BUSN7036– 1R

Java Python BUSN7036- Assignment 1

Assessment Weighting: 15% of total marks available for course

Due Date: 11am Monday March 25, 2024.

Submission Details Upload an electronic copy of your assignment to Wattle via the

‘Turnitin’ assignment link. Please attach a completed cover sheet, available at:

https://rsa.anu.edu.au/sites/default/files/2022-

03/RSA%20Assessment%20Cover%20Sheet%20INDIVIDUAL.docx

Word Limit: 1750 words excluding references, appendices andre-cast financial statements.

Overview:

This assignment is designed to familiarise you with the company (Wesfarmers Ltd., ASX

Ticker Code = ‘WES’) that is the subject of your later ‘Company Analysis Assignment’, and to assist you to develop your knowledge of strategic analysis, the extent to which accounting and basic financial analysis may inform. strategic analysis, and your ability to effectively and professionally communicate qualitative and quantitative information.  Much of the financial  and non-financial information required to complete this assignment is available through Morningstar DatAnalysis Premium (e.g. summarised financial statement information, copies of Wesfarmers Ltd. annual reports, stock exchange announcements etc).

In completing this assignment you must show evidence of engaging with and understanding information in Wesfarmers ’ annual reports and other disclosures, and applying this understanding to the requirements of the assignment. Making generic statements about strategy will get you very few, if any, marks.

This is an individual assignment.

Required:

1.   For the years ending June 30 2017 to June 30 2023, prepare graphs of Wesfarmers Ltd. ’s:

a.   Operating Revenue and Net Profit After Tax After ‘Abnormals’

b.   Total Assets and Total Liabilities

c.   Total Owner’s Equity (at Book Value) and Market Capitalisation (i.e. Market Value of Owner’s Equity)

d.  Net Profit Margin, Return on Assets and Return on Equity

2.   Using data provided in Wesfarmers ’ annual reports, prepare tables and graphs that

summarise the importance of Wesfarmers ’ largest three operating segments in terms of revenues, and each segment’s profits and profitability. You will notice that the composition of Wesfarmers ’ operating segments changes between 2017 and 2023.

Your task is to produce segment performance information that is most useful for evaluation Wesfarmers ’ future performance. Examining the changes in the composition of Wesfarmers operating segments should help you understand some of the major structural changes to the firm’s business, but also help you understand the major sources of the firm’s profit and profitability (see requirements below).

3.   Write a brief history of the company focussing on the years since 2017, explaining the major changes to Wesfarmers ’ operations and performance during this time. Do not write anymore than a couple of sentences on the company’s history prior to 2017.  In writing this part of your assignment, you should:

a.   Identify the nature of Wesfarmers’s operations (i.e. what business activities are they involved in?) and any changes in the nature of Wesfarmers’s operations overtime (right up to the present day)

b.   Identify two of Wesfarmers’s major competitors over the past 5 years and identify and describe the particular business areas over which these competitors directly compete with Wesfarmers.

c.   Apply dai 写BUSN7036– Assignment 1R ;your knowledge of corporate strategy (as defined in Topic 2 of this

course) and industry profitability to analyse the fundamental reasons for the changes in WES’s raw level of profit and in profitability and the likely future profitability of WES?

d.   Apply your knowledge of competitive strategy (as defined in Topic 2 of this course) to analyse the costs and benefits of the competitive strategy that Wesfarmers has adopted.

o Integrate the graphs produced in Requirements 1 and 2 to support your

analysis. Show graphs at relevant points within the main text of your assignment, and include any graphs not included in the main text at the rear of your assignment in an Appendix. The choices you make when formatting these graphs can have important effects on their usefulness in communicating the information in the underlying data.  Pay attention to small details.

o In analysing Wesfarmers’s recent operating history, profitability and strategic approaches you should make use of the management discussion and analysis   at the beginning of each annual report.

o When answering parts c. and d. above make sure that you apply the

definitions of ‘corporate strategy’ and ‘competitive strategy’ introduced in Topic 2 of this course. Failure to do so may result in you achieving a very disappointing grade.

4. Prepare arecast (standardised) balance sheet for Wesfarmers for the year 2023.

Lectures 3B and 4 will be useful in this regard. You must also show the ‘as reported’ balance sheet, and cross-references as per lectures 3B and 4. You must make the distinction between operating items and non-operating items 100% clear.

•   Your report must be original and properly referenced in accordance with the requirements of the University’s Academic Misconduct Rules:

o Please use the Harvard (author-date) system

o You must clearly identify whether material that you are referencing is a direct  quote from the source (place in quotation marks followed by in-text reference) or a paraphrasing of the source (no quotation marks required, in-text reference required)

o It is ok to use an artificial intelligence platform (e.g. Chat GPT) as a ‘search engine’ to help you locate relevant key facts. However, you cannot use the output of an AI application directly in your submitted assignment. You

should find alternative sources for any facts/information initially identified by an AI search/query. What is written in your assignment must be your own words, except where you have acknowledged the source and identified   whether it is a paraphrasing or direct quote in accordance with scholarly practice.

o As you will frequently be referring to financial statement data in this

assignment, it is acceptable to make a single initial acknowledgement (via

footnote) of the source(s) of that data. However, any text drawn from or based on discussion in Wesfarmers’s annual reports should be properly referenced.

o You cannot ‘re-cycle’ material that you have submitted for assessment in another assignment.

o The work submitted must be authored by YOU, and not by an artificial intelligence application.

o If you have any doubt regarding referencing requirements contact the

Course Convenor.

o Further details are available at :http://www.anu.edu.au/students/learning- development/academic-integrityand

https://www.legislation.gov