EDEXCEL EDSML Level 7 - MFPT

3 D MORDEN COLLEGE
BTEC Higher National Diploma in Business Level 7
Unit 1: Managing Financial Principles and Techniques
Assignment : Managing Cost and making financial interpretations for decision
Tutor:

Date Set:

Date Handing in: Task 1,2,3 and 4 on 20th March 2015 and tasks five & six on
10th April 2015
Statement of Authenticity:
I certify that the work submitted for this assignment in my own. Where the
work of others has been used to support my work of others has been used to
support my work then credit has been acknowledged.
Learners Signature:

Date:--------------

This assignment will provide you with an opportunity to present evidence of

achievement towards the following learning outcome and criteria.
LO:
1. Be able to apply cost concepts to the decision-making process
2. Be able to apply forecasting techniques to obtain information for decision
making
3. Be able to participate in the budgetary process of an organisation
4. Be able to recommend cost reduction and management processes for an
organisation
P Learner should able to demonstrate the ability to explain each outcome as
per to the Assessment information page of this assignment.

1 | Page

EDEXCEL EDSML Level 7 - MFPT

3 D MORDEN COLLEGE
BTEC Higher National Diploma Level 7
Unit 1: Managing Financial Principles and Techniques
Assignment : Managing Cost and making financial interpretations for decision

Introduction
This unit will give learners a foundation in financial principles and techniques
relevant to the strategic management process. It encourages learners to explore
the nature of cost-based financial data and information, the impact of the
budgeting process on the organisation, and the development of cost reduction
and management procedures and processes. It also focuses on the management
of these costs through the use of forecasting, appraisal and financial reporting
procedures. One of the main objectives of this unit is for learners to develop the
confidence to apply, analyse and evaluate financial and cost information.
Areas of Learning
1. Be able to apply cost concepts to the decision-making process
Costs and prices, Cost systems, Responsibility and control of systems
2. Be able to apply forecasting techniques to obtain information for decision
making
3.
Forecasting techniques, Funds, sources
4. Be able to participate in the budgetary process of an organisation
Target setting, Process, Budgets, Monitoring process
5. Be able to recommend cost reduction and management processes for an
organisation
Cost reduction, Activity-based costing
Be able to use financial appraisal techniques to make strategic investment
decisions for an organisation
Investment, Investment appraisal
6.

2 | Page

EDEXCEL EDSML Level 7 - MFPT

7. Be able to interpret financial statements for planning and decision making
Statements, financial ratios, interpretation and limitations of financial
ratios
Assignment Task
Task 1
You are required to choose an organisation of your own and explain the
importance of costs in the pricing strategy of that chosen organisation. You need
to design a costing system for use within your chosen organisation. Also
propose improvements to the costing and pricing systems used in their chosen
organisation. (A.C 1.1, A.C 1.2 and A.C1.3)
Task 2
You need to apply forecasting techniques to make cost and revenue decisions
for your chosen organisation and assess the sources of funds available to that
chosen organisation for a specific project. (A.C 2.1 and A.C 2.2)
Task 3
Use forecasting techniques which you used in Assessment Criteria 2.1 as part of
the process of selecting appropriate budgetary targets for the chosen
organisation and you need to demonstrate how you can participate in the
creation of a master budget for your chosen organisation. Compare actual
expenditure and income to the master budget of that chosen organisation.
(A.C3.1, A.C 3.2 and 3.3)
Evaluate the budgetary monitoring processes in the chosen organisation and you
should be able to recognise the generic limitations of budget variances and how
this might be different for types of budgets, for example fixed versus flexible.
(A.C 3.4)
Task 4
You need to consider at least three processes that could manage cost reduction
when making any recommendations. You need to explain the difficulties that
may need to be overcome when implementing the recommended processes.
Evaluate the potential for the use of activity-based costing (A.C 4.1 and 4.2)

3 | Page

EDEXCEL EDSML Level 7 - MFPT

Task 5
Pegg Ltd is considering investing in a machine in order to increase its
profitability. Two machines, A and B, are under consideration. The estimated
annual profit increases (in $000) after the calculation of straight-line
depreciation over the life of the machines are as follows;
Year
1
2
3
4
5

A
205
205
200
170
80

B
130
130
180
230
220

Both machines have an initial cost of $700,000. The residual value of Machine
A is expected to be $60,000 and that of Machine B, $20,000. The chairman of
the company has stated that, for the foreseeable future, the liquidity situation of
the company needs to be carefully monitored.
a) Apply Financial Appraisal methods to analyse the above projects and
state which machine would be preferred on financial grounds, giving
reasons for your answer.
b) Calculate the Accounting Rate of Return for each machine, using the
average capital invested.
c) On the basis of the answers a, b & c above, make justified strategic
investment decision for the PEG Limited and advice with reasons as to
which machine should be purchased.
d) On the basis of the answers a, b & c above, make justified strategic
investment decision for the PEG Limited and advice with reasons as to
which machine should be purchased.
e) Define Internal Rate of Return (IRR) and state one way in which it can be
arrived at. Please explain with suitable graph.
(A.C 5.1, 5.2 and 5.3)

4 | Page

EDEXCEL EDSML Level 7 - MFPT

Task 6
For the year ending 30 April 2008 the comparative summarised financial data
for two
companies in the same commercial sector was as follows:
Heath Ltd
Fork Ltd
$000
$000
Fixed assets (net)
52
54
Current assets:
Stock
48
64
Debtors
30
80
Cash
42
16

172
214
Less: Current liabilities
25
64
Proposed dividends
7
30

140
120

Financed by:
Issued capital
70
120
6% Preference Shares
10

Revenue reserves
60

140
120

Average stock
50
60
Cost of sales
220
730
Sales
270
810
Gross profit
50
80
Net profit
30
30
Required:
(a) Calculate for each company, the following:
(i) Return on capital employed
(ii) Net profit to sales percentage
(iii) Current ratio
(iv) Quick (acid test) ratio
(v) Sales per day
(vi) Debtor days (assume 360 days per year)
(vii) Stock turnover ratio
(b) Based on ratios above, comment on and compare the performance of each
company. (A.C 6.1, 6.2 and 6.3)
5 | Page

EDEXCEL EDSML Level 7 - MFPT

Assessment Information
Grading Criteria
All Assignments will be assessed according to the following grading.
Pass:
1 Be able to apply cost concepts to the decision-making process
1.1 explain the importance of costs in the pricing strategy of an organisation
1.2 design a costing system for use within an organisation
1.3 propose improvements to the costing and pricing systems used by an
organisation
2 Be able to apply forecasting techniques to obtain information for decision
making
2.1 apply forecasting techniques to make cost and revenue decisions in an
organisation
2.2 assess the sources of funds available to an organisation for a specific project
3 Be able to participate in the budgetary process of an organisation
3.1 select appropriate budgetary targets for an organisation
3.2 participate in the creation of a master budget for an organisation
3.3 compare actual expenditure and income to the master budget of an
organisation
3.4 evaluate budgetary monitoring processes in an organisation
4 Be able to recommend cost reduction and management processes for an
organisation
4.1 recommend processes that could manage cost reduction in an organisation
4.2 evaluate the potential for the use of activity-based costing

6 | Page

EDEXCEL EDSML Level 7 - MFPT

5 Be able to use financial appraisal techniques to make strategic investment

decisions for an organisation
5.1 apply financial appraisal methods to analyse competing investment projects
in the public and private sector
5.2 make a justified strategic investment decision for an organisation using
relevant financial information
5.3 report on the appropriateness of a strategic investment decision using
information from a post audit appraisal
6 Be able to interpret financial statements for planning and decision
making
6.1 analyse financial statements to assess the financial viability of an
organisation
6.2 apply financial ratios to improve the quality of financial information in an
organisations financial statements
6.3 make recommendations on the strategic portfolio of an organisation based
on its financial information
Tasks one, two, three and four of this assignment must be delivered in a report
format on or before 4.00pm on 20th March 2015 and tasks four and five to
be submitted on or before 10th April 2015 at 4.00 pm There is no stipulated
length for the work but it should not exceed 3500 words for both tasks. All work
must be delivered in hard copy and soft copy, for your own security it is
important to keep both copies for yourself

7 | Page

EDEXCEL EDSML Level 7 - MFPT

Assignment Instructions
Students are requested to comply with the following instructions on handing in
their assignment work
Do Not Use bullet points and restrict the use of numberings
Work should be comprehensively referenced
Sources must be acknowledged fully by reference books, journals used
and URL visited
Include the Harvard Referencing System (guide is available on the
college resources portal)
All work should be word-processed, font size of 12 and font style of
Times New Roman. Subtitles of the assignment / dissertation should be
in the font size of 14.
Pages should be numbered in bottom right hand corner
Spell check the document and read thoroughly for grammatical errors
1.5-line spacing is preferable
Bibliography at the end of the assignment
All paragraphs should be aligned in justified mode.
Textbooks
Atrill P and McLaney E Management Accounting for Non-specialists, 3rd
Edition (Financial Times/Prentice Hall, 2002) ISBN 0273655914
Berry A and Jarvis R Accounting in a Business Context, 4th Edition (Cengage
Learning EMEA, 2005) ISBN 1844802515
Brookson S Managing Budgets (Dorling Kindersley, 2000) ISBN 0751307718
Cox D and Fardon M Management of Finance (Osborne Books, 1997)
ISBN 872962238
Drury C Management Accounting for Business, 4th Edition (Cengage
Learning EMEA, 2009) ISBN 1408017717
Glynn J, Perrin J, Murphy M and Abraham A Accounting for Managers, 3rd
Edition (Thomson Learning, 2003) ISBN 186152904X
Harris R and Sollis R Applied Time Series Modelling and Forecasting (John
Wiley and Sons, 2003) ISBN 0470844434
Lumby S and Jones C The Fundamentals of Investment Appraisal (Thomson
Learning, 2000) ISBN 1861526075
Monden Y Cost Reduction Systems: Target Costing and Kaizen Costing
(Productivity Press, 1995) ISBN 1563270684
Makridakis S, Wheelwright S C and Hyndman R J Forecasting, 3rd Edition
(John Wiley and Sons, 1998) ISBN 0471532339
Pettinger R Investment Appraisal: A Managerial Approach (Palgrave
Macmillan, 2000) ISBN 0333800591
Secrett M Mastering Spreadsheets, Budgets and Forecasts, 3rd Edition
8 | Page

EDEXCEL EDSML Level 7 - MFPT

(Financial Times/Prentice Hall, 1999) ISBN 0273644912
White G I, Sondhi A C and Fried D The Analysis and Use of Financial
Statements, 3rd Edition (John Wiley and Sons, 2003) ISBN 0471375942
Yoshikawa T, Innes J and Mitchell F Strategic Value Analysis (Financial
Times/Prentice Hall, 2002) ISBN 0273654292
Journals
The Financial Times,
The Guardian,
The Independent
The Times.
Management Accounting Quarterly (Institute of Management Accountants)
Management Today (Haymarket Business Media)
Strategic Finance (Institute of Management Accountants)
Websites
www.aat.co.uk Association of Accounting Technicians
www.bized.co.uk Learning materials and a wide range of company information
www.cimaglobal.com Chartered Institute of Management Accountants
www.cipfa.org.uk Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy
www.companies-house.gov.uk Companies House
http://corporate.marksandspencer.com Example of company website containing
information on its published accounts
www.guardian.co.uk Example broadsheet newspaper website
www.icaew.co.uk Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales
www.icsa.org.uk Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators
www.thetimes100.co.uk Company case studies

9 | Page

EDEXCEL EDSML Level 7 - MFPT

10 | P a g e