Each group will be allocated a FTSE 250 company (or local equivalent) to analyse. You are required to
prepare a Critical Analysis of the Annual Report and Accounts of your allocated company. Your analysis
should include consideration of:
The financial performance of the company (based on the financial statements in the annual report),
considered in the context of other companies in the same industry (I suggest that you use the FAME
database to help with this).
The commentary on the company’s performance as given in the narrative part of the annual report.
The accounting policies and principles adopted by the company, in particular examining the areas of
Revenue and Leasing. The segmental reporting disclosures – this may be something you consider when
looking at the financial performance of the company.
Your report should be drawn up as though it is an initial overview document which could be further
developed for a range of users such as actual or potential investors, employees, or civil society
organisations. Your report should be no more than 5,000 words long (excluding tables) (and no less
than 4,000 words) and should be presented clearly and logically, with full Harvard referencing where
appropriate.
The team should also complete the attached sheet, highlighting what work each team member carried
out, and evaluating the strengths and weaknesses of their team approach. I will expect your report to
demonstrate your understanding of:
• Key accounting principles and the significance of the core financial statements
• The limitations of financial accounting
• The different interpretations which can be placed on financial statements
• The possibility of bias in narrative reporting and the different pressures there may be on preparers
of FS
• The uses and limitations of ratio analysis your understanding should be demonstrated through the
way you write and structure your report
I’m not expecting you to explicitly write about each of these points, but your understanding should be
clear from the way you evaluate the annual report and accounts. An excellent report will be one which
demonstrates that you have thoroughly read and considered the financial statements, have critically
compared the narrative commentary with the GAAP figures, and have used credible and reliable
sources of information where appropriate. The word limit means that you cannot cover every single
aspect of the accounts, but I would expect you to identify the core elements of interest.
