Guidelines for Financial Statements Analysis Group Project

This project gives you an opportunity to demonstrate your skill in understanding, interpreting, and
analyzing the financial information contained in the financial statements of Indian companies.
Form a team of up to a maximum of five members. Each team has to choose a lead company and two of
its competitors from the same industry. Your class representative/s must email your CFR course
instructor an excel file containing team-wise details: team members, team-member details, lead company,
and two competitors by 18th July (Sunday) 2021, 5:00 p.m.
Infosys and Asian Paints cannot be chosen either as a lead company or as a competitor. All three
companies must (1) not belong to electricity, real estate, banking, insurance, or financial sector; (2) be
listed in either the National Stock Exchange or the Bombay Stock Exchange; and (3) have the 2019, 2020
and 2021 annual reports available on their website. You will get 2020 and 2021 financial statements from
the 2021 annual report, 2019 financial statements from the 2020 annual report, and 2018 financial
statements from the 2019 annual report.
Please download all the 9 annual reports (3 annual reports for each company * 3 companies), before you
finalize the lead company and two of its competitors. Within a section, no two groups can select the same
lead company. If two or more groups in a section choose the same set of three companies, they all must
have a different lead company. Once the instructor approves your chosen company and its two
competitors, it will be final and cannot be changed. Non-submission of your analysis due to lack of data
will result in zero points in the project component.
You are required to evaluate these firms for four years and ascertain the strength & weakness of your
chosen company vis-à-vis its competitors you have chosen. You must prepare a written report, with
adequate margins and proper formatting (amounts in Rupees Crores and comma formatted with 0 decimal
place).
Your report will have two parts. Part 1 will be a two-page write-up summarizing your key findings in
Part 2. Part 2 will be a detailed one (up to 10 pages in length) and cover:
1. A brief company background, nature of its operations, and lines of its business, and a brief
discussion of its industry outlook (Not more than one page)
2. Abridged Classified Standalone Balance Sheet, Multi-step Income Statement, and Direct Method
Cash flows for three years for each of the three firms (Not more than one page)
3. Key accounting policies of the firm, which you think are important to highlight (Not more than
one page)
4. Overall interpretation of the latest Balance Sheet, Income Statement and Cash Flow Statement -
broad highlights based on the absolute numbers - without using any financial ratio. Spend equal
space for each of the three financial statements (Not more than one page).
5. Trend and Common size analysis (using three-year data) of key information from financial
statements of the lead company (Not more than one page).
6. Ratio Analyses of the lead company: Discuss your insights about the lead company based on its
financial ratios (Not more than one page).
7. DuPont Analysis of the lead company: Discuss how the lead company’s ROE and its drivers have
changed over the three years (Not more than one page).
8. Comparative Analysis: Compare the financial ratios, growth, and financial performance of the lead
company with its competitors. (Not more than two pages).
9. Your overall assessment of the lead company’s financial strengths and weaknesses relative to its
two competitors (Not more than one page)

DEADLINE FOR PROJECT SUBMISSION: Upload by 9 pm on 22nd August (Sunday)

Grade will be awarded based only on part 1 of the report. Part 2 may be read for any clarification.