ACC1701

ACCOUNTING FOR DECISION MAKERS

SEMESTER 1 2021 / 2022

GROUP PROJECT
(A) Learning objectives of project

The group project is the integrative component of the course. The objectives of this project are
to:
1) Familiarize yourself with reading real published financial statements contained in
corporate annual reports, so as to provide you with an integrated view of the various
topics covered during the module;
2) Apply what you learnt during lectures to search for, analyze and interpret
information presented in annual reports;
3) Provide you with the opportunity to self-learn and discover further aspects of
accounting not covered in the module;
4) Develop effective writing and teamwork skills.

(B) Project group size

This project is to be done on a group basis, with 4-5 students per group.
1) The project group must comprise members of the same tutorial group.
2) Please register your group with your tutor once you have formed your group.
3) Students without a group by Week 4 will be assigned randomly to a group by your tutor.
4) Groups with less than 4 students may also be assigned additional members by the tutor.

(C) Assessment

Each group will have to hand in a written project report. The project report constitutes 30%
of the course assessment. The grade on your project report is based on the substantive answers
to the project questions, organization of your report and standard of writing. Students only
need to submit a softcopy of the report (i.e., Microsoft docx) on LumiNUS.

In writing your project report, please take note of the following:

1) You need a cover page for this project (see Annex A of this handout as an example). A
template is available on LumiNUS. On the cover page, indicate the project group
members (names and matriculation numbers), your tutorial group and your tutor’s
name.
2) The report should use 1.5 spacing, font-size 11-point or larger, and be no more than
20 pages including the cover page, references, any tables and annexes.
3) Please number the pages. Note that extra pages will not be marked.

All members of the group will get the same marks unless there is clear evidence of free
ridership. In this regard, each member of the project group is to separately complete and
submit the optional Project Peer Review Form (see Annex B of this handout, a template is also
available on LumiNUS) directly to your tutor. If you feel that all group members have
contributed equally, then there is no need to submit the peer review form.

ACC 1701 Group Project – (AY21/22 Sem1) Page 1 of 8

(D) Due date

The project report and the peer review forms are due on 29th October 2021 at 23.59 hrs.

Make sure you have uploaded your project report submission on LumiNUS before the deadline.
For the optional peer review form, please email it directly to your tutor. Do not upload it to
LumiNUS.

Penalty Marks for Late Submission

• Within 24 hours: 20% to be deducted from total marks.
• More than 24 hours: Submission will be graded zero.

(E) Requirements of project

1) Form your project group and register the group with your tutor as soon as possible.

2) Download the 2020 Financial Statements & Notes (taken from the Annual Reports) of
Sheng Siong Group Ltd. and Dairy Farm International Holdings Limited from
LumiNUS. Financial Statements are available on LumiNUS.

3) Answer ALL the project questions listed in Annex C of this handout.

▪ Answer the question in the order given. Write your answers in your own words
concisely. If you simply cut and paste (with quotes) from the annual report, you
will score low marks or even zero point for the project.
▪ Feel free to use diagrams, charts, graphs, pictorials etc... to make your report
more readable and interesting. However, you should spend your time on the
content of your project before you touch up the formatting of the report.
Remember to keep within the page limit.
▪ Indicate which page/note of the annual report you obtained information from to
answer the questions. Quote the printed page number of the financial statements
and the annual report; the PDF page number is different from the printed page
number. Failure to quote the correct page numbers will result in difficulties for
the instructors to verify your answers and this will be penalized accordingly.
▪ If you use materials from other than the annual report such as websites, please
list them in a bibliography page at the end of your report. Academic honesty
requires proper acknowledgement of your sources; otherwise, it can be
considered as plagiarism which is a serious University offence.

4) Submit the project report by the due date stated above.

5) Optional peer review form should be submitted by email directly to your tutor by the
due date stated above. Do NOT upload it onto LumiNUS.

6) If there are any questions regarding the requirements of the project, please consult your
lecturer/tutor as soon as possible. Late consultation is not an excuse for late submission.

ACC 1701 Group Project – (AY21/22 Sem1) Page 2 of 8

(F) Tips on a smooth group project experience:

1) Start early. As the lectures progress, your project group can tackle one or two questions
each week. If you wait until the final two weeks before submission deadline, you will
be stressing yourself unnecessarily and will probably not produce a good report.

2) Do not let any one or two students dominate the project; remember that everyone in the
project group will get the same marks.

3) Do not just divide up the questions to each project member and then “join” or “paste”
individual answers to form your report. Some questions are quite challenging and will
require group brainstorming, analyzing and discussion.

4) Everyone is responsible to ensure that the final report submitted is of high quality. If
the report is badly organized or written, then everyone in the project group will get low
marks.

5) Learn to appreciate accounting as the language of business. Being able to read and
analyze financial statements will open you up to the business world, and by the end of
this project, you should be able read the financial statements of many other companies
as well.

6) Most importantly, enjoy the process!

ACC 1701 Group Project – (AY21/22 Sem1) Page 3 of 8

 ANNEX A

ACC 1701 Group Project Cover Page

SEMESTER 1 2021 / 2022

Tutorial Section:
Tutor’s Name:
Team Number:

Student Team Members:

Student Name Student Number

For Instructor’s Use Only:

Parts (Max Marks) Marks

Part 1: Company Information (9 marks)

Part 2: Receivables (10 marks)

Part 3: Fixed Assets (5 marks)

Part 4: FS Analysis (31 marks)

*Additional Components (5 marks)

TOTAL (60 marks)

* Additional Components will be assessed based on the quality and presentation of the
written report (such as but not limited to clear exposition, compliance with instructions,
proper citations).

ACC 1701 Group Project – (AY21/22 Sem1) Page 4 of 8

 ANNEX B

ACC 1701 Group Project Peer Review Form (optional)

SEMESTER 1 2021 / 2022

My name : (mandatory)
Team Number : (mandatory)
Tutorial Group : (mandatory)
My assessment of the efforts put in by my group members is as follows:

Name of Team member Contribution to Project in terms of

(including yourself) effort and final output (in %)

TOTAL 100%

Note that this is an OPTIONAL form and should only be used if you think one or more
members of the project did NOT contribute fairly to the group project.
To submit this form, please email directly to your tutor. Do not upload it to LumiNUS.
If you assign very high or very low contribution to any particular team member, you MUST
provide detailed reasons to support and justify your assessment.

ACC 1701 Group Project – (AY21/22 Sem1) Page 5 of 8

 ANNEX C
Group Project Questions
Companies Introduction

A. ShengSiong
From its humble roots starting as a small provision shop in Ang Mo Kio, Sheng Siong Group
Ltd (“ShengSiong”) has grown to become one of Singapore’s top retailers, with over 60 stores
island-wide today. Its retail stores are primarily located in the heartlands of Singapore. They
are designed to provide customers with both “wet and dry” shopping options. These include a
wide assortment of live, fresh and chilled produce, such as seafood, meat, fruits and vegetables,
in addition to processed, packaged and preserved food products as well as general merchandise
such as toiletries and essential household products. Over the past decade, ShengSiong has also
developed a selection of house brands to offer quality alternatives to national brands at
substantial savings. To date, it has over 1,400 products under 23 house brands.

(source https://corporate.shengsiong.com.sg/, ShengSiong 2020 Annual Report)

B. DairyFarm

Dairy Farm International Holdings Limited (“DairyFarm”) is a leading pan-Asian retailer that
provides quality and value to Asian consumers by offering leading brands, a compelling retail
experience and great service; all delivered through a strong store network supported by efficient
supply chains. DairyFarm is primarily into retailing with a focus on supermarkets,
hypermarkets, health and beauty stores, convenience stores, home furnishings stores and
restaurants. The Group commands a leadership position in many key Asian markets and has
upheld its principles for quality products, business integrity and commitment to the community.
It operates over 10,000 outlets spread across 12 Asian markets and territories and employs
more than 230,000 personnel. Some of the well-known brands in Singapore under its wings are
Cold Storage, Giant, Jasons, Marketplace, 7-Eleven and Guardian.
(source: https://www.dairyfarmgroup.com/en-US/, DairyFarm 2020 Annual Report)

Project Questions
With reference to the 2020 Financial Statements (including the notes) of ShengSiong and
DairyFarm, answer ALL of the following questions in this Annex C.

Wherever applicable, indicate the page/note numbers of the annual report (“AR”) where you
extracted the information from (e.g., AR page # / Notes #). Please use the annual report’s actual
page numbers shown in the financial statements and notes, and not the pdf file’s page numbers.
Failure to do so will result in difficulties for the instructors to verify your answers and this will
be penalized accordingly. Please also cite all relevant sources for materials from other than the
annual report that you use in your answers.

Unless otherwise stated, use the consolidated numbers (the “Group”) and the latest
financial information for year 2020. State all amounts in thousands of Singapore dollar
(S$) for ShengSiong and thousands of US dollar (US$) for DairyFarm. Unless otherwise
stated, round calculations to two decimal places.

ACC 1701 Group Project – (AY21/22 Sem1) Page 6 of 8

PART 1 : Basic Information of the Companies [Total: 9 marks]
(a) What financial reporting standards does ShengSiong and DairyFarm use to prepare their
financial statements? Who are the respective external auditors of the two companies
and what sort of audit opinion did they give? In your own words, explain what this
opinion means to external users such as investors and creditors.
[5 marks]

(b) What were the last traded share prices of ShengSiong and DairyFarm as at the end of
the 2020 financial year? Use the close price. (Provide any necessary screenshot(s) from
SGX or any other cited source)
[2 marks]

(c) What was the market capitalization (based on the ordinary shares) of ShengSiong and
DairyFarm as at the end of the 2020 financial year based on (b)? Show your
computations.
[2 marks]

PART 2: Receivables [Total: 10 marks]

(a) Report DairyFarm’s net trade receivables amount (DairyFarm refers to its receivables
as “debtors”) in 2020? Show the gross value of its trade receivables account and the
carrying amount of its allowance for impairment account relating to trade receivables
(Reminder: Report all DairyFarm number in thousands of US dollars.)
[1 mark]

(b) Demonstrate your understanding of impairment losses by preparing journal entries to

illustrate the accounting of impairment losses on DairyFarm’s trade receivables.
[1 mark]

(c) How much did ShengSiong report as trade receivables in 2020? Did ShengSiong report
an allowance for impairment loss relating to its trade receivables in 2020, and why do
you think that is the case?
[1 mark]

(d) What is your best estimate of the cash collected in 2020 by ShengSiong in relation to
its sales? Assume that all sales are on credit. Show your computations.
[1 mark]

(e) Compute the current ratio and the current trade receivables collection period (in days)
for both ShengSiong and DairyFarm for financial year 2020. Compare the ratios and
explain what they mean for both companies. Assume that DairyFarm’s trade
receivables are all current, and state any other assumptions made, if applicable. Show
your computations.
[6 marks]

ACC 1701 Group Project – (AY21/22 Sem1) Page 7 of 8

PART 3: Fixed Assets [Total: 5 marks]
(a) After “Leasehold land and properties”, what are ShengSiong’s next top 2 largest
category of Property, Plant and Equipment (PPE) at the end of financial year 2020,
based on the net value? What depreciation method is used for each of these 2 categories
of PPE, and how long are the useful lives?
[1 mark]

(b) What is the journal entry recorded by ShengSiong for the disposal of its PPE in 2020,
excluding leasehold land and properties? Treat all disposal as one single transaction.
[2 marks]

(c) Assuming that the additions of PPE (property, plant & equipment) is partly financed
through lease liabilities, what is the journal entry recorded by ShengSiong to record the
acquisition of PPE in 2020? Treat all additions as one single transaction.
[2 marks]

PART 4: Financial Statement Analysis [Total: 31 marks]

(a) Construct a vertical analysis of ShengSiong and DairyFarm’s “Consolidated Statement
of Profit & Loss” for the financial years ending 2019 and 2020. Which company has
greater operating efficiency with respect to managing its cost of revenues and its selling,
distribution & admin expenses? (Note: You only need to show until “Profit for the
year/Profit after tax” line item. For DairyFarm use the “Total” figures)
[10 marks]

(b) Decompose ShengSiong’s and DairyFarm’s Return on Equity (ROE) which is

attributable to owners using a DuPont framework analysis for the financial year of
2020. Compare the two companies’ ROE along the three dimensions (profitability,
efficiency & leverage) of the DuPont model. Please use the DuPont model that is
covered in the lecture/textbook. Round your calculations to four decimal places and
show your computations.
[10 marks]

(c) Compute the following ratios for the latest financial year of 2020 for both ShengSiong
and DairyFarm. Use the share prices at December 31, 2020 from part 1(b) above.
Round your calculations to four decimal places and show your computations.
i. Price Earnings (PE) Ratio (attributable to owners)
ii. Dividend Yield
iii. Cash Flow to Net Income
iv. Cash Flow Adequacy
[8 marks]

(d) Assume you are an investor planning to invest in either ShengSiong or DairyFarm.
Based on the analysis you have performed above for the financial year 2020, which
company would you invest in? Why? Your answer must be supported by analyses of
any of the earlier parts above, or through other research (please state your sources).
[3 marks]

TOTAL MARKS = 60 (Percentage of course assessment = 30%)

ACC 1701 Group Project – (AY21/22 Sem1) Page 8 of 8