a. Write a short description of the main reporting requirements of Chapter 2M of the Corporations Act 2001 as they apply to Coles and how and where they have been met in the 2019 Annual report.
b. Refer to the Directors’ report provided in the Coles 2020 annual report. In the Appendix, identify the minimum requirements of the Corporations Act 2001 that apply to the Directors’ Report of Coles, citing relevant sections. In the report, provide an analysis of these requirements that identifies and describes the major matters that members need to know if they are to understand the overall financial performance and position of the group.
c. Analyse the financing arrangements and activities of Coles during the 2019 year. Your discussion might:
Describe the equity components reported at year end
Explain how and why they changed
Describe the capital structure of the group
Calculate appropriate ratios to analyse liquidity and solvency
d. Identify the three most important asset categories for Coles and provide an analysis of these assets, including a brief description of the relevant accounting policies and measurement basis (bases) and the key estimates and judgements made in relation to these assets.
e. Analyse the financial performance of Coles for the 2019 year and compare its performance to that of Woolworths (for the year 2018/2019). In an investment choice between the shares of these two parent entities, which company would you recommend?
In your discussion, you might:
Calculate and compare accounting-based performance ratios (e.g. RoE and RoA)
Calculate and compare share price-based performance ratios (e.g. PE and yield ratios *)
Calculate and compare the share return on an investment in the shares of each company for the period covered by their annual report
Compare and evaluate the performance of each company and justify your recommendation
* NOTE – there is no need to calculate earnings per share (EPS) – for each company, analyse / discuss the figure they report for Diluted EPS attributable to the equity holders of the parent entity from continuing operations
