ACF6006 – Credit Management Theory and Practise
Credit Management Theory and Practise
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ACF6006 – Credit Management Theory and
Practise
The Coursework should be submitted via the DLE by the
deadline shown below.
Assessment Due Date % of Coursework
Coursework -
Case Study
15:00 on Thursday 31st
March 2022
Submit Coursework on the
DLE site for ACF6006
70%
Case Study
Marks & Spencer
How to complete the assignment
1) The Company
Marks & Spencer Group Plc, better known as “M&S” is a major UK
multinational retailer with its headquarters in London. The company is
a leading player in its market with an established reputation for
efficiency and expertise. M&S’s core brand has consistently remained
the cornerstones of the company. M&S has numerous stores the UK
and a presence in many other countries. However, like all retail
businesses, the company has experienced an adverse economic
climate affected by factors such as lock-downs due to COVID-19 and
Brexit.
2) Your role
You have been on placement as a Credit Analyst at ScoreRite, a
credit rating agency. As you have been performing well there is the
possibility of a job offer after your graduation. For your last
assignment, you have been asked to assess the creditworthiness of
M&S and to present your findings to the management team by 15:00,
on 31st March 2022.
Required:
Your line manager has asked you to download M&S’s financial
statements for at least the last five years and, using credit-related
ratios, prepare a business report that should cover the following:
1. Analysis of the trends of major credit-related ratios;
comparison with competitors and industry norms, with any
industry-specific requirements appropriately considered;
discussion of any major events which have affected the
company’s operations/status/ existence, which should include
appropriate macro-economic and industry-specific
considerations in the context of your analysis and not
independently.
(70 marks)
2. Production and discussion of a credit rating for M&S;
recommendation of a credit line/credit limit for the company,
based on the information given in the accounts and your
calculations.
(20 marks)
3. Additional marks will be awarded for correct business report
format, appropriate use of appendices, proper referencing,
correct grammar/English, and clarity and consistency.
(10 marks)
(Total: 100 marks)
Note: Feel free to use diagrams and any other tools that might
enhance your work. All such tables, diagrams, and calculations have
to be included in appendices but analysed in the main body of the
report. Arguments put forward in the report SHOULD BE
SUPPORTED BY FIGURES from your appendices. Financial
databases will be useful for comparisons with competitors. Such
databases can give you considerable insight into the industry and the
macro-economy.
3) Learning outcomes tested by the report
• Extract and collect credit data from different sources and produce
relevant credit information for use by management.
• Make use of different credit assessment methodologies and
classify companies into risk categories using appropriate
conventional techniques.
• Interpret and analyse financial data using appropriate tools.
• Create basic models for use within credit management and identify
the underlying assumptions of conventional techniques and
processes.
• Think critically, examine problems and issues from a number of
perspectives, challenge viewpoints, ideas and concepts, and
present good arguments.
• Present written information in business report format to
professional standards of organisation, clarity and logical
coherence.
• Extract, process and present numerical information for a given
purpose.
• Use appropriate IT packages to aid efficient searching,
communication and presentation of information (general IT skills,
including use of standard word processing packages, Internet,
spreadsheets etc.).
4) Assessment criteria
The assessment criteria for this assignment closely reflect the points
you are asked to cover in your business report. The marking/
feedback sheet, provided in the appendix included, gives you an idea
of what the markers are looking for in this assignment.
5) Individual assignment with the use of ‘study-
groups’
In this assignment, you will work with a ‘study-group’ to come up with
the required data that helps you produce the company’s credit rating.
From then on you are required to prepare an individual business
report that should cover the assignment requirements.
6) Weighting of the assignment
Please remember that this coursework for this module counts for
70%.
7) Word limit, referencing and appendices
The word limit for the report is 3,000 words (+/-10%) and the word
count must be stated clearly on the cover page of the report. Exceeding
the word limit will be considered as evidence of low concision (part of
the assessment criteria). Given that a number of parameters are
incorporated in the respective criterion, the penalty for submissions
that exceed the word limit will be treated on a one-to-one basis; so we
will not reply to questions such as “how much will I be penalized with if
I reach 3,100 words” as this will be decided when we will carefully mark
your work. However, as a rule of thumb you should expect that you will
be penalized if you either (i) fail to include the word count, or (ii) you
exceed the word limit by more than 10% of the word count. The word
count for this coursework does not include:
i. Cover page, list of contents, list of tables and figures.
ii. List of references (in-text references are included in the word
count though)
iii. Appendices (be careful on their use – see below)
iv. In-text tables that exhibit numerical data
v. Executive summary
Referencing should be done according to the Harvard referencing
system. This guide to referencing should aid you. Please make sure
that you reference your work appropriately and that you fully
understand the consequences of plagiarism (see academic offences
section in the last page of this document).
8) Writing Style
The submitted coursework is expected to be of a professional standard
in terms of presentation and language. We advise you to write in a style
as if you were a consultant hired by a firm to perform this study. You
will benefit from visiting the Learning Development team who will be
able to assist you in a number of issues including language, report
writing, critical thinking and other writing skills necessary to write an
excellent report. It is strongly recommended to take up this opportunity
even if you feel confident about your skills.
The university also offers English language support for international
students. Note that you need to self-enrol for this service and the DLE
site, which contains instructions and more information, can be found
here. You will find a wealth of resources including one-to-one tutorials,
workshops in English for academic purposes, drop-in zones, and the
Writing Café to name a few.
9) Academic Offences
The academic community treats plagiarism and all forms of cheating
as a very serious matter. Please be very sure that you are familiar
with the university’s regulations on academic cheating and
plagiarism. In particular, beware of copying other people’s work and
copying out of books and articles. If you do want to reproduce a
quotation from a text or article, make absolutely sure that you have
clearly attributed the work. The unacknowledged copying of another
person’s work will result in you receiving a zero mark for your
assignment and could result in expulsion from the university
altogether.
Additional considerations apply to group work. Occasionally, an
individual student will find material and inadvertently use it without
proper or sufficient acknowledgement of the source. This is
plagiarism which is detailed clearly as an academic offence under the
Plymouth University Assessment Regulations. Where plagiarism
occurs in group work, the whole group will suffer a penalty (usually a
zero mark for the work in question). It is, therefore, in the interest of
every member of a group to check each other’s work as carefully as
the student’s own, in order to avoid any possibility of plagiarism. The
group, therefore, has a ‘corporate responsibility’ to ensure that all
work is thoroughly and adequately acknowledged and referenced.
Some useful guidance on how to reference correctly and avoid
plagiarism can be found here:
http://www.learnhigher.ac.uk/referencing/
PLEASE NOTE THE DEADLINE TIME FOR SUBMISSION
OF THE COURSEWORK IS 15:00 ON THURSDAY 31st
MARCH 2022.
WORK MAY BE SUBMITTED ON ANY DAY PRIOR TO
THE DEADLINE. ALL COURSEWORK MUST BE BY E-
SUBMISSION.
Assessment Criteria
Students are required to produce: Percentage
Mark
1. Analysis of the trends of major credit-related ratios;
comparison with competitors and industry norms. Only
credit-related ratios should be calculated, and any
industry-specific requirements should be taken into
account. Discussion of any major events which have
affected the company’s operations/status/ existence.
These should include appropriate macro-economic and
industry-specific considerations which should be discussed
in the context of your analysis and not independently
/70
2. Production and discussion of a credit rating for the Marks
and Spencer and recommendation of a credit line/credit
/20
limit for the company, based on the information given in the
accounts and your calculation
3. Correct business report format, appropriate use of
appendices, proper referencing, correct grammar and
English and clarity, consistency.
/10
Total score: /100
Below is the summary feedback. Detailed comment is made, as
appropriate, in the margins of your assignment.