Hi there, so far I've been advised of the following topics to be ideal to choose from:
Preferred OBU topics: 8, 10, 16, 17 and 19
8) An analysis and evaluation of the business and financial performance of an organisation over a three year period.
10) A review of the effectiveness of the use of costing techniques within an organisation.
16) A critical evaluation of the financial and operational risk management within an organisation.
17) An assessment of the quality of the corporate governance within an organisation and the impact on an organisation's key stakeholders.
19) An analysis and evaluation of the financial and operational consequences of a merger between two organisations or of the acquisition of one organisation by another.
Now here are the two popular opinions I have received so far:
a) Go for topic 8, as that's a thorough financial analysis, portrays good skills and since its based on a company of your choice and their financial reports, there are least chances of plagiarism.
b) Don't go for topic 8, as a lot of students submit on that already and the chances of passing that are lesser. With so many students submitting on that topic, the benchmark is higher as well and it's hard to predict what the checker is expecting.
So since I'm already running out of time, I'd appreciate any possible advice on which topic to proceed with any why. They're all the same to me as far as my interest in concerned. I've been talking to mentors and so far haven't been able to get a single decent advice on this. Would appreciate your help a lot.
Thanks.
Other Accountancy Qualifications
RAP Topic Selection including specific current rules for Topics 8 & 15
Thank you for your response Trephena.
I am planning to do research on topic 08. I was thinking of selecting At & t & Verizon (competitor) or American Airlines & United airlines. Could you please suggest me which one is better? Or should I change the organizations?
Please read through the replies above to help you decide. It is impossible to tell you which companies to select as much depends on your own interests, any insider knowledge or contacts you may have and your access to available information. ( For example I am biased towards airlines as I worked in that sector and it interested me even though I also have had some experience in the telecoms sector but was less enthused about it).
i have a query regarding a situation in gsk pakistan financial statement,
in 2015 there was discontinued operation of a segment and financial statements have been restated of previous year
1. should i use the financial statement of 2014 in the annual report 2014, or restated one in 2015
2. with regards to inventory turnover calculation im having an incorrect answer for 2015, whichever value im using , could u give me any tips how i culd find the calculation or how i could go about it
thanks alot
Vodacom and MTN South Africa is it a good selection?
Please Trephena kindly tell me how to handle the issue of a company that i have chosen having its FS in Dollars while the competitor has its currency in British pounds. Both are operating fully in USA.
How do i compare these two companies? Do I convert the British pounds to Dollars?
As this question has been asked several times before please see my answer (page 3) on https://opentuition.com/topic/topic-8-new-rules-as-of-may-2016-submission/page/3/
Please i need an assistance,
please someone should help me with examples of products of a biotechnology company.
Thank you.
You will have to look at the Industry Classification Benchmark website and drill down to pharmaceutical companies when you are on it. It should give a list of what constitutes the type of products that come within that sector. For particular companies students will need to research for themselves as I cannot choose companies for people that is not my role (I am not familiar with every company on the planet!)
dear moderator/users/mentors
i have a question regarding topic 8
i have chosen pharmaceuticals sector for topic 8 and the company is GlaxoSmithKline Pakistan
the latest financial years are Fy13 Fy14 and Fy15
during FY15 the company discontinued its healthcare business and included it as discontinued operations, it also restated its FY14 financial statements accordingly
To calculate my ratios i have used the values of FY15 excluding discontinued operations,
i have also used restated values of FY14 excluding discontinued operations,
BUT there are no restated values of FY13
now the problem is if i use the restated values of FY14 and FY15 how can i compare it with FY13, in FY13 the healthcare business was continuing
the comparison will not be like with like
how should i address this issue in my RAP
Hello,
Please where my preferred company is a pharmaceutical company that produces over-the-counter drugs and also produces food products, can I still select it for my analysis of Topic 15? I need your guidance please.
For choice of company you will normally need to refer to the Industry Benchmark Classification if there is doubt about which sector the company belongs to.
With your scenario it depends which is its main source of income and what it is mostly known for. The main problem might be trying to make valid comparisons but if the food side is a subsidiary you may be able to get use the company rather than group financial statements
Thank you
@trephena
please help
Can one do a research on a company he/she is working for? Please advise
Yes but you need permission from the company to use confidential information and have to provide a letter of authority from someone senior on the company letterhead.
The work must be yours and there must be some availability of company information on the internet. If you use a work project done by someone else this is fraud and could end up as an ACO case. If the marker can find no information publically available to verify the existence of the organisation they may ask you to change to one where they can establish that it exists. This is because they have become aware that some students have invented companies and falsified data. Producing falsified work based on a fictitious company is an academic and disciplinary offence
Hello Sir
As you know the industries allowed for the RAP is telecommunication, pharamceuticals n biotechnology or airlines
Now Telecommunication can be network providers right or it necessarily have to mobile phone providers like APPLE samsung nokia and so
or Could it be like airtel, MTN,UTL as for uganda
????
9y ago#107Hello,
I have chosen topic 8 for my bsc. The thing is I have read the bsc info pack and it says industry classifcation benchmark ? Could you explain what does this mean ?
Industry classification benchmark in layman terms mean that OBU will provide you with specific industries on which you can conduct your topic:8, and few others topics. It's a strict rule, so you MUST comply and choose from the given industries.. so as per Nov'16 submission and maybe for May'17 ,re-confirm it, they are:
1) Airlines
2) Pharmaceutical
3) Telecommunication
So, you have to choose company from above given industries for your RAP.
No more free will meh.
Regards
9y ago#109wana work for topic 5 An evaluation of the use of short term and long term Islamic financial instruments and their impact on the financial statements of an organisation.
will it be good one?
I don't think this is a very popular submission topic (Topics 8, 17, 6, 18 and 20 are the most frequently submitted topics students choose). Speaking for myself, this is one of the topics I know next to nothing about. So I personally cannot give any advice to students apart from referring them to our general articles on Evaluation and Analysis and Referencing.
Dear Sir/Madam,
I have chosen topic 8 for the RAP submission, and i chose Abbott Laboratories and the comparator company is Merck Co.. . As I work in the pharmaceutical industry, my fellow colleagues are suggesting me to choose an easy and a well known company. And as per me Abbott is a well known company as it has been active for the past few years.
Kindly advise if this is a good choice?
Thank you in advance.
There is no harm but make sure that you don't rely on primary sources.
For topic 8, primary source of information won't do much good. Make sure that the company as adequate secondary source of information such as internet.
Primary sources can only work if the company is well known and the primary information can be properly attested by appropriate level of management within the company. Again, markers are more appeased by the report which is based on secondary research.
Thank you for guiding me!
Actually, I did a lot of research and found more information and articles about Merck & co. Therefore I am going to choose Merck & Co. and comparator will be Bristol-Myers Squibb. As both of them are actively competing each other and their financials are available in 10-K forms. I hope I made the right decision.
Hi I am doing the RAP submission this November 2021, I have chosen the topic 16
(A critical evaluation of the financial and operational risk management within an
organization.) The info pack says "Access to internally generated information (such as risk management policies) is essential. Primary data collection may help your evaluation". So if I am choosing an international company for the project, how does collecting primary data would work? would publicly available data only suffice or do I need to contact the organization or a representative to the organization to collect specific data, can I use the data of the company on internet to answer research questions.
This is a difficult one to answer as to a certain extent it depends upon the organisation chosen. I did have a student who submitted on this topic a year or so ago. She used an internet bank [banks are subject to a lot of international regulation] and looked at various risks that they ran. They had been criticised in the press so she evaluated them against these criticisms, money laundering, reputational risk, hacking risk and governance and a few others. Her work was given a B grade.
Most listed companies produce a risk statement so this can be used and evaluated and comparisons made with actual instances of risks in the particular industry sector. I think a bank is probably one of the few types of organisations where you might be able to pass without primary data as there are procedures laid down usually by the central bank and regulators and you may be able to evaluate a banking institution against these, and their stress-testing. For example the CAMELS model to assess financial risk of liquidity and other key ratios
5y ago#116Hello,
I am a newcomer and this is my first attempt at OBU RAP.
I have started research for Topic 8 but with a difficulty.
For several industry sectors, I am struggling to find an independent Public UK company.
All companies I have looked at are part of a group, and their annual financial statements are consolidated, with no financial details/breakdown of the associate company I am interested in.
For example; In hospitality all the main hotels are part of a Group (some with their parent company headquartered in the U.S or other European countries).
Same with the Construction industry, bookselling industry etc.
a) Please how do I navigate this problem of consolidated financial statements?
b) Is there any other way I can find out the financial details / statement of an associate?
All suggestions and directives are welcome.
Thank you!
Sign into reply to this topic.