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hi sir i wanted to know that am i restricted for comparability to choose another company with same operation as the same i as my project company or i am restricted to the local ones.
Hi @trephena, I’m looking to begin my RAP for the next submission and have chosen topic 8 (unsurprisingly) for my project. I would like to choose a company that interests me and being a big sports fan led me to Arsenal holdings plc, the problem I am finding is a suitable comparator…? Do you have any further suggestions on sports related companies that could possibly make for a good RAP as currently my investigations have reaped no rewards. I am beginning to resign myself to the likely possibility of choosing two of the large supermarkets to compare…as I imagine many have done before me.
Any help here would be much appreciated.
Thanks,
Liam@Liam – I always think it is important to choose an organisation that interests you as it motivates you to find out more about it and do a good RAP. I take it you have ruled out Manchester United as a competitor it is principally owned by the Glazer Brothers and Chelsea because of Ibrahimovic? There are some less prominent UK Premier League clubs that I believe are plcs so it would be a case probably of choosing one of those and setting out some of the differences in limitations section. Off the top of my head I don’t know which clubs are plcs but I believe West Ham United is and being another London club that might be suitable….
@trephena – thanks for the reply. Unfortunately it appears that West Ham United are a limited company and I am struggling to find any other premier league club that is a plc! There is Chelsea as you mention and a preferable comparator although their ownership considerably different given the Abramovich factor…however I can only find their accounts through Companies House which it seems involves a charge to access them…whereas the Arsenal Holdings plc accounts are openly available online. I feel as though Chelsea is my only option to make this work. Do you feel that this is would be a viable option, and setting out the ownership differences of the two companies in my limitations? Thanks again for any assistance.
@Liam – Try Tottenham Hotspur instead then as they seem to have accounts that are available on their website and other investor information on their investor relations pages
https://www.tottenhamhotspur.com/the-club/investor-relations/annual-reports/
However he cost of accounts from Companies House is quite cheap as long as you go direct it is not normally more than a couple of pounds per set (but you do need to print them off as they are only made available for about 10 days as a soft copy)
@trephena thanks again. Does it not matter that Tottenham are a ltd co? I will need to check companies house for their latest set of accounts as they only seem to have the annual reports up to June 2013.
@Liam – normally Ltds tend to be much smaller (but not always e.g. Virgin Atlantic went from Ltd to plc and then back to Ltd). In the case of Premier League clubs there is not too much difference in terms of their potential revenue streams (there are many revenue streams and sale of match tickets is probably one of the least important!), so that is where you can make comparisons. However it is important for a team to finish in the top 6 so that they qualify for the European Championship League as that results in extra revenue, prestige and publicity (+ more TV coverage) and the more prominent they become the more they can appeal to and attract top players. Obviously the more revenue and the better the cash flow a club has, the more they are can afford to pay to buy new players and pay the salaries of existing ones. In this respect an analysis of a club is very different from a ‘normal’ commercial enterprise – and also personalities come into it a lot – both between the chairman and manager and manager and players. (Not bad for a woman, am I on football? 😀 )
See when the auditors normally sign off the accounts – and if it is usually by November you could try the investor relations website and ask for the latest ones – they may just not have got round to putting them online yet.
@trephena Oh I see the reasoning now, thanks. Yes not bad at all, very impressive! =) It seems as though they are not released until April unfortunately…West Ham United Ltd have released their 2014 accounts and are readily available so it might be a better option to use them as a comparison!
I have chosen infinis energy plc which is listed in main market of LSE and Good Energy Group PLC which is listed in Alternative Investment Market of LSE. is this fine?
can I show consolidated comprehensive income, consolidated balance sheet and consolidated cash flow in my appendix ?
what can I do if two company have different year end date?
thanks
redoy@redoy300
1. Yes
2. Yes (and your calculations for ratios)
3. Go with the latest available for your main company and the nearest to them for the comparator. Mention in the Limitations section that they are not exactly synchronised. Also bear in mind that energy industries are currently being affected by the decrease in the price of oil so you may need to update your work- if the statements for either company though the latest are not really recent, you may should look at interim reports and see if the trends in sales and revenue and costs etc are badly affected. Including a section at the end to comment on the oil price issue for energy companies (and of course including this issue in the PEST/SWOT) will show you are taking a good and sensible approach to your analysis and applying thought (rather than just rote learning) to your work.thanks for your guidance..I have one more question regarding ratio calculation. do i need to calculate all 3 years ratio for competitor or only last year’s ratio for competitor is enough?
Hi I just have one more question…company that i am working with has year end in march and competitor in December…do i need to rewrite everything if they publish annual data in april or may?
thanks again
Redoy from Bangladesh.
@Liam – take a look at this link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-30896253
You probably can download the actual Deloitte’s report.
Remember when you do your RAP it is showing that you have researched your subject well and applied your research that gets the pass (not doing text book ratio analysis, making obvious comments that read like the notes to the accounts). So this should help you demonstrate understanding of the environment your clubs operate in… (and keep your fingers crossed that your RAP is marked by a football fan – markers want interesting projects that are presented and read well – so ensure you inform not bore, and such a marker will really like your work).
@redoy300 – 3 years for main company and just one for comparator will be fine. You need to go further then just commenting that one company has outperformed the other – you should put forward sensible reasons (not comments like Company A had more administrative expenses) – it is WHY expenses have risen/ margins fallen or revenue has increased that you need to explain.
The rule for the statement dates is in the latest Info Pack. Essentially unless statements are published and in the public domain (e.g. on their website) by 1st Feb then you can use the previous year’s as the latest e.g. Dec 2013 for your ratios. However as I have indicated above because there is a lot of volatility in the energy sector currently you need to look at more recent statements (i.e. the interim statements) to look at pronouncements, general trends and key factors that are impacting on the businesses. This does not mean having to recalculate everything, more an assessment of how these factors may affect the companies going forward (you could if you like look at the latest statements too for these – I would suggest the CEO and directors reports rather than the figures themselves). You can then present some of the important facts as an Update (a few paragraphs) at the end just before the Conclusions section. This will show the marker that you have really thought about your companies and not just doing a routine exercise without relating it to the present time. This is important as your FSs will be fairly ‘old’ by the time your work is submitted in May 2015.
Thanks @trephena I actulally spotted it this morning also but have now accessed the report which should be very useful with a great detailed breakdown of both Arsenal’s and Chelsea’s (who I’ve decided to use as a competitor) revenue =)
hi.
i want to write a perfomance management system software and apply it to a bank.
will this be an acceptable thesis for obu?
thanks in advance
@mansoor – not unless it naturally falls within the remit of one of the approved RAP titles such as T2 or T9. With student RAPS on some of these topics there is often a tendency to describe a system rather than do a proper evaluation and analysis. These then fail as the student hasn’t demonstrated critical thought. It sometimes is obvious that the choice is based on the fact that the company the student is involved with has recently implemented a new system and all they are doing is relaying the process documentation – whereas what they should be doing is a critical evaluation of the impact of the new system or process and assessing its effect on performance. Markers will tend to fail work that deviates from the RAP title or does not demonstrate original analysis (see my article on our homepage on Evaluation & Analysis particularly parts 2&3)
i have chosen topic 8 for making ACCA thesis and moreover the companies which i have chosen are bed bath and beyond and pier 1 imports.please tell me whether i can use these companies for making my thesis.
please any one reply me as soon as possible
Note from Trephena (OBU Forum Moderator): this was answered when you raised the same question before (several weeks ago). I advised you then to look to see what information is available (read my answer on the previous page)
i choose a company which has two subsidiaries for topic 8 do i have to mention the performance of subsidiaries as well in RAP ??
@zee90 – This very much depends on the size and turnover of the two companies. It would be pointless to compare a small grocery store with Sainsbury’s as their markets, operations and strategies are too different to make any valid comparisons. However it would be appropriate for example to compare Virgin Atlantic (an Ltd) with Singapore Airlines as both are major international airlines competing in similar markets and their business environments are also fairly similar although their legal structures are different.
The idea of having a comparator is to put your company’s performance and results into a business context in your evaluation. Therefore they must both be operating in a similar business environment where many of the operating factors are common to both.
Regarding your other query: You normally do your analysis so that you comparing group with group. If the comparator does not have subsidiaries then you can still compare this with a group. However you may need to consider this difference in structure in your Limitations section, particularly if the subsidiaries that are contributing to the group profit are considerably different to the main company operations (for example Olympus cameras whose main operations are in the optical equipment market at one time bought a company that produced face cream!)
Now i choose a company for topic8 which is subsidiary of group the group has well diversified portfolio they operate in oil gas and power companies
and the competitor is also subsidiary of group which also hold major companies in fertilizer and food but both the subsidiaries(which are for topic8) are cement manufacturer !!!
so is it Ok to carry on with 2 companies in similar industry but there group is quite diversified ??
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Hi Gang,
I hope the group is alive and kicking.
I have a a couple of questions.1) Can I use a company for Topic 8 from a country other than company of my residence? Given that I have chosen Topic 8, it won’t require primary research. Are there any other criterion that need to be kept in mind when choosing a company that is not located in your residence country.
2) Secondly, I have completed Ethics module, I have registered for OBU program. Now what’s the next step? When will I deposit the fee for this OBU RAP. Are there any other deadlines, which need to be taken care of.?
Very best regards
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