Businesses and other organizations must regularly measure their financial performance and health to make operational and strategic decisions affecting the
organization’s future. Management professionals utilize income statements, balance sheets, cash flow statements, and a variety of other reports and techniques
to evaluate an organization. They also work closely with professionals from departments across the organization—including marketing, human resources, and
operations—to ensure that the business runs smoothly and financial decisions are not made in isolation.
For this project, you will use the accounting and finance skills you learned in the course to review the past and current financial performance and health of
a global, publicly traded company. Using that analysis, you will create initial financial projections that forecast the company’s performance under different
scenarios and identify internal risks and opportunities in order to begin planning future activities.
In this assignment, you will demonstrate your mastery of the following course outcomes:
MBA-520-01: Assess an organization’s’ underlying financial performance and health by analyzing relevant financial statements, variances, ratios,
and other financial information
MBA-520-02: Draw connections between accounting and financial information and the broader organizational context for making integrated business
decisions
MBA-520-03: Assess critical factors driving financial risks and opportunities for informing management priorities
MBA-520-04: Forecast business performance under different assumptions about inputs and processes using simple financial models
MBA-520-05: Evaluate the internal costs and benefits of business opportunities for their impact on budgeting and business decisions
MBA-520-06: Communicate financial analyses clearly and coherently for persuading internal stakeholders of the validity of observations and conclusions
Prompt
Imagine you are a newly hired manager at a publicly traded, global corporation of your choosing.
You have been asked to review the company’s past and current financial performance and health and make initial financial projections in order to begin
planning for the upcoming year. Your supervisor is particularly interested in a fresh perspective on what your analysis reveals about potential risks and
opportunities, as well as recommendations for next steps. Because you will eventually need to convince internal stakeholders, including senior management, of
the feasibility and desirability of your suggested activities, it is important that you justify your projections and recommendations, explaining how they were
informed by existing information and modeling different scenarios.
Your financial analysis and projection report will include several financial tables, along with a comprehensive narrative describing the company’s context
and financial performance and health, and your analytical approach and conclusions. Your report should be geared toward an executive audience with
basic accounting and finance knowledge and should be well organized, clear, concise, convincing, and free of distracting errors. Note that, in addition to
the company’s financial statements and website, other authoritative news sources—such as annual reports and external sites like Bloomberg—may offer
insights that facilitate analysis or provide information on the company’s priorities, challenges, and geographic distribution.
Specifically, your financial analysis and projection report must include the following critical elements. Most of the critical elements align with a particular course
outcome (shown in brackets).
I. Executive Summary: Clearly and concisely summarize your principal findings, projections, and recommendations as a manager, with the goal of
persuading busy executives to support your ideas and read further. Provide your intended audience with a solid but brief sense of the parameters of
your analysis and who you would consult in refining it further, and why. Remember that your goal is to convince readers of the validity of your
observations while recognizing limitations that affect business decisions. [MBA-520-06]
II. Financial Performance and Health: In this section, you will evaluate the company’s recent financial performance and current financial health, given its
organizational context. In particular, you must cover the following:
A. Organizational Context
- What key goods or services does your company provide, for whom, where, and why? How do these features of the company (major
products or services, customers, location, etc.) help set the boundaries for business decisions? [MBA-520-02] - How is the company organized and managed (by product groups, geographic region, function, etc.)? How does that affect
accounting and financial information and subsequent business decisions? [MBA-520-02]
B. Recent Financial Performance - Assess what the company’s consolidated income statements for the last three years say about its financial performance. Use relevant
indicators, graphs, and spreadsheets to support your narrative. (Include all spreadsheets in an appendix.) For example, what do the
amounts and year-to-year changes in revenue, operating income, net profit or loss, and earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation,
and amortization tell you? Do any items stand out? [MBA-520-01] - Assess what the company’s consolidated cash flow statements for the same time period say about its financial performance. Use
relevant indicators, graphs, and spreadsheets to support your narrative. For example, what do the amounts and year-to-year changes
in cash from operating activities, cash from investing, cash from financing, and total cash flow tell you? Do any items stand out? [MBA520-01] - Assess the company’s underlying financial performance. Support your answer with the analysis above and relevant research. For
example, is recent performance substantially affected by unusual events such as a major acquisition or spin-off? Is the business
thriving or struggling in its industry? How do you know? [MBA-520-01]
C. Current Financial Health - Assess how the company is capitalized and what that tells you about its financial health. Support your response with relevant graphs,
spreadsheets, and indicators such as cash and cash equivalents, total debt, shareholders’ equity, current ratio, debt/equity ratio, and
days sales outstanding (DSO). For example, does the company have enough cash for payroll and other bills? Does it have the right mix of
debt versus equity (stock)? How do you know? [MBA-520-01] - Does the company have the right amount of cash and other resources (e.g., key people, technologies, reputation, physical assets) to fuel
future growth? What does this suggest for business decisions? For example, if it has too much cash, should it pay a large dividend,
repurchase its own shares, or reinvest the excess funds? [MBA-520-02] - Assess the financial value of the company using relevant indicators. What does your assessment imply for future business health
and performance? For example, what is the business’s current market value? What is its price-to-earnings ratio? What do these
suggest about investor perceptions of the business’s future? [MBA-520-01]
III. Success Factors and Risks: Use this section to discuss the factors that may affect current and future performance. Specifically:
A. How do the company’s financial and strategic priorities affect accounting procedures and business decisions? How might that affect business
success? For example, is management growth-oriented or efficiency-oriented? What is the company’s approach to risk and short- versus longterm planning horizons? [MBA-520-03]
B. How might the company better capitalize on nonfinancial factors such as market share, reputation, human resources, physical facilities, or
patents? Support your response with relevant research and analysis. [MBA-520-03]
C. What are the most significant internal risks to the company’s financial performance? Give evidence to support your response. For example, is
the company vulnerable to technological changes or cyberattacks? Loss of high-talent personnel? Production disruptions? [MBA-520-03]
IV. Projections: Using what you know about the company’s financial health and performance, forecast its future performance. In particular, you
should:
A. Project the company’s likely consolidated financial performance for each of the next three years. Support your analysis with an appendix
spreadsheet showing actual results for the most recent year, along with your projections and assumptions. Remember that your
supervisor is interested in fresh perspectives, so you should not just replicate existing financial statements: You should add other relevant
calculations or disaggregations to help inform decisions. [MBA-520-04]
B. Modify your projections for the coming year to show a best- and worst-case scenario based on the potential success factors and risks
you identified. As with your initial projections, support your analysis with an appendix spreadsheet, specifying your assumptions and
including relevant calculations and disaggregations beyond those in existing financial reports. [MBA-520-04]
C. Discuss how your assumptions, forecasting methodology, and information gaps affect your projections. Why are your projections
appropriate? For example, are they consistent with the company’s mission and priorities? Aggressive but achievable? How would changing
your assumptions change your projections? [MBA-520-04]
V. Business Opportunities: In this section, discuss the incremental impact of a hypothetical but reasonable and simple new investment project, such as a
new product or facility or a cost-cutting investment, as an initial step in thinking about the future. Be sure to address the following:
A. Based on your knowledge of this company, what is a likely investment it would consider and why? Be sure to describe the basic features of
the investment as a foundation for considering its potential financial impact. [MBA-520-05]
B. Evaluate the approximate costs and benefits of the investment you identified, explaining how they would affect your spreadsheet
projections and business decisions. Estimates are sufficient but should be grounded in common sense and insight into the company. [MBA520-05]
C. Assess the implications of how the potential investment affects budgeting and related business decisions. For example, does the investment
involve significant cash spending this coming year, followed by benefits in the following year? How might that affect short-term and long-term
spending priorities? Does the benefit outweigh the cost? [MBA-520-05]
Milestones
Milestone One: Financial Performance and Health
In Module Three, you will submit your first milestone, in which you will evaluate the company’s recent financial performance and current financial health given
its organizational context. This milestone will be graded with the Milestone One Rubric.
Milestone Two: Success Factors and Risks
In Module Five, you will discuss factors that may affect current and future performance. This milestone will be graded with the Milestone Two Rubric.
Milestone Three: Projections
In Module Seven, you will forecast future performance based on what you know about the company’s financial health and performance. You will then modify
your projections for a best and worst case scenario, and discuss how your methodologies affect your projections. This milestone will be graded with the
Milestone Three Rubric.
Final Submission: Organizational Financial Analysis
In Module Nine, you will submit your final project. It should be a complete, polished artifact containing all of the critical elements of the final product. It
should reflect the incorporation of feedback gained throughout the course. This submission will be graded with the Final Product Rubric.
Deliverables
Milestone Deliverable Module Due Grading
One Financial Performance and Health Three Graded separately; Milestone One Rubric
Two Success Factors and Risks Five Graded separately; Milestone Two Rubric
Three Projections Seven Graded separately; Milestone Three Rubric
Final Submission: Financial Health and
Performance of an Organization
Nine Graded separately; Final Project Rubric
Final Project Rubric
Guidelines for Submission: Yo
ur financial health and performance report should be approximately 12–15 pages (excluding title page, spreadsheets and graphs,
and references list). It should be double-spaced, with 12-point Times New Roman font and one-inch margins, and use the latest guidelines for APA formatting for
references and citations. Include your name, course name, and report title on the title page.
Critical Elements Exemplary (100%) Proficient (90%) Needs Improvement (70%) Not Evident (0%) Value
Executive Summary
[MBA-520-06]
Meets “Proficient” criteria, and
response is especially
persuasive and well-suited for
target audience
Clearly and concisely
summarizes principal findings,
projections, and
recommendations with the
goal of persuading busy
executives to support ideas
and read further
Summarizes principal findings,
projections, and recommendations to
persuade executives to support ideas,
but summary is lengthy, lacks clarity,
omits critical details, or contains
inaccuracies
Does not summarize principal
findings, projections, and
recommendations to persuade
executives to support ideas and
read further
7.5
Financial
Performance and
Health: Context: Key
Goods or
Services/Features
[MBA-520-02]
Meets “Proficient” criteria and
draws particularly insightful
connections between
company’s financial and
nonfinancial features and
business decisions
Describes how key goods or
services and features of the
company help set boundaries
for business decisions
Describes how key goods or services and
features of the company help set
boundaries for business decisions, but
response is cursory or contains
inaccuracies, or links to decision making
are weak or illogical
Does not describe how key
goods or services and features
of the company help set
boundaries for business
decisions
5.5
Financial
Performance and
Health: Context:
Organized
[MBA-520-02]
Meets “Proficient” criteria and
demonstrates especially keen
insight into relationships
between company’s structure,
how financial information is
recorded, and impact on
business decisions
Analyzes how company is
organized and managed and
the effect on accounting and
financial information and
subsequent business decisions
Analyzes how company is organized and
the effect on accounting and financial
information and decisions, but response
is cursory or contains inaccuracies, or
links between organizational structure,
finance, and decision making are weak
or illogical
Does not analyze how company
is organized and managed and
the effect on accounting and
financial information and
subsequent business decisions
5.5
Financial
Performance and
Health: Performance:
Income
[MBA-520-01]
Meets “Proficient” criteria, and
analysis and supporting
evidence are particularly wellsuited to drawing meaningful
conclusions about financial
performance
Assesses what the
consolidated income
statements for last three years
say about financial
performance, supported by
relevant indicators, graphs,
and spreadsheets
Assesses what the consolidated income
statements say about financial
performance, supported by indicators,
graphs, and spreadsheets, but response
is cursory or contains inaccuracies, or
support is not relevant
Does not assess what the
consolidated income
statements for last three years
say about financial performance
4.5
Financial
Performance and
Health: Performance:
Cash Flow
[MBA-520-01]
Meets “Proficient” criteria, and
analysis and supporting
evidence are particularly wellsuited to drawing meaningful
conclusions about financial
performance
Assesses what consolidated
cash flow statements for the
same time period say about
financial performance,
supported by relevant
indicators, graphs, and
spreadsheets
Assesses what consolidated cash flow
statements say about financial
performance, with some support from
indicators, graphs, and spreadsheets,
but response is cursory or contains
inaccuracies, or support is not relevant
Does not assess what
consolidated cash flow
statements for the same time
period say about financial
performance
4.5
Critical Elements Exemplary (100%) Proficient (90%) Needs Improvement (70%) Not Evident (0%) Value
Financial
Performance and
Health: Performance:
Underlying
[MBA-520-01]
Meets “Proficient” criteria, and
assessment is especially
nuanced and well supported by
relevant analysis and research
Assesses underlying financial
performance, supported by
analysis and relevant research
Assesses underlying financial
performance, supported by analysis and
research, but response is cursory,
contains gaps in accuracy or logic, or is
poorly supported by analysis and
research
Does not assess underlying
financial performance,
supported by analysis and
relevant research
4.5
Financial
Performance and
Health: Health:
Capitalized
[MBA-520-01]
Meets “Proficient” criteria, and
analysis and supporting
evidence are particularly wellsuited to drawing meaningful
conclusions about financial
health
Assesses how company is
capitalized and what that says
about financial health,
supported by relevant graphs,
spreadsheets, and indicators
Assesses how company is capitalized
and what that says about financial
health, supported by graphs,
spreadsheets, and indicators, but
response is cursory or contains
inaccuracies, or support is not relevant
Does not assess how company
is capitalized and what that says
about financial health
4.5
Financial
Performance and
Health: Health:
Growth
[MBA-520-02]
Meets “Proficient” criteria and
demonstrates extraordinary
insight into the connections
between financial and
nonfinancial resources,
resource management
strategies, and business
decisions related to growth
Determines whether company
has right amount of cash and
other resources to fuel future
growth and what this suggests
for business decisions
Determines whether company has right
amount of cash and other resources to
fuel future growth and what this
suggests for business decisions, but
response is cursory or contains
inaccuracies, or links between different
types of resources and business
decisions are weak or illogical
Does not determine whether
company has right amount of
cash and other resources to fuel
future growth or what this
suggests for business decisions
5.5
Financial
Performance and
Health: Health:
Financial Value
[MBA-520-01]
Meets “Proficient” criteria, and
assessment and supporting
evidence are particularly wellsuited to drawing meaningful
conclusions about future
financial health and
performance
Assesses financial value of
company and what it implies
for future health and
performance using relevant
indicators
Assesses financial value of company and
what it implies for future health and
performance using relevant indicators,
but assessment is cursory or contains
inaccuracies, or links to future health
and performance are weak or illogical
Does not assess financial value
of company and what it implies
for future health and
performance using relevant
indicators
4.5
Success Factors and
Risks: Priorities
[MBA-520-03]
Meets “Proficient” criteria, and
discussion of how priorities
inform management decisions
is especially nuanced
Determines how company’s
financial and strategic
priorities affect accounting
procedures and business
decisions and the implications
for business success
Determines how company’s financial
and strategic priorities affect accounting
procedures and business decisions and
the implications for busine
ss success,
but response is cursory or contains
inaccuracies, or links between priorities
and business decisions and procedures
are weak or illogical
Does not determine how
company’s financial and
strategic priorities affect
accounting procedures and
business decisions and the
implications for business
success
5.5
Critical Elements Exemplary (100%) Proficient (90%) Needs Improvement (70%) Not Evident (0%) Value
Success Factors and
Risks: Nonfinancial
Factors
[MBA-520-03]
Meets “Proficient” criteria and
demonstrates extraordinary
insight into the ways in which
nonmonetary factors impact
business opportunities
Identifies how company might
better capitalize on
nonfinancial factors,
supported by relevant
research and analysis
Identifies how company might better
capitalize on nonfinancial factors, but
response is cursory, contains
inaccuracies, or is poorly supported
Does not identify how company
might better capitalize on nonfinancial factors
5.5
Success Factors and
Risks: Risks
[MBA-520-03]
Meets “Proficient” criteria and
provides especially nuanced
and well-supported insight into
the internal factors that are
most significant in driving
financial risk
Pinpoints most significant
internal risks to financial
performance, supported by
evidence
Pinpoints most significant internal risks
to financial performance, supported by
evidence, but response is cursory or
contains gaps in accuracy or logic, or
evidence is weak or irrelevant
Does not pinpoint most
significant internal risks to
financial performance
5.5
Projections: Likely
Performance
[MBA-520-04]
Meets “Proficient” criteria, and
projections are especially
nuanced and well-supported by
evidence and realistic
assumptions
Projects the likely
consolidated financial
performance for next three
years, supported by
spreadsheet showing actual
results for most recent year,
projections, and assumptions
Projects the likely consolidated financial
performance for next three years,
supported by spreadsheet showing
actual results for most recent year,
projections, and assumptions, but
response contains inaccuracies or faulty
assumptions or omits key details
Does not project the likely
consolidated financial
performance for next three
years or support with
spreadsheet showing actual
results for most recent year,
projections, and assumptions
5.5
Projections: Best- and
Worst-Case
[MBA-520-04]
Meets “Proficient” criteria and
demonstrates especially keen
insight into the range of
possible financial projections
based on reasonable and
realistic assumptions
Modifies projections to show
best- and worst-case scenarios
for coming year based on
success factors and risks
identified, supported by
spreadsheet with assumptions
and relevant information
beyond existing financial
reports
Modifies projections to show best- and
worst-case scenarios based on success
factors and risks identified, supported
by spreadsheet with assumptions and
additional information, but response
contains inaccuracies or faulty
assumptions, or additional information
included is not relevant
Does not modify projections to
show best- and worst-case
scenarios based on success
factors and risks identified,
supported by spreadsheet with
assumptions and information
beyond existing financial
reports
5.5
Projections: Discuss
Projections
[MBA-520-04]
Meets “Proficient” criteria and
demonstrates especially keen
insight into the sensitivity of
financial projections to
changing circumstances and
assumptions
Discusses how assumptions,
forecasting methodology, and
information gaps affect
projections and why
projections are appropriate
Discusses how assumptions,
methodology, and information gaps
affect projections and why projections
are appropriate, but discussion is
cursory or illogical or contains
inaccuracies
Does not discuss how
assumptions, forecasting
methodology, and information
gaps affect projections and why
projections are appropriate
5.5
Critical Elements Exemplary (100%) Proficient (90%) Needs Improvement (70%) Not Evident (0%) Value
Business
Opportunities: Likely
Investment
[MBA-520-05]
Meets “Proficient” criteria, and
investment identified is
particularly well-aligned with
the needs, priorities, and goals
of the company
Identifies likely investment to
consider and why, describing
its basic features as a
foundation for considering
potential financial impact
Identifies likely investment to consider
and why, describing its basic features as
a foundation for considering potential
financial impact, but response is cursory
or contains inaccuracies, or justification
for why investment would be of interest
to company is weak
Does not identify likely
investment to consider and why
or describes its basic features
as a foundation for considering
potential financial impact
5.5
Business
Opportunities: Costs
and Benefits
[MBA-520-05]
Meets “Proficient” criteria, and
evaluation is based on realistic
estimates and is especially wellaligned with decision-making
needs
Evaluates approximate costs
and benefits of investment
identified, explaining how they
would affect spreadsheet
projections and business
decisions
Evaluates approximate costs and
benefits of investment identified,
explaining how they would affect
spreadsheet projections and business
decisions, but evaluation is cursory or
contains gaps in accuracy or logic, or
links to business decisions are weak
Does not evaluate approximate
costs and benefits of
investment identified or explain
how they would affect
spreadsheet projections and
business decisions
5.5
Business
Opportunities:
Implications
[MBA-520-05]
Meets “Proficient” criteria, and
discussion of budgeting
implications is particularly
nuanced and well-aligned with
decision-making needs
Assesses implications of
potential investment for
budgeting and related
business decisions
Assesses the implications of potential
investment for budgeting and related
business decisions, but evaluation is
cursory or contains inaccuracies
Does not assess implications of
potential investment for
budgeting and related business
decisions
5.5
Articulation of
Response
Submission is free of errors
related to citations, grammar,
spelling, syntax, and
organization and is presented
in a professional and easy-toread format
Submission has no major
errors related to citations,
grammar, spelling, syntax, or
organization
Submission has major errors related to
citations, grammar, spelling, syntax, or
organization that negatively impact
readability and articulation of main
ideas
Submission has critical errors
related to citations, grammar,
spelling, syntax, or organization
that prevent understanding of
ideas
4
Total 100%
