All listed companies are required to prepare annual reports and lodge these with the ASX. While this is a legal requirement, managers can use information prepared by accountants on a regular basis to make a range of operational, strategic and management decisions. Additionally investors, employees, creditors and other stakeholders use the information provided in annual reports. Collectively, financial statement users use a range of interpretive techniques to make assessments and draw conclusions about a company. This section of the assignment provides you with an opportunity to review and analyse the financial statements of Blackmores. Blackmores is one of Australia’s largest healthcare companies. The firm has more than 500 products, employs approximately 1,000 staff and has operations across Australia, New Zealand, China, Thailand, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan, Korea, Macau and Cambodia. Required: Referring to the 2013, 2014 and 2015 annual reports of Blackmores, prepare a report for prospective investors which: 1. Provides an overview of the nature of Blackmores, the firm’s strategy and prospects (5 Marks). 2. Conducts an analysis of the financial performance and position of the Blackmores. This analysis should be supported by an in-depth analysis of: 1. The firm’s financial statements and notes. 2. Relevant ratios which help to understand the firm’s profitability, position, efficiency and market performance. This analysis should include comparisons through time to identify trends and comparisons to relevant benchmark partners (40 Marks). 3. Outlines key limitations that investors should be aware of when relying on ratio analysis (10 Marks). 4. Provides a critique of the usefulness of the publicly available financial information contained in the annual report of Blackmore from the perspective of a potential investor (10 Marks). The assignment needs to be presented in a standard report format including an executive summary, table of contents, introduction, body and conclusion. The report is to be 2,000 words in length (marks available for academic writing: 10 Marks). Your report must include as an appendix details of all calculations completed as part of the interpretive techniques applied to reach your conclusions. Rationale This assessment task is designed to enable you to apply your understanding of key financial accounting concepts and financial statement analysis techniques to real life companies. The task includes a collaborative component to provide you with an opportunity to further your online group work skills. The collaborative group component is designed to assess your understanding of Topic 1 (An Introduction to Financial Accounting), while the individual component is designed to assess your understanding of Topics 2 (An Overview of Financial Statements), Topic 3 (Financial Statement Analysis), and Topic 4 (Understanding and Managing Working Capital). Collectively, this assessment task links to the following learning outcomes: 1. be able to critique basic accounting and financial management ideas that underlie and limit the usefulness of accounting and finance information; 2. be able to explain the nature of, and apply, the measurement of assets, equities, revenues, expenses and income; 3. be able to critically evaluate and analyse some of the interpretative techniques used in accounting and financial management; 4. be able to integrate skills in information technology, communication and the use of quantitative techniques for management decision making.

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