ACC 302 — Financial Statement Analysis
Assessment 2: Individual Written Report | Spring Semester 2026
College of Business Administration · Undergraduate Programme
Weight: 25% of final grade | Length: 1,200–1,500 words | Due: End of Week 11, via LMS portal | Citation style: APA 7th Edition | Min. references: 4 peer-reviewed sources | File format: MS Word (.docx) or PDF
1. Overview and Purpose
Financial statements tell a story, but reading that story well takes more than knowing how to calculate a ratio. Numbers taken out of context can mislead as easily as they can inform. A current ratio that looks healthy in one industry may signal trouble in another. A profitability figure that appears strong in one year may mask a sustained deterioration across several. The point of financial statement analysis, as a discipline, is to build the interpretive skill needed to move past the surface reading and ask better questions about what the figures actually mean.
Assessment 2 asks you to apply ratio analysis to the published financial statements of a real, publicly listed company. The task is not simply to compute ratios and report the results. You are expected to interpret what the numbers suggest about the company’s financial position and performance, compare those findings against an appropriate reference point, and reflect critically on what ratio analysis can and cannot tell you in this particular case.
2. Learning Outcomes Assessed
- LO 2: Calculate and correctly interpret a range of financial ratios across the categories of liquidity, profitability, efficiency, and solvency.
- LO 4: Evaluate a company’s financial position and performance using ratio analysis in combination with qualitative contextual information.
- LO 5: Compare financial results against industry benchmarks or time-series trends and draw reasoned conclusions from the comparison.
- LO 6: Identify the limitations of ratio analysis as a tool and apply this awareness critically to the findings of your own report.
3. Company Selection
Select one publicly listed company from the list below. All of these companies publish annual reports that are freely accessible through their investor relations pages or through financial databases such as Bloomberg, Refinitiv, or the Gulf Base platform.
- Emirates NBD (banking sector, UAE)
- Savola Group (food manufacturing and retail, Saudi Arabia)
- Agility Public Warehousing Company (logistics, Kuwait)
- Aldar Properties (real estate, UAE)
- Saudi Telecom Company (STC) (telecommunications, Saudi Arabia)
Your analysis should cover the most recent two consecutive financial years for which complete annual report data are available. Two years of data are the minimum needed to identify any meaningful directional trends in the ratios you calculate.
If you would like to propose a different publicly listed company not on this list, you must submit your proposed choice for approval by Week 8. The company must have publicly available financial statements for at least two consecutive years and must operate in a sector for which comparable industry benchmark data are reasonably accessible.
4. Task Description and Report Structure
Your written report must address all four sections below. Clear headings are required for this assessment.
Section 1 — Company and Industry Background (approx. 150–180 words)
Provide a concise overview of the company you have selected, including its core business activities, the industry in which it operates, and any significant events or strategic changes in the period under analysis that a reader would need to know in order to make sense of the financial results. Keep the background focused. A short paragraph that contextualises the numbers is useful; a detailed company history is not.
Section 2 — Ratio Calculations and Presentation (approx. 200–250 words of explanatory text, plus a ratio table)
Calculate the following ratios for both financial years under analysis, and present the results in a clearly formatted table as an appendix or at the beginning of this section:
Liquidity: Current ratio, quick ratio Profitability: Return on assets (ROA), net profit margin, return on equity (ROE) Efficiency: Asset turnover ratio, receivables turnover ratio Solvency/Leverage: Debt-to-equity ratio, interest coverage ratio
Nine ratios in total, calculated for two years each. Show your workings clearly or in an appendix so that the reader can verify the figures. The explanatory text in this section should briefly confirm what each ratio measures and identify the key figures from the financial statements used in the calculation.
Section 3 — Analysis and Interpretation (approx. 550–650 words)
Here is where the report earns its marks. For each ratio category (liquidity, profitability, efficiency, and solvency), interpret what the calculated figures suggest about the company’s financial health over the two-year period. Address the following questions in your analysis:
- Has the company’s position in this category improved, deteriorated, or remained broadly stable? What does the trend suggest?
- How do your results compare with any available industry benchmark data or with the figures of a direct competitor? If benchmark data are not available for your chosen sector, explain what comparator you have used and why.
- Are there any ratios where the result is notably surprising, or where the ratio appears to give an incomplete picture of the company’s situation? Discuss at least one such case.
You are not expected to produce a full competitor analysis. A focused comparison using one or two reference points is adequate for this assessment. The stronger reports will show evidence that the student has thought carefully about what the ratios actually mean in the specific context of the chosen company and sector, rather than simply observing that ratios have gone up or down.
Section 4 — Limitations and Critical Reflection (approx. 250–300 words)
Financial ratios play a pivotal role in assessing a firm’s performance and presenting crucial metrics to stakeholders regarding profitability, liquidity, solvency, and operational efficiency Illinois, but they are not without well-documented limitations. In this section, identify at least two specific limitations of ratio analysis as it applies to your chosen company and the findings you have produced. You might consider issues such as the backward-looking nature of accounting data, the effect of different accounting policies on cross-company comparisons, the limitations of ratios in industries where intangible assets dominate, or the risk that ratios can be influenced by one-off items that do not reflect underlying business performance. Draw on at least one academic source to support your reflection. Avoid listing generic textbook limitations without connecting them to the actual figures and context of your report.
Note: Students sometimes treat Section 4 as a brief afterthought added once the calculations are done. Please take it seriously. The ability to identify what a tool cannot tell you is as important as knowing how to use it, and the assessment rubric reflects this.
5. Formatting Requirements
- Word count: 1,200–1,500 words (excluding the ratio table, reference list, title page, and appendices)
- Font: Times New Roman or Arial, 12pt, double-spaced
- Margins: 2.54 cm on all sides
- Include a title page with your name, student ID, course code, instructor name, and submission date
- The ratio table may be placed within the body of the report or as a clearly labelled appendix
- All citations and the reference list must follow APA 7th Edition
- A minimum of four peer-reviewed academic sources are required
- File naming convention: LastName_FirstName_ACC302_A2.docx
6. Submission Instructions
Submit your completed report through the LMS portal by 11:59 PM at the end of Week 11. Late submissions are penalised 10% of the total mark per calendar day. Extensions must be requested in writing before the deadline. Email submissions are not accepted unless the LMS is unavailable and you have been formally notified by the course coordinator.
7. Academic Integrity
All submitted work must be your own. The report will be processed through a similarity-detection tool. You are permitted to use publicly available financial databases and annual reports as data sources, but all interpretation and written analysis must be original. AI writing tools may not be used to draft, generate, or substantially revise any part of the report under current course policy. If you are uncertain about what constitutes acceptable use of any tool or source, ask before submitting.
8. Grading Rubric
| Criterion | Weight | Excellent (90–100%) | Proficient (70–89%) | Developing (50–69%) | Insufficient (<50%) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Accuracy of ratio calculations | 20% | All nine ratios correctly calculated for both years; workings clearly shown or referenced; no arithmetic errors | Most ratios correct; minor calculation errors that do not significantly distort the analysis | Several ratios incorrect or some years missing; workings not shown | Major errors throughout; ratios not calculated or based on incorrect figures |
| Quality of analysis and interpretation | 35% | Insightful, specific interpretation of trends; meaningful comparison against a benchmark or competitor; at least one ratio genuinely questioned; analysis clearly tied to the company’s actual context | Sound interpretation present; most ratios addressed with reasonable depth; comparison attempted though may lack depth | Interpretation mostly descriptive; ratios reported rather than analysed; comparison weak or absent | No real interpretation; figures restated without analysis; comparison absent |
| Critical reflection on limitations | 20% | Two or more specific, well-argued limitations; clearly connected to the actual findings; supported by academic evidence | Limitations present and connected to the report findings; academic support present but may be limited to one source | Generic limitations listed without connection to the specific company or findings | No limitations section, or limitations so generic as to be meaningless |
| Use of academic sources | 15% | Four or more peer-reviewed sources, well integrated; APA citations correct throughout | Minimum sources met; generally well cited; minor APA errors | Fewer than four sources, or sources poorly integrated; citation errors | Minimal or no academic sources; heavy reliance on websites or company press releases |
| Structure, presentation, and writing | 10% | Well-organised with clear headings; professional academic writing; ratio table clearly formatted; word count within range | Generally clear and logical; minor structural or writing issues; table present but may have minor formatting issues | Some structural problems or unclear writing that occasionally impedes understanding; table poorly formatted | Poorly organised; difficult to follow; no table; significantly outside word count |
9. References / Learning Materials (APA 7th Edition)
- Wahlen, J. M., Baginski, S. P., & Bradshaw, M. T. (2023). Financial reporting, financial statement analysis and valuation (10th ed.). Cengage Learning. https://www.cengage.com/c/financial-reporting-financial-statement-analysis-and-valuation-10e-wahlen-baginski-bradshaw/9780357722091
- Halmosi, P., & Hegedus, E. (2025). Integrative analysis of traditional and cash flow financial ratios: Insights from a systematic comparative review. Risks, 13(4), Article 62. Illinois https://doi.org/10.3390/risks13040062
- Salehi, M., Tarighi, H., & Ghanbari, M. (2023). The role of financial ratios and ESG disclosures in predicting firm resilience during crises. Journal of Financial Reporting and Accounting, 21(5), 1027–1049. Academy of Management Journal https://doi.org/10.1108/JFRA-08-2021-0243
- Harinurdin, E. (2022). The influence of financial ratio and company reputation on company stock prices: Financial sector. Proceedings, 83(1), Article 47. https://doi.org/10.3390/proceedings2022083047