Assessment Criteria:
This assignment requires you to demonstrate your knowledge and understanding of the management of cash and the capital budgeting process. Your discussion for part (i) of the assignment should distinguish the difference between cash and profit. Your answer must identify and explain why businesses can report a profit but be short of cash, and discuss the consequences to a business of being short of cash. You should incorporate comments about the liquidity and profitability characteristics of new businesses as opposed to long standing businesses. The general causes of cash flow problems should be analysed using real world examples to illustrate your points. Methods for dealing with cash flow problems and managing cash should be proposed and evaluated. Your answer for part (ii) of the assignment should identify and explain the benefits of having a formally documented capital investment appraisal process. You must outline and explain the stages involved in the capital budgeting process including initial investigation through to the post completion audit. Your answer should provide a breakdown of the four main capital investment appraisal methods available and their relative advantages and disadvantages. The answers to the questions must be supported by academic theories and concepts, the paper must be in report format and follow the Harvard referencing guidelines. Your answer must not be solely descriptive in nature; it should provide clear evidence of understanding of the issues under consideration. In addition, your ideas will need to be expressed clearly and fluently using a style of writing appropriate to the subject area. Sentences and paragraphs will need to be relevant, well structured and incorporate the correct terminology. Ideally, there should be no errors of spelling, punctuation or grammar. There is no correct number of academic references to be utilised as you must draw as many references as required to provide a high quality answer. However, a minimum of 8 academic sources are expected, and a majority of these should be current, internationally peer reviewed articles or journals, or accredited textbook references. Sources available only online should be avoided. You must be mindful of how marks are allocated based on your knowledge and comprehension and your ability to define, analyse and apply the key concepts. The chart on the following page demonstrates how the marks (in percentages) will be allocated according to the criteria shown
