University of Technology and Applied Sciences
College of Applied Sciences
Department of Business Administration
Assignment for Finance (BSBF 2107)
Fall 2021 Semester
This assessment contributes to 10% of the final marks.
Submission Date: Latest by Week 12 (Thursday)
Note –Late submissions will be penalized by 5% per day.
The objective of this assignment is to build upon your ability to work in financial markets scenario. This project will endeavor to develop investigative and research skills through the collection of data from research papers, newspapers, the internet and other methods.
The students are required to work in a group of Three (3)-based on their convenience. They should register their topics earliest possible with their respective instructors, so that repetition of topics is avoided.
They are expected to write an essay on any one of the following topics:
Big Data: Meaning, importance, application and areas of concern in Finance
Application of Technology in various fields of Finance
Behavioral Finance: Meaning, importance and scope
Capital Budgeting: Traditional Vs Modern appraisal techniques
Cash conversion cycle: Meaning, description, components, funding requirements, and critical management strategies
Corporate Governance: Meaning, Importance and role in Shareholder management and protection
Debt financing: Meaning, scope and its advantages and disadvantages to the business organization
Effects of Covid-19 on the International capital markets
Effects of Covid-19 on the Muscat Securities Market
Efficient markets: Meaning, importance, application and shortcomings
Equity financing: Meaning, scope and its advantages and disadvantages to the business organization
Debt financing: Meaning, scope and its advantages and disadvantages to the business organization
Financial Analysis of any MSM listed enterprise.
Financial instruments and mechanisms adopted by corporates to promote sustainable development and preserve environment
Financial Literacy: Meaning, importance, advantages and recent steps for its promotion in Oman
Financial Planning and Forecasting: Meaning, importance, scope, techniques and shortcomings
Financing capital needs through Muscat Securities Market: Opportunities and challenges.
Global Financial markets and prominent financial institutions: Role and significance.
Hybrid Financing: Meaning, Nature and scope
Innovations in Trade Finance and Payment: Nature, types and advantages
Investment Analysis: Issues and challenges
Non-traditional players in finance: Emergence, role and innovations
Portfolio management and challenges in Oman.
Principal-agent relationship : Nature, Presence, Importance and its relationship with corporate governance
Profit Maximization Vs Wealth Maximization
Relationship between Project cash flows, tax, and inflation.
Relationship between Risk and Return for investment decision making
Risk management instruments: Options, futures and swaps- meaning, usage and relative advantages and disadvantages
Sensitivity and Scenario Analysis: Meaning, similarities, differences and their advantages and disadvantages.
Necessary Guidelines:
Any material that is used must be referenced appropriately. Any report found to have significant copying and plagiarism issues will be penalized through a zero grade for the project or failure of the paper depending upon the seriousness of the infringement and disciplinary action will be taken.
This report should be word-processed (using 12 point font size) and should not exceed 2000 – 2500 words – A word count needs to be included on the cover page (there will be an automatic 5 marks deduction if no word count is provided). The reference list and material placed in the Appendix is not to be included in the word count.
This assignment shall be checked for plagiarism as per the UTAS’s policy. The students are required to strictly adhere to the guidelines for plagiarism as prescribed by UTAS. Marks shall be deducted as per the policy.
Requirements:
Any material quoted or referred to must be appropriately referenced in the discussion and should follow the APA referencing format.
Proper referencing of any research articles/materials used in this project must be provided throughout your report and in a Reference Section at the end of your report.
Any other material that you think is important for the investor to see can be placed in the Appendix of your report.
Students should also not exceed the word limit or place material in the Appendix that has not been referred to in the body of the project. This may incur penalties.
Please note that this assignment is to be done in a team (3 students per team). Any projects that show evidence of substantial copying from other teams or not providing proper referencing for any research material used will be given a zero mark immediately.
Writing Style Guidelines:
When writing essay, use the following style guidelines unless instructed to do otherwise for particular courses.
Check spelling and ensure consistency of layout, headings, typestyles and sizes:-
Font should be Times New Roman, 12 Points
Assignment should be 1.5 line spacing
Main Headings – Size 16, Capital and Bold
Sub-Headings – Size 14, Underlined, Bold
Page Margins 1.25” on all the sides.
Fill in all the details of Format Cover page and attach it as the cover page for your assignment
All inside pages should include students number at the bottom left of each page and a page number on bottom right.
Add a Table of Contents.
No header and footer should appear in the Cover Page and Table of Contents Page.
Read the marking scheme carefully (see page 7)
Tables and Figures
Tables and figures should supplement and clarify the text, not completely duplicate it. Avoid repetitive figures (e.g., pie charts, histograms), which could be summarized more succinctly by one or two tables, or simply covered in the text.
Each table or figure should have the word Table or Figure and its number at the top, followed by its title. Tables, as well as figures, are numbered consecutively from the beginning to the end of the report or essay. Example:
Table 1: Responses to openended survey questions.
Sufficient information should be contained in the table or figure so that the reader can understand it without having to consult the text. Footnotes immediately underneath the table or figure should be used to explain all abbreviations and symbols used.
Appendices
You may use appendices to fit in important details without cluttering the main body of your essay. Reference must be made to the appropriate appendices in your text. A single appendix should be titled APPENDIX. Multiple Appendices are titled; ordered as referred to in the body of the essay/report; and referred to as APPENDIX A, APPENDIX B, etc.
Quotations
A short quotation (fewer than 40 words) should be incorporated in the text and enclosed by quotation marks. It may include whole sentences or part of a sentence. For instance:
The use of adequate referencing is “absolutely essential” for professional reportwriting (Hughes, 1990, p. 456).
A long quotation (40 words or more) should be displayed in a free standing block, indented from the margin, without quotation marks.
Footnotes
Footnotes should be used sparingly. Points that are important can usually be integrated into the text. Avoid footnotes or endnotes for referencing.
Referencing
The effective use of a referencing system enables you to acknowledge your sources, to avoid plagiarism, and to allow your readers to consult original readings. The International Business Administration Department of Colleges of Applied Sciences uses the American Psychological Association (APA) style of referencing.
For example:
Bateman, T.S., & Zeithaml, C.P. (1990). Management: Function and Strategy. Boston, MA: Irwin.
Note:
the order and style used for authors’ names (last name first, initials only).
the year of publication in parentheses.
that a full stop follows the date, followed by the title, then full stop again.
that the title is either italicized or underlined. Only the first letter of the first word (and first word following a colon) is capitalized. [Proper nouns are also capitalized.]
the place of publication, followed by a colon.
that the name of the publisher comes last.
that all but the first line of each reference is indented.
If the reference is a chapter in an edited book, use the following format
Higgins, M. (1990). Social network analysis: Its implications for business and business communication. In F Sligo (Ed.), Business Communication: New Zealand Perspectives. Palmerston North: Software Technology (pp. 168179).
(Note that it is the book title that is either italicized or underlined, not the title of the article, and that the page numbers of the specific chapter are given at the end.)
Where the reference is a journal article the publisher and place of publication are not included:
Georgoff, D., & Murdick, R. (1986). Manager’s guide to forecasting, Harvard Business Review, 64(1), 110120.
(Note that the journal title is either italicized or underlined, and that capital letters are used as in the original journal title; page numbers are given without ‘pp.’; volume and issue number are given as 64(1), instead of vol. 64, no. 1; a month or season is given with the year of publication if there is no volume or issue number.)
Retrieval Information: Electronic Sources (Sourced from American Psychological Association, 2001, p. 231).
The retrieval statement provides the date the information was retrieved, along with the name and/or address of the source.
Electronic reference formats recommended by the American Psychological Association. (2007, October 12). Retrieved October 23, 2007, from http://www.apa.org/journals/webref.html
If information is obtained from a document on the Internet, provide the Internet address for the document at the end of the retrieval statement.
Use available form to indicate that the URL leads to information on how to obtain the cited material, rather than to the material itself (see Example below).
Department of Health and Human Services, National Centre for Health Statistics. (1991) National Health Provider Inventory: Home health agencies and hospices, 1991 [Data file]. Available from National Technical Information service Web site, http://www.ntis.gov
Finish the retrieval element with a period (full-stop), unless it ends with an Internet address.
A bibliography is unnecessary when a reference list is used.
A reference list is a list of the full bibliographical details of all the material that has been quoted or cited in your assignment. A bibliography includes background reading that has been used but not necessarily cited in the text. A reference list will appear before appendices and this is normally the required list for assignments.
Example of a Reference List:
References
Holmes, T. H. & Rahe, R. H. (1967). The social readjustment rating scale. Journal of Psychometric Research, 11, pp. 213218.
Jantsch, E. (1980). The selforganizing universe: Scientific and human implications of the emerging paradigm of evolution. New York: Pergamon.
Kim, Y. Y. and Ruben, B. D. (1988). Intercultural transformation: a systems theory. In Y. Y. Kim and W.B. Gudykunst (Eds.), Theories in intercultural communication (pp.299321). Newbury Park, C.A.: Sage.
Kim, Y.Y. (1985). Communication, information, and adaptation. In B. D. Ruben (Ed.), Information and behavior, Vol. 1, pp. 32 – 40). New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Books.
Lum, J. (1982). Marginality and multiculturalism. In L. Samovar B R Porter (Eds.), Intercultural communication: A reader (3rd ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
SUGGESTED ESSAY FORMAT:
Cover Page
Table of contents
Abstract
Introduction
Theory section (use appropriate sub-headings)
Criticism/Evaluation/Conclusion
Reference list (as per APA)
Appendices (if any)
MARKING SCHEME (To be read carefully)
A
INTRODUCTION
Max 5%
Complete and clear introduction. Objectives well set out.
B
CONTENT
Max 80%
Balanced, well-researched, informative/persuasive, depth of analysis, well integrated, coverage of important issues.
Understanding of relevant theory (30% marks)
Student should demonstrate the ability to evaluate and integrate existing literature.
Critical evaluation (25% marks)
Student should provide evidence of insight and original thought in dealing with the critical issues.
Student should demonstrate command of expression and logical argument in a structured manner.
Quality of synthesis (25% marks)
Student should demonstrate the ability to bring the focus of the literature review on to the specifics addressed within the remainder of the assignment.
C
OVERALL FLOW
Max 5%
Logical flow and development of essay.
D
REFERENCES
Max 5%
Referencing techniques correctly used.
E
LANGUAGE USAGE, SPELLING, GRAMMAR
Max 5%
Correct and appropriate use of language, spelling and grammar.
F
PLAGIARISM
Marks to be deducted as per UTAS plagiarism policy
OVERALL ASSESSMENT
Max 100%
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