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Level 4 Diploma in Business Management

Comparing organisational performance using historical financial data

BM404 · Finance and Accounting — Week 11 of 16

CourseBM404
Week11 of 16
SemesterII
TutorOnline in the course chat

This week’s topics

Comparing organisational performance using historical financial data

  1. Starting point: reading time series graphs and comparing data sets
  2. Historical: audited accounts
  3. Financial audits
  4. Profitability ratios
  5. Liquidity ratios

What you will be able to do

  • 3.1 Calculate financial ratios from a set of business accounts.
  • 3.2 Compare organisational performance using historical financial data.

Activity

Start with this week’s 3 videos, then discuss how they apply to this week’s topic and note one example from a real business.

Study materials

Videos

  • Interpreting time series graphs · Oak National Academy, Key Stage 4 (GCSE level) · for registered students
  • Checking and securing understanding of interpreting graphs · Oak National Academy, Key Stage 4 (GCSE level) · for registered students
  • Comparing data sets in context · Oak National Academy, Key Stage 4 (GCSE level) · for registered students

Further resources

  • Introductory Business Statistics 2e, ch. 2.1: Display data · PDF · OpenStax (2023), comparing data sets; pp. 46–64 · for registered students
  • Contemporary Mathematics, ch. 8.2: Misleading graphs · PDF · OpenStax (2023), the 'Misleading graphs' part of section 8.2 on how charts can distort trends; pp. 848–856 · for registered students
  • Principles of Finance 2e, ch. 6.6: Profitability ratios · PDF · OpenStax (2026), profit as a percentage of sales; pp. 177–181 · for registered students
  • Truncating the Y-Axis: Threat or Menace? · Open-access article · Correll et al. (2020), Proceedings of CHI 2020. Experiments showing how a cut-off y-axis exaggerates differences in bar and line charts. · for registered students
Materials marked “for registered students” open in the student portal, which is set up as soon as you receive final acceptance.
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Course plan
  • Week 1: What finance and accounting are for: branches of accounting…
  • Week 2: Rules and laws that shape finance and accounting
  • Week 3: How finance and accounting support business decisions
  • Week 4: Different financial statements and what each one shows
  • Week 5: Preparing financial statements for a sole trader
  • Week 6: Preparing financial statements for a partnership
  • Week 7: Adjustments to financial statements: accruals, prepayments …
  • Week 8: Midterm evaluation
  • Week 9: Adjustments to financial statements: depreciation and debt …
  • Week 10: Calculating financial ratios from a set of business accounts
  • Week 11: Comparing organisational performance using historical finan…
  • Week 12: Types of budget: operating, cash, fixed and master budgets
  • Week 13: Budgeting approaches: incremental, activity-based, value pr…
  • Week 14: Preparing different types of budgets
  • Week 15: Review and coursework completion
  • Week 16: Final evaluation and project assessment
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