Project
Outline and Instructions
What
is this project?
This
project gives you an opportunity to get some hands-on experience applying
corporate finance theory and models to real firms. In the process, you will get
a chance to:
(a)
consider
the firm’s corporate governance structure including its responsiveness to
shareholders, bondholders, markets and society.
(b)
evaluate
the risk profile of a firm, and examine the sources of risk.
(c)
analyse
how those risks impact its cost of equity and overall cost of capital.
How
is the project structured?
This
is a group project. Each group must have at
least four individuals in it. The group size may not exceed six.
Each
group will pick a company to analyse. The company should be publicly traded
with debt in its capital structure and have at least one year of trading
history and annual financial statements. For ease of analysis, select a company
listed in NYSE. It's also helpful for the company to have a detailed website
including direct links to items filed with the SEC or other regulators. Avoid
the following companies: 1) Financial service firms (banks, insurance
companies, investment banks, mutual funds, etc.). 2) Companies with large
capital arms (i.e. GE and the auto companies financing through GMAC or Ford
Motor credit). 3) Real estate investment trusts.
How
is the project format?
The
group will write one report for the company selected. The report should be
written in a double space, times new roman, size 11.
How
will the project be graded?
Each
group will receive one grade and every group member will receive the same grade
if the work has been done equally by all members. Otherwise, the grade of each group
members will be different. Mark Allocation: 20% of your final grade.
Who
polices the group?
You
do.
Timetable
You
should start the project as early as possible. To assist you in this, the
following deadlines are imposed:
By
Thursday 27 Feb 2020: Turn in a list of your group members
By
Thursday 5 Mar 2020: Turn in your company selection.
By
Thursday 2 Apr 2020: Turn in the
Corporate Governance Analysis portion of the project is due.
Final
project report is due one week before the final exam day. (both a hard copies
and excel file to be submitted).
Further
Details
Two
sample projects are attached. The sample projects shown here contain more
elements of the live case analysis than those parts assigned for our class.
Also, they do not include appropriate citations for sources used or reference
lists at the end.
Websites:
Consider
the following:
finance.yahoo.com;
sec.gov; cnn.com/business; cbs.marketwatch.com; hoovers.com; valueline.com;
moodys.com; bloomberg.com; altavista.digital.com; nyse.com; www.damodaran.com contains data sources, useful
spreadsheets and other information necessary in completing this project.
Check
also your company website for the annual reports (3-5 years); Filings made by
the company with regulatory agencies. For instance, in the United States,
publicly traded companies have to file annual (10-K) and quarterly (10-Q)
reports, among a whole array of filings. You can access these reports from the
agency websites.
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