You are a financial analyst for a Fortune 500 company and you must present an analysis of the financial data to the executives. Select a publicly traded company in the same industry as the company you work for or one that you would like to work in. Locate the company’s annual report and any other available data (e.g. units manufactured, revenue, etc.) that is available for the last 5 years. Use one of the company’s historical data sets to calculate the standard deviation of the selected data for the last 5 years. Discuss what the standard deviation means. Analyze data using variance and standard deviation. Create an 10-slide Microsoft® PowerPoint® presentation including detailed speaker notes (100 words per slide)
Standard deviation is an important concept that can be used in business to analyze financial data. The Week 3 individual assignment provides students the chance to look at the historical financial data of a real-world company and find out how to apply statistical concepts to business uses.
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The student based their assignment on a publicly traded company and their financial data or key parameters for the last 5 years. |
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The student correctly graphed the company’s financial data and/or key parameters. |
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The student correctly calculated the mean, median and standard deviation using Excel. |
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Discussion of (1) are the mean and median similar? (2) Is this surprising or expected? |
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The student discussed the meaning of standard deviation. (Not just the formula). |
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Discuss how the standard deviation can indicate if an investment is a high or low risk. |
Grading Guide
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Content |
Points |
Points Earned
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Comments: |
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The student based their assignment on a publicly traded company and their financial data or key parameters for the last 5 years. |
1 |
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The student correctly graphed the company’s financial data and/or key parameters. |
2 |
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The student correctly calculated the mean, median and standard deviation using Excel. |
2 |
||
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Discussion of (1) are the mean and median similar? (2) Is this surprising or expected? |
1 |
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The student discussed the meaning of standard deviation. (Not just the formula). |
1 |
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Discuss how the standard deviation can indicate if an investment is a high or low risk. |
1 |
||
|
8 |
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Presentation Guidelines |
Points |
Points Earned
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Comments: |
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The presentation consists of 8-12 slides and is appropriate for the audience. |
.5 |
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The presentation recognizes intellectual property using in-text citations and a reference slide. |
.5 |
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The presentation includes an introduction and conclusion which previews and reviews major points. |
.5 |
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The presentation follows proper rules of grammar and usage including spelling and punctuation. |
.5 |
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Total Available |
Total Earned |
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2 |
