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Steps 2 - 6My Blog: kdunne92cqu.home.blog402331183312000My CompanyI was excited by the first glance at my company, EVENT Hospitality and Entertainment, to my surprise, an Australian entity. Now I knew of them because of their line of cinemas, but that was about it. Little did I know that they had a long history behind them and their subsidiaries which date back to 1910, having had a few different names in the past but more recently changing from Amalgamated Holdings Limited. Now I certainly panicked when I noticed a 95-page annual report, and am finding it difficult to get my mind around all of the information, it’s a lot to take in, and I feel like I will spend way too much time trying to organise my thoughts, and that will divert me from critically thinking, but let’s give it a shot. My initial thoughts on Event can be found on my blog or by following this link: link will take you to Event Hospitality and Entertainment’s annual reports: first and foremost, Event is in my opinion the most well-known line of cinemas in Australia, but they also own and operate hotels in Australia, New Zealand and Germany. Some of their popular brands include Moonlight Cinemas (which I was unaware still existed) and Birch Carol and Coyle (along with Event of course). As for their hospitality side, they have Rydges and QT Hotels and Resorts, along with Thredbo Alpine Resort which is located in the snowy mountains and is a popular ski and outdoor resort. The company was established in 1910 as Union Theatres and began developing Australian cinema. They moved on to become the Greater Union, and by this point were the largest Australian film entity, onwards to Amalgamed holdings limited where they branched out into the hospitality sector and began developing and operating Hotels and Resorts throughout Australia and New Zealand. Event is currently lead by Alan Rydge, who inherited the company in 1980 after the death of his father and consequently became the youngest ever chairman of an Australian public company. Below are some links to their cinemas and hotels: the entertainment side, Event aims to provide a superior viewing experience to its audience. It promotes itself rather well especially through the use of Cinebuzz, its reward program to further entice customers and enhance its merchandise sales, and further digital advertising. They clearly outline within the annual report that they are directly affected by box office sales and the relationship between such fluctuations and revenue. For example, in the Australian market Event experienced a profit decrease of 13.1% which directly related to a fall in the box office sales, and appears to be their biggest challenge as it is uncontrollable. Even with a decrease Event are still in profit by a longshot as their revenue still outweighs their expenses. They aim to offset as much downturn as they can and appear to do it through targeted decreasing of admission price in order to increase admissions and merchandising spend, sourcing less costly products and increasing booking fees and online transactions. Although this does not completely offset the box office, their strategies seem to work well. Being such a large entity, that level of profit decrease did not by any means affect their overall profit for the group. The hotels and resorts, including their Thredbo Alpine Resort, are another large source of income. They own and operate hotels across Australia and New Zealand and have appeared to successfully raise room prices, and significantly increase occupancy across the board which boasts good returns. They also note that their alpine resort received high snowfall in late 2017 which increased the skier visitation by 40%. That, along with increased visitation overall and strong food and beverage sales saw an increase of 15% revenue from the prior year. Event also have various other investments in property which also reported growth over the past year. Below is a link to an article I found relating to the company’s performance for 2018. I found that this information matched up with what I gained mostly from the directors’ report, I enjoyed reading how the company performed well in areas, as well as where they didn’t outperform the previous year, and the clear major reasons behind these figures. One thing I found interesting was a mention in the article of a possible divestment in QT Port Douglas and Rydges Gladstone which has apparently contributed negatively to their earnings. I can’t find any hint of this in the report, quite possibly it will be apart of 2019’s report as the article is dated August, 2018. When transferring over to the financial statements, I found it particularly interesting in being able to relate the figures back to last year, and the years before. The layout my company’s statements have had very little changes which makes it exceptionally easy to compare each year without having to search for it. I can literally lay out the pieces of paper on the table, overlap them and compare each of the 4 years side by side without having to enter the data into excel. Not only that, but it appears the company has not had any changes in their accounting practices in the last 4 years and I haven’t spotted any numbers between the documents that don’t match up. Which again makes it easy. One thing I have found harder to come across is some relevant news and advertising, nothing grabs me at potentially significant and what I have found is usually very little in quantity. I thought more about advertising and what Event does and in reality, I can’t say I ever see the cinema brand advertised blatantly and recurringly on tv or in public, or on the internet for that matter. Then I suppose why would they? No doubt film trailers are advertisement enough to encourage people to visit the cinema, other than the posters plastered on walls and in frames throughout the city, where else would their advertising costs be? They advertise at the beginning of films, encouraging audiences to try their different brands and hotels, and no doubt make commissions on advertising for other brands. Then there are rewards members who would generally visit movies more than your average joe, for example; my girlfriend and I have been dating for coming up to 5 years and not once have we been to the movies. Those rewards members generally entice a few friends to tag along as well. Looking to the financial statement, advertising comes in at a cool $37 million. Which does sit at the lower end of their scale of expenses which doesn’t surprise me. But in relation to their total expenses ($1.126 billion) it’s almost insignificant. Event seems to have a range of challenges, I considered what some of these might be before reading the report, my list included audience occupancy, room occupancy, available movies, quality of movies, costs of resources (electricity, merchandise, food). I was relieved to read some of their strategies and was impressed by the layout in which they delivered them. Event clearly outlines its strategies at the end of the Directors report. Focussing on key issues and highlighting the strengths they have used to keep atop of the game. Updating their assets and pursuing others, as well as ensuring they are providing top quality services and entertainment to their customers. Their property portfolio is with a fair value of $1.96 Billion as at 30 June 2018 and they aim to continue acquiring, developing and maximising returns as you would expect. They also note that some of their property is located within zones of earthquake risk in New Zealand which as a potential investor, I would want to know. They state that this would have an effect on potential profit and income, but of course would depend on the severity of the damage. Would this be classed as materiality as is included in chapter two of the study guide? It relates to something that could potentially adversely affect my decision to pursue investing in this company, so I guess so.In the entertainment summary they state clearly that they have no control over audience appeal to available films. They again reiterate that they aim to supply a superior viewing experience in comparison to what can be achieved at home and outline a strategic plan in which they are pursuing which includes but isn’t limited to refurbishing premium locations, locating other sources of income and sourcing alternative movies to Hollywood titles. I definitely feel a divide between the directors’ report and the financial statements. I see how depending on the way the report is delivered, it can feel very different. I found mine to be less embellished and more professional so it felt less like a sales pitch overall. But with the directors report I definitely see how this could be used to spin a bit of a web to trap an investor. Embellish it a bit, make is sound not so bad before we get to the statements. Otherwise the statements would come first I suppose, they are the nitty gritty after all. I see the directors report as the opening statement, where they aim to position the investor in such a way that they feel the company is doing well, before getting to the figures. After reading the director’s report I find myself rather confident in Events ability to meet its’ challenges. Their plans and strategies seem straightforward and simple without needing irrational and high risk moves to find more profit. Going back to 2010 the company has managed to lift its share price from $5 to above $13 per share and hold it in that vicinity since 2016. Now I understand a share to basically be a portion of a company, if you own a majority of the shares, you own a controlling interest. It is a fractional ownership of the company if you will. Event also appear to have continuously payed out strong dividends throughout the years which is what I would want to see. A dividend being that of earnings per share essentially, paid by the company to the shareholder at an amount which usually reflects the company’s profit. However, I know that although the share price is currently $13.62, and they have a strong dividend payout history I want to know how to calculate what their actual value is, if I was to put it into a dollar figure, would it be less or more than what they are currently selling for? How do I work that out? I’m hoping that information will become more apparent down the line. A link I found below supports my thoughts that Event is a strong dividend player and is potentially a good addition to a portfolio. They suggest a few tips when considering a stock for your portfolio and also mention the importance of understanding the cash flow of the business. I’m opting not to jump into that just yet as I know it is coming up soon in our unit. report so far is straightforward and easy to read in terms of structure. Each section contains sufficient information to feel like I have gained an understanding in what the company does, what it aims to achieve and how it will go about moving on in the coming year. There is however a lot of terminology I find I’m having to google to gain an understanding of, which then leaves me bailing out of the read earlier than I hope to, only to come back later and restart the process. For example, current and non-current loans, Is a non-current loan still a liability? How? it’s not current? I was lost at first over the idea of a non-current loan, I could not understand how it would still be classed as a liability if it was not current, aren’t all loans current? If my home loan was not current, I would own my house, wouldn’t I? but then why would I refer to it as non-current? From what I now understand, a non-current loan refers to that of a long-term liability, one that is not required to be paid within one year essentially, borrowed money with a 30-year term for example. I should have gathered a bit more by looking at the rest of the non-current liabilities, such as deferred tax or deferred revenue, they clearly imply that they are put off to a later time.-35121152844500I also noticed a significant increase in the company’s current loans and borrowings between 2016 and 2017, and a subsequent major decrease from 2017 to 2018. Just to put figures to it, in 2016 the total was $2.02 million and in 2017 it was $325.4 million. Also, a reverse in their non-current loans and borrowing’s which moved from $202.6 million in 2016 to $2.3 million in 2017, and then back around again. I am not sure at all how to relate the two, or if I have to? Could this be in relation to a new Debt facility, or a renegotiation? When a new debt is configured does the companies Non-current debt change to a current debt for that period? Below is a snap of my spreadsheet entry relating to the figures in question (in red). Going back into the report, I found that the company’s debt facilities were due to mature on the 12th of September 2017, and were amended and restated on the 15th of August 2017 and are now set to mature on that same date in 2020. Is this why the numbers shuffled around? I find myself a bit baffled with this at this point in time. But since our latest PASS session, I was pleasantly surprise when talking about this issue after we had been broken into smaller groups, Jenni Cole managed to confirm that this would most probably be the case. Thanks Jenni! I still have to look further into how that works, but it’s a solid start.There was a significant increase in the company’s purchases in 2017 in regards to property, equipment and plant, totalling $281 million. This I thought was a large increase compared to 2016 ($195 million). Also, I noticed the company’s overall debt has been steadily increasing from $201 million in 2016 to $376 million in 2018. It leaves me wondering about their ability to service that level of debt? Of course, I don’t understand how to determine its serviceability and in terms of a large company with large sources of income, maybe it is not such a big deal? I would have to assume that there is a significant potential for these purchases to generate income in the future as the equity has continued to steadily grow. But as a potential investor how do I interpret those figures? What do I need to consider in terms of serviceability other than debt? From what I see at this point, the company has made a profit of nearly $112 million in 2018, $375 million in debt seems to be ok, considering a person making roughly $100k a year should be able to service a $400k dollar home loan, at a higher interest rate, no? (Also, not my circumstance, I wouldn’t give away any of my financials that easily.) But then what else does that profit have to service? Maintenance, wages, insurance, operating costs, redundancies? How do I configure all of that information and more? Not to mention, what do I compare those too? Where do their assets fall into that equation? At this point I feel myself drifting into the deep end rather than treading in the shallow until I learn how to swim, moving on.I pondered to myself why in 2015 the company opted to change its name from Amalgamated Holdings Limited? Was it due to growing a bad name, or having a poor profit margin and hoping to regain the market by updating and upgrading, or was it simply a restructure or tactic? From what I have read it appears to simply be a part of updating the company, with further cinema branding moving towards the Event name the company name followed suit, there appears to be no negative impact with profit following the change continuing to grow and I couldn’t see any major changes to the structure of the financial reviews. But there is a lot of information to peruse, have I missed some?I personally find that reading the statements is much easier than reading the directors report, I wish I had begun with the statement, to me its far easier to see a movement in the figures and then refer back to the report or notes to see what has happened, I would assume that if there are no major changes, their shouldn’t be need for investigation but again that is based on faithful representation, that being that I can trust that the figures I am being shown are a true representation of my companies financial position. Overall my company’s report appeared visually, how I expected it to. It was a plain document containing a lot of critical information, and possibly some non-critical but if it was there, I honestly glanced over it. I’ve begun looking at other people’s companies not so much for what they do but how they lay out their report, and have begun with Sam Jones’ company Leaf Resources Limited which to my luck, presents its report completely differently to mine. It appears to contain a lot of similar structure in regards to the report and the information it contains, and the statements itself but is littered with pictures and colours and a lot of other noise which I can’t help but think to myself why? Why is this in a financial document. Is there a purpose? is it intended to suck me into the idea of the company or is this just a way some companies present themselves? It doesn’t work for me, I find I have enough trouble systematically reading the report without adding the confusion of colour to the mix. Maybe there is more too it? I look forward to reading Sam’s reflection on the company and perusing others companies also. In our week 3 PASS session I noticed that a few of the group felt that their companies were portraying a sales pitch, rather than a report purely identifying their companies’ position. I didn’t speak up at the time but I feel differently towards mine, but that might be due to how I grasped the company’s position, by no means do I disagree with what the others had found, I do feel like certain companies aim to “sell” to investors. If my company was in fact aiming to do that, I wasn’t picking up what they were putting down. I’m not set to go out and buy $10k worth of shares in Event, but I don’t particularly feel like they would be a bad investment. I don’t feel that the company poised itself to make a sale, I feel like they have told me what is going on, what affects them and what their strengths are. An overall stance of “here is what we are, where we are, and where we are going. You decide.” This brings me back to why I am here in the first place, I want to decipher what that information means, I want to be able to look past the sale’s pitch, and see what is an opportunity, or a mistake waiting to happen. The PASS platform continues to prove to be an invaluable resource and I recommend anyone looking to further their understanding to give it a crack. I gained some valuable feedback from the week four PASS session which allowed me to share this draft with the Tuesday team, some about wording and structure and some in regards to where I’ve missed opportunities to expand upon aspects I speak about. Thank you again everyone!My biggest challenge at this point is knowing how to filter this information. I seem to just find more and more to try and understand, and honestly, I’m unsure whether half of it is even a big enough deal to factor into the overall question. What is this company worth to me? What is its value? Am I grasping all the key concepts I need to, Am I gaining a better understanding, Am I learning? At the beginning of this document I couldn’t figure out where to start, now at the end, I have no idea where to stop?I’ll try here for now. StudiosityWhat a wonderful system. I Uploaded my first draft to Studiosity and could not be happier with the feedback. My particular feedback focused mainly on punctuation, spelling and swapping out a few words. It also stated that my paragraph structure and overall language choice for this type of assignment was both appropriate and engaging which is great to hear. I was honestly expecting a message saying “start again fool” so anything above “nice try” is a win. This is a great service offered by CQU. I definitely see the benefit in ensuring my assignments are on track and that I have plenty of time to make use of Studiosity in the future. I’m continuously surprised by the services offered by CQU. I Haven’t actually looked into many of them. But being forced to have a go at Studiosity proved the I should look further into what else I can gain from these services. Peer BlogsFavourite blogs #1Paul Feasey – Being Held to AccountPaul has continuously impressed me. Paul, I don’t know how, but you are so active on your blog and in helping other people and answering questions. I just don’t know how you manage your time that well. Your constantly posting various thoughts and your progress throughout your blog and I find I can always peruse your writing to find some inspiration for myself, and it’s a constant reminder to get out there and talk to the rest of the students. Your also one of the most helpful students’ I’ve found throughout the unit so far, always nominating to assist and point people in the right direction. Very admirable. #2Kira – University OverloadKira’s hell of a first week post was a brilliant opening to her blog, it’s a cracker of a read that clearly illustrates what starting university feels like. You can’t help but laugh at the mess’s we get ourselves into. Good work Kira!#3Ash W Accounting really like the layout of ash’s blog, I wish I knew how to lay it out like that. Its enticing as soon as you get to the homepage. I spent hours trying to make my menu’s look interesting before finally giving up exactly where I started…. might have changed a colour or two….and added an extra picture of my dog. Good work ash.Step 4 – Company SpreadsheetSee attached Excel spreadsheet or visit the link below: 5 - Reflections and KCQ’sChapter 2I have found that with this step of the assignment information overload has taken a lot of time. Having so many steps to follow and to try to understand 2 chapters along with get through my companies’ documents have proven to be a challenge. I never considered the fact that financial statements were not always provided to the public, why not? Or that they could be designed so that people outside of a firm would be able to gain insight into a firm’s operations and its’ underlying value. Or that it could be a tactical sales pitch designed to make me want to invest, really? It just never occurred to me, I thought it was all tax related or about tracking the firms “goings on”. I have spent time before perusing certain companies’ annual reports without being able to make much sense of them and even as I work through the study guide it doesn’t appear to be getting much clearer…yet. I think it’s due to the influx of information, there it quite a lot to consider and it proves that I need to work on being able to interpret information in a more systematic manner, rather than jumping from point to point without critically thinking about what I am reading. Organisation is key and luckily, I find the layout of my firms reports to be quite good, it seems to flow well, giving me key bits of information like changes in profit or increase in liabilities, and then backs it up with a reason. But I am more cautious about how I analyse the information now, is it just a sales pitch? I particularly didn’t feel I was being sold a bad investment by my company, but is that because it wasn’t much of a sales pitch? Or did they nail it in making me think the company is pretty well off? I believe that is yet to be revealed in the upcoming aspects of this unit. I found it interesting relating the idea that equity investors require certain information to make a decision on whether or not to invest in a company, to that of banks requiring financial information to make a decision whether to loan you money. It’s a simple concept, I’ve been through one half of that, going through it right now in-fact with a refinance in progress. Having to prove that I can sustain a level of debt, and use that debt to create something which will hopefully generate future income, and grow in value. I don’t understand that process completely when it comes to lending, but I would imagine it is quite a big process, and the same appears to be true for analysing a company’s statements. The idea of the general accepted accounting principles is pretty straight forward. A set of rules to follow when preparing financial statements, and because that rule exists, it is generally used all round purely due to convenience. The accounting standards, what are these? Well I gather they basically lay out what accounting practices need to be followed for particular transactions. Now the idea that not everyone has to comply to these rules is interesting to say the least. But I guess it’s a good thing? I can’t imagine it would be cost effective to have poor old marge, the local general store owner in a small town, having to organise and prepare financial statements when there isn’t anyone looking to invest in the local green grocer/post office/general goods store. As for the creating a set of rules for the preparation of statements. I could only imagine my ability to decipher real information from any statement when you have no idea what information is included or excluded and whether its truthful or real in any way. Summing up this section of the chapter I gained that If a firm is required or chooses to provide financial statements to the public, it needs to follow the rules, which provides a consistency among the statements. But only a consistency on the information, not on how they deliver it. It’s not possible to have a rule for everything. At first, I thought well how does that work? But that’s just it, in the real world, what rules do I adhere too? There are rules as to how in particular I do my job, but then there are some things that we haven’t come across before, and there is a framework designed to help me work it out safely and accurately. I won’t say efficiently because efficiency doesn’t exist in sugar mills. Shades of grey exist everywhere; every assumption and possibility can have a shade of grey. It all depends on accurate information, prior experience, knowledge, understanding, the list goes on. I don’t know why that pump is making that noise, but I can guess, investigate, find an issue and look for solutions. Rarely, do I go to the book to find something, unless It is specified, and I know it is specified. I’m still surprised how much of the accounting world relies on judgements, I really thought it was all black and white. “the objective of general-purpose financial reporting is to provide financial information to existing and potential investors, lenders and other creditors in making decisions about providing resources to the entity”I really like that statement. It’s direct, no room for interpretation. This is the purpose the statements serve, that information has to be in there, but they can make it look better than it does. Accrual accounting seems to be a rather simple concept to grasp, but to put it into an example of my own I opted to consider an account at a local hardware store. Would that work? Well, If I had an account that I could purchase goods on, say over a month. I could make purchases on the account without money actually changing hands. Then, at the end of the month I receive a bill for the total of $500 dollars. Bill gets paid, value exchanged at that point. But the transactions have been processed prior to that occurring. This system seems rather straightforward to me. The going concern assumption, this has a ring to it, made me squint. “Financial statements are normally prepared on the assumption that a firm will continue to operate into the foreseeable future unless there is good reason to consider the firm will be ceasing its activities.” Fair enough, I would assume this to be the only way, if a statement was released not taking into account that the firm was going under it wouldn’t be playing by the rules now would it? Or is there a way around that? Are there loopholes in the system that are regularly abused but are hard to stop?Liquidation, now I know the Australian’s out know what that word means, it means Cyrus Persian Carpets is going out of business for the millionth time this decade. Or basically, a company that has gone into liquidation has basically run out of money. Or in Cyrus’s case, we want you to believe we have gone broke so you think you’re getting a bargain. To be honest I can’t actually remember if they ever had a liquidation sale, but the missus and roommate laughed at that line, so I’m leaving it in there. Now materiality grabbed my attention. I thought at first it had something to do with an item that wasn’t important, something material, something in a material world (thanks Madonna). But it turns out to be quite an important bit of information. In my understanding materiality is a piece of information in a financial statement about a company that could adversely affect my decision to invest, or loan money to a company. But how does someone make a judgement on something that may be material? Do they put it in terms of profit it could affect? Or lines they may cross in a process? It leaves a lot of questions unanswered. I posed the question about materiality in my company review as I noted they included the possibility for their investments to be affected by an earthquake in New Zealand. It’s quite possible, therefore it is material in my opinion. Understandably judgements are made, I assume that the framework relating to the rules holds more information regarding to how these judgements are to be made. That there is a real process for identifying what would be classed as a significant item of concern to investors whether they be equity or debt based. The idea that statements should ideally contain certain qualities again grabbed my attention, at first, I thought ok. They need to be readable, need to relate to the company, possibly adhere to all the rules. Turns out they are much more important than I first realised. I immediately applied relevance to one key point I was looking for in my company’s report, debt. Knowing how much debt, and their ability to service that debt, was one of the key items I was interested in with my firm. Is it relevant for me as an investor? absolutely! In my opinion it is one of the key factors I would look at first.Faithful representation has me a big stumped. Not in terms of what it is, I understand that it is essentially how accurate and reliable the information I have been presented with is. Which leaves me wondering how a company can avoid this in their statements? Chapter 3When first mention of a financial statement starting floating around in my mind, I initially applied it as one singular statement, but four? Why four. It seems only to make more sense as I dive into them, they each serve a purpose in providing insight into my company’s inner workings. Even if I don’t have a firm grasp on how to analyse them, I’m beginning to see their individual purposes. The balance sheet – shows the position of a firm at a particular point in time, a particular day. Showing the effect of its activities essentially on equity, and its assets and liabilities.The income statement – shows the revenue and expenses for a period of timeThe statement of changes in equity – shows the changes in shareholder equity over a period. Shareholder equity is a term I’ve struggled to put into my own words. After a bit of googling I’ve found a statement explaining it as “a corporation’s owners residual claim after debts have been paid”. Those are my kind of words. The statement of cash flows – Shows their cash flow over a period, opening balance at the start of the year, closing balance at the end. Cash inflows and outflows during that period. Ok, that is the kind of stuff that has to be remembered honestly. You can look at the page and figure out what it is about. But when Danielle put us on the spot in the last pass session, I couldn’t even spell my name, and my name is spelt wrong to begin with. KYL. No “E” at the end. I’m allergic to vowels.The idea that annual reports will likely have photos and people in them surprised me. I would think that that’s the last thing I want to see in a financial report. It feels like it takes away from the professional document I’m expecting to see. I mean a company logo here and there is fine and maybe a few coloured boxes to highlight certain areas but if your company’s successful. The numbers should speak for themselves. To see the accounting formula in action was also good. As I referred to in my reflection for step 1, I looked forward to seeing the formula work in practice on a financial statement. Sure enough, Equity = Assets – Liabilities. The extended formula has me a bit stuck still though, I’m not sure how to apply it just yet. When I complete the sum the figures are out, not a major amount, but by a noticeable amount. I wonder what else plays a part in this equation? Either that or I’m using a wrong number somewhere?Getting to know the ideas, concepts and facts. Not just about financial statements, but also about accounting in general is certainly becoming tougher the further we dive in to the study guide. I’ve only glanced over chapter 3 after section 3.2. It’s getting tougher, that’s for sure. But I look forward to gaining a better understanding as we go. Step 6 – Peer FeedbackPaul Feasey – Being Held To AccountStep 1KCQsNot providedStep 2Introductory words in Description boxPhoto and descriptionLink to your blog/set up blogCaptivating introduction. Gives us a quick insight into yourself and your hobbies. Nice paragraph. I might have to hit you up for some beer making tips!Step 3Background information on companyComments/KCQsComments on other’s blogsWhat a great draft! Definitely given me a lot of inspiration on how to better my own. You took an awesome first step of looking to the news to first gain an outside perspective of your firm prior to accessing the financial reports. I have fallen over with this step when I struggled to find anything to grab my attention and left it until last, now I need to try again. I particularly like how in depth you have gone with your analysis of key issues. You noted a large change in profit, searched for reasons, outlined the steps the company have taken to deal with that issue and then found where they have placed that information throughout the report. It shows you have great skill when it comes to analysing a document and critically thinking about the information that has been put in front of you. Very impressive! I didn’t notice any comparisons between other’s annual reports and your own and feel it could benefit from this addition.Step 4Input company’s financial statementsNot providedStep 5KCQsGood reflection. It’s clear that you have a fair amount of experience with a lot of the aspects in accounting from your career experience. Step 6Individual feedback with othersYou manage to continuously provide feedback and assistance to multiple people throughout the weeks. I can’t manage to figure out how you manage your time so well but whatever you’re doing, you’re doing it right! Good work.Overall ASS #1Great job, you appear to be on top of every aspect of the assignment. Very thorough thought process and informative and captivating to read.Brandon Saunders – The GrindStep 1KCQsNot providedStep 2Introductory words in Description boxPhoto and descriptionLink to your blog/set up blogNot providedStep 3Background information on companyComments/KCQsComments on other’s blogsBackground information is plentiful, I like that you have used examples to show what your company does and some of the processes involved. I would definitely suggest submitting your assignment to Studiosity to get some feedback on your writing, I used it early on in my draft and it helped me set it out much better. You seem to have a lot of good questions for your KCQ’s, I would suggest picking the most important questions that you relate too such as “what will happen as a result of my company not paying final dividends” and follow the KCQ guide. Pose the question, relate it back to what you understand, research what has happened and what the company’s tactics are and relate it back to what they have done to see if it aims to increase profitability overall. Don’t get caught up in a lot of questions, focus on what you find to be most important. Possibly search for news on your company, it may help you pick the more important issues. I also like how you have split the financial statements into separate fields and applied a timeline style approach. I would not have thought of trying that. Don’t get caught up trying to cover absolutely everything. Sift through what you feel is more important, and interpret that information. Step 4Input company’s financial statementsLooks like all the information is there, I would do some further editing by removing the bold/italics from numbers that don’t require it, some of the boxes automatically do that. Highlight your totals columns by bolding and adding lines to the top/bottom of the boxes, this makes them easier to spot and easier to check when you scroll back through to make sure all your totals add up. I see you have the words bolded and underlined at the far left but if you carry the line of the rows all the way across it creates a better look to the eye. Step 5KCQsGood start, Again I would refer back to the KCQ procedure. You pose plenty of good questions, build upon them by relating it back to personal experience and research. Step 6Individual feedback with othersNot providedOverall ASS #1Good start, it’s a big workload but I think your heading the right direction. Utilise Studiosity if you haven’t already and browse a few other’s drafts, especially the more completed ones. Plenty of inspiration out there. Gayle – Just Chequin InFeedback by Kyl DunneStep 1KCQsNot providedStep 2Introductory words in Description boxPhoto and descriptionLink to your blog/set up blogNot providedStep 3Background information on companyComments/KCQsComments on other’s blogsYour writeup so far has a lot of key information but I believe it can be strengthened greatly by going back through the KCQ’s steps. Mainly the idea that when you find a question, pose it, and then look for solutions to it and convey your thought process. At first, I was a bit confused by what your company was, I thought it was a financial advice firm or some sort but then I got to the point where you mentioned that they are a software company. Maybe work on a strong introduction so that the reader immediately understands what your company does, and how they do it. In there include a few key points on what in particular they do. From what I understand now, they are a software company who designs programs particularly for financial purposes. It would also help to link Sonata into what they do and give an example of what they program does, and why it has been so successful. Is that what turned the loss around?When referring to the numbers you found intriguing and confusing, possibly refer to where you collected them from, and offer suggestions and example of why a change has happened. For example. How did the company go from such a big loss to a profit in such a short time? was it a challenge they overcame? If employee benefits have increased substantially over increase in revenue, why is that? Have they cut down on expenses or is their overall profit enough to sustain the increase in benefits?I think you have a lot of good questions and just need to find some possible solutions and show your thought process. Possibly rearrange the paragraphs slightly, I like to feel like the text flows all the way through. Introduce your company thoroughly, then look at the numbers, then what issues have you found and how have they managed those issues etc. Not necessarily in that order but I tried to structure mine somewhat inline with the tasks throughout step 3.If you haven’t already give studiosity a go, I thoroughly enjoyed using it and definitely will again, it’s a great service. Step 4Input company’s financial statementsI couldn’t open the link to your statement in the document, and haven’t found it on your blog but would be happy to review that also. Step 5KCQsGood start, I feel again that all the questions are there, you just need to finish them off. Show your understanding. The accrual method for example, if you have experienced that first hand maybe refer to a real-life example. Also, if there is a negative to that method, include it as well.Step 6Individual feedback with othersYou seem quite active in giving feedback throughout the blogs and Facebook. Good work, I haven’t been quite so active.Overall ASS #1Good start, I think you have a strong report to build upon. I would suggest reflecting on the tasks required throughout step 3 and review the KCQ process. Hope this helps! ................
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