Reference no: EM133126224 , Length: word count:2400
ACCY936 Management and Information Systems - University of Wollongong
Assessment - Business Research Report
Background:
Since 2020, the outbreak of the novel coronavirus COVID-19 has seriously affected health care, economy, transportation and other fields in different industries and regions. At the macro level, the COVID-19 outbreak caused the worst global recession since 1930 (Atayah et al. 2021).
The COVID-19 pandemic continues to impact companies in different ways. While some governments are starting to ease restrictions, others continue to enforce lockdown measures. Depending on the industry and the economic environment in which a company trades, the COVID19 reporting periods may paint a better or worse picture compared to the pre-COVID19 annual financial statements. Either way, COVID-19 continues to affect the recognition and measurement of most companies' assets, liabilities, income and expenses. In addition, due to continued liquidity pressures, many companies may be facing going concern difficulties (KPMG, 2020a).
KPMG (2020b) outlines companies may intend to highlight the impacts caused by COVID19 on their financial performances by including quantitative and qualitative information either inside or outside the financial statements. How a company reflects the impacts of COVID-19 in the income statement will depend on its specific facts and circumstances, including the nature and extent of those impacts on the company and the company's ability to determine the impacts on a non-arbitrary basis.
Examples of COVID19's impact on firms' financial performances shown in KPMG (2020b) include:
• payroll for idle employees;
• depreciation of plant facilities when production is suspended; and
• rent and utility costs incurred during temporary closures;
• additional cleaning and sanitation costs incurred as part of infection control or prevention;
• temporary hazard pay to employees;
Devi et al. (2020) find an increase in the leverage ratio and short-term activity ratio but a decrease in the public companies' liquidity ratio and profitability ratio during the COVID-19 pandemic. More specifically, firms operating in consumer goods sector experienced an increase in liquidity ratio, profitability ratio, and short-term activity ratio but a decrease in the leverage ratio. As a comparison, property, real estate, building, finance, trade, services, and investment sectors have all experienced a decrease in the liquidity and profitability ratios. Atayah et al. (2021) show that the logistic sector achieved significantly higher financial performance during 2020.
Business Research Report Instructions
Topic: COVID19's Impact on an Australian Listed Company's Financial Performance
Data Collection:
1. Select one ASX100 company (click here for a full list of ASX companies https://www.asx100list.com/).
2. Conduct research to gather information in relation to the company's disclosure of COVID19's impact on the firm's operation (you can find information in annual reports, the company's website, announcements, news articles, or other reports).
3. Collect the company's 2015 - 2021 financial data from the DatAnalysis database (accessible from UOW library portal). Firms with incomplete data should not be used (e.g. Coles).
Suggested Report Content:
1. Introduction, including the scope of the report and a brief overview of the company
2. Outlining the company's operation during COVID19
3. Produce a one-page Dashboard highlighting the company's key financial and operating performances from 2015 to 2021. (Techniques to obtain financial data, preparing the data in excel, and creating a Dashboard using excel will be covered in tutorials during the technical hour). The Dashboard needs to be produced using Microsoft Excel. A screenshot of the Dashboard needs to be included in the Business Report, the Excel workbook will need to be submitted separately.
4. Discuss the impact of COVID19 on the firm's financial performances, by referring to the dashboard, as well as using other supportive evidence.
5. Conclusions and recommendations
Length: 2,500 words (+/- 10%), excluding references and appendixes.