?
it will be highly appreciated if anyone reply!!

[bassaniobroke]

@chowdhury in part two you have to give theories and models used and their definitions and in part 3 you have to apply them.
open the link below of a sample rap
https://opentuition.com/?get_group_doc=29/1351808355-RAP8DGKHANCement.pdf
but its old rap now the word count has changed to 7500 words. Read latest info pack.

[chowdhury792003]

@bassaniobroke
thanks for your prompt reply.
i got the answer.will u mind if i ask you more specifically?
for example ,i explain gross profit ,operating profit,net profit etc in part 2.
now if i analyse only gross profit and net profit in part 3 and exclude operating profit margin , is this acceptable?

[bassaniobroke]

dear chowdhury, dissertation is an analysis, theories and models are our gadgets to analyze, for example how would you analyze your body temperature, by thermometer, so the thermometer is model or devise to analyze, in part 3, you would say how you used thermometer to analyze body temperature. So only give in part 2 what you are going to use in part 3, this may not be reason to fail, but keep perfection to the highest degree.
Good Luck.

[trephena]

@Haider ijaz if you can list out your particular difficulties I will answer and help you. As you have one final attempt do not rush it unless the 10 year limit applies.

From reading lots of students’ work and analysing feedback here is my list of the mostt common errors that lead to failure (and a few helpful suggestions for improvement):

1. Lack of real analysis (using ‘annual report’ and textbook type explanations instead of wider sources)
2. Not really explaining causes of movements in the trends in terms of what has driven the changes in performance (just saying something has increased or decreased and by how much is not explaining – you need to discuss the factors behind it)
3. Poor referencing (there is a lot of good advice on referencing in the OBU info pack, their guidelines, in these forums and on the web). Remember to reference the SWOT & PESTLE too and all the graphs (usually the relevant annual report). DON’T put the full URL address in the text (just in the reference list)
4. Go for a good clear layout with lots of good graphs and charts all well labelled to break up the text, DON’T cite loads of numbers in the text (the graphs/charts should be used for this)
5. It’s better to discuss the comparator’s performance alongside the main company (not in a separate section at the end). Similarly when talking about profit etc don’t do it under headings for each year do it as a review of the whole 3 year period (the performance is continuous – the directors don’t start from scratch each year with their strategies!)
6. SLS – read the guidelines. Self-reflection should not be about what you did but more about why you did it and it’s effect on the outcome. Give specific examples throughout:
‘I learned a lot from my mentor’ – so what exactly? and why was this useful?
‘My communication skills improved’ – don’t generalise give some examples of this
7. SLS Q2 is not so much about how well you achieved all the objectives (after all the marker will form their own opinion about how well you did by the grade they give for the RAP) but should be more an assessment by you of your own strengths and weaknesses in achieving them and doing the report.
8. The presentation – keep the slides down to about no more than 15. Concentrate on the IMPORTANT findings, DON’T cram >2 graphs per slide or overload the slides with too many words (use bullet points and DON’T cut & paste large bits of the RAP on to the slides – remember the presentation is supposed to be 15mins and there is a limit on how much a person in the audience could realistically read and absorb!)
9. Do the work yourself – UK universities use the same checking system so you are likely to be found out. As submitting someone else’s work as your own constitutes fraud, both OBU and ACCA are likely to take a grim and unsympathetic view of it!
10. THE ABSOLUTE GOLDEN RULE
Read the info pack and all the guidelines thoroughly (if you don’t follow the rules and the advice, how can you expect to submit what OBU wants and expects??)

Good luck!
.

[trephena]

@luv2break Yes you should update it – see my response 19 Apr 2014 on the Harvard Referencing forum as that deals with your query in a bit more detail 😀

[bassaniobroke]

Thanks trephena, for enlightening the forum. Most of the mentors I came across are not aware what is the bachelor level dissertation of UK. As you are from UK and have been through this process you know very well what is required of at OB.

[trephena]

Footnote to everyone: The posts made yesterday (26.04.14) relating to comparator / competitor analysis have been moved to the Forum called ‘Business Analysis / OBU Topic 8: Competitor for ratio analysis’

This was because another student had raised a similar query and it makes more sense to have everything that’s related all in the one place under a relevant heading so everyone can benefit. (and should save time in having to hunt around too – I hope!) 😀

Regards

Trephena

[Anonymous]

want to knw can we take ratios from company analysis and expain the logic behind or should calculate by our selves

[trephena]

Thank you for using the Forum to raise your query @zain25dc 🙂

These days most companies do in fact produce many of the ratios in their ‘Summary of the Last 5 years results’ table in their annual reports. It is acceptable to use these ratios as long as you reference them fully in your RAP each time. I would suggest that you reproduce the table in your Appendices and make it clear that it is information from the Company’s annual report – then you will be acknowledging that this part of your RAP is not your own work.

As part of the analysis you probably will calculate some ratios for yourself e.g. if there have been dramatic changes in the results from year to year you might calculate the year on year change or some of the liquidity ratios. You would show the basic calculations for these in your Appendix, so in your text you only need to mention something like (see Appendix Y for calculations). As these calculations are your own work this type of reference is sufficient and by referring back to the Appendices it should be clear that the actual origins of the basic figures used in your calculations emanated from the Annual report originally.

Remember though that ratios are only part of the evaluation – you need to use other sources and factors to look at what has influenced the trends over the 3 year period (PESTLE factors for example) and how the company strategies (usually outlined in the CEO / Directors reports) fit in with the SWOT.

I hope that helps 🙂

[Anonymous]

can anyone help me as ratios are already calculated on the website of nestle so can i take them n then make analysis of my own according to them is it rite. which models should i use pestel n swot or porter five forces model moreover competitor analysis should be in finanacial ratio or also in other models

[Anonymous]

thanks trephena for ur reply i got it pestle n swot are enough for business analysis and one more thing competitor analysis should be done in financial ratio only or on business models also

[trephena]

Normally you only need to apply the SWOT and PESTLE to your main company (if the 2 companies operate in the same country and similar markets, the PESTLE for both of them would be very similar anyway). This analysis would form the backbone of your business analysis.

You then do the financial analysis which includes some ratio analysis but more importantly in your evaluation you need to discuss what has caused the movements in the trends that you find – this includes research beyond the annual reports using a variety of sources to support your arguments – see my posts on the Forum ‘Business Analysis / OBU Topic 8: Competitor for Ratio Analysis’ for more details as you need to link both the financial and business analyses.

[denmaster]

very helpfull

[ahmad1984]

Overall Approach for Topic 8:

This topic relates with critical assessment of business and financial performance of selected organisation over a three year period.

Analysis is a careful study of something to learn about its parts, what they do, and how they are related to each other while Evaluation is the making of a judgment about the amount, number, or value of something.

During preparation of RAP on this topic students have to carry out financial and business analysis of selected organisation. Financial analysis is the process of understanding the risk and profitability of an organisation through analysis of reported financial information, by using different accounting tools and techniques. Business Analysis is the practice of enabling change in an organizational context, by defining needs and recommending solutions that deliver value to stakeholders.

Topic number 8 is the most demanding topic among all students because they can directly use models and frameworks which they have studied in their ACCA qualification. Moreover, students don’t need to use primary source 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 aspects in your RAP 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 a quick 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.
Key features / requirements:
Critical assessment of financial performance of the organisation in specific period of time (i.e. last three years).
Critical assessment of business performance of the organisation in specific period of time (i.e. last three years).
Proper discussion on financial and business performance of the selected organisation through consideration of various internal & external factors along with both micro and macro level factors.
Provide proper conclusion based on overall performed work by keeping all practical aspects in consideration.
*Feedback from project mentor is essential to get good grades in RAP.

Key Success Factors:
Good knowledge of broader categories of all ratios.
Excellent knowledge and application of all selected accounting and business models.
Proper linkage of all aspects of selected accounting and business models through providing practical examples/reasons.
Comparison of primary organisation (i.e. selected organisation) with opponent organisation alongside in whole discussion in RAP.
Proper application of all selected aims and objectives (that decided in inception of RAP) in appropriate sections of RAP.
Proper answering of all research questions (that decided in inception of RAP) in appropriate sections of RAP.
Usage of proper research methodology to achieve good result against all selected aims and objectives (that decided in inception of RAP).
Maintain proper sequence of all discussion in logical manner by keeping all requirements of the topic.
Logically conclude all performed work at the end of Research Report by keeping in consideration of all requirements of the topic.
*Feedback from project mentor is essential to get good grades in RAP.

Major benefits for choosing this topic:
Student will practically apply his/her bookish knowledge into real life.
Student will get aware about proper application of various accounting and business models.
Various techniques learned under this topic will substantially help student in his/her professional life.
Major possible limitations faced by student under this topic:
Students may not entertain well by the management of selected organisation in provision of required information due to various issues (e.g. confidentiality aspects, non availability of authorized person to disseminate information to student for research work, etc.)
Student may not find good stuff from internet or other sources (due to weak research approach) to bring ideas for improvement in the project.
Student may be confused due to variation in actual information (verbal or documented) provided from primary sources with the result that he/she actually derive from his/her research work as per requirement of the topic.
*Feedback from project mentor is essential to get good grades in RAP.

Suitable organisation under this topic:
The most suitable organisation under this topic is that for which student have access to management of the company and moreover management of the company is willingly provide all required information to student as required under the topic. Selection of most appropriate organisation is very essential as student must have better understanding of overall operations of the organisation and moreover he/she also have enough knowledge of the sector in which his/her selected organisation actually operates. Based on better knowledge of the organisation and respective sector , student will be able to interlink various aspect of overall operations of the selected organisation with all requirements of the topic that ultimately help him/her in getting good grades.

In short student need to assess following aspects in selection of organisation for RAP.

Student’s own interest related to overall business of the organisation;
Accessibility of information from primary sources (not necessary in topic 8);
Accessibility of information from secondary sources;
Knowledge of overall operations of the organisation;
Knowledge of overall associated sector of the organisation;
Availability of time from concerned officials of selected organisation (extremely important in topic 8);
Basic idea of requirements of selected topic and their applications on proposed organisation in inception of RAP.
*Feedback from project mentor is essential to get good grades in RAP.

Suggested approach for this topic:
Under this topic, student must plan properly from inception so that he/she can complete all tasks effectively in proper manners. First of all, student must gain excellent understanding of major requirements of this topic and he/she need to critically assess all aspects of requirement by defining detailed strategy. Student need to assess that what process that he/she actually follow to meet all requirements that only possible through detailed planning in inception of RAP.

Student need to prepare overall content of RAP under topic 8 that describes logical sequence of all tasks that need to adhere by the student. This content will also help student to keep on right track from inception and at the same time student can also assess time factor against planned vs. actual tasks through considering his allocated time for complete preparation of RAP.

After finalization of overall content of RAP under topic 8, student need to start working logically from gathering of information as per requirement of topic. Student need to assess all gathered information very critically through consultation from mentor. Mentor feedback on key areas of RAP is very essential so student should share his/her thoughts with project mentor regularly to get efficient guidance in time accordingly.

In short, there is no 100% suggested approach for topic 8 as keeping broader level approach (described above) , detailed approach under topic 8 varies due to student’s perception that he conceived from requirements of the topic along with available information of selected organisation. Whatever, the approach you will follow , keep getting guidance from project mentor at every step so that you can meet all requirements of topic and get good grades.

*Feedback from project mentor is essential to get good grades in RAP.

Availability of Information:
Student have to complete his/her RAP based on provision of information directly from management of the organisation (i.e. primary sources of information) along with vast information available through different mediums (internet, newspaper, books, etc.) under secondary sources of information. Availability of information from primary sources under topic number 8 is not essential as this topic can complete without getting any information of the selected organisation. Student need to ensure that he has access of vast information from secondary sources of the selected organisation and there is no issue for them in getting information.

In short, student need to assess very critically before opting this topic for RAP as all requirements of this topic only meet if student have enough information about selected organisation. If there is any doubt on provision of required information during perpetration of RAP then student should not select this topic for RAP as it impact on overall evaluation of information and overall grades of RAP.

*Feedback from project mentor is essential to get good grades in RAP.

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