The Journal of Business Finance and Accounting

Research for the paper may be conducted online using the UMUC online library as the primary source. Do not use abstracts, use full-text articles. Publications that may be relevant for the topics listed below include: Strategic Finance, The Journal of Business Finance and Accounting, CFO Magazine, Nonprofit World, Harvard Business Review, or other accounting and financial journals.

The paper should:

Be based on your reading and research relevant to the topic.

Be 5 double-spaced pages, not including the title page, executive summary, appendices, exhibits, and references.

Include a one-page Executive Summary immediately following the title page that includes a statement of the major issue(s) and your conclusions and specific recommendations. The content of an Executive Summary is similar to an abstract.

Properly cite reference sources: these may include course material, information from magazines, journals, and online sources. All reference sources must have a publication date within the last fifteen years. Students who wish to use an older source publication should contact the instructor with the request and reason.

Essay Topics/Individual Research Paper: Select one of the following topics

1. Ratio and Financial Statement Analysis – Your essay should critically analyze the benefits and limitations of ratio analysis, explaining what factors impact the meaningfulness of such measures and what new practices or theories may be emerging regarding the application of ratio and financial statement analysis. Emphasize practical applications and real-world use of ratios synthesizing your readings in published research or survey articles.

2. Challenges faced by Financial Managers in a Changing Economic Environment

Your essay should critically asses the challenges faced by financial managers due to changes in the macroeconomic environment and how these impact businesses operations. Emphasize how there are consequences related to changes in strategies and priorities and in the way the departments adjust.

3. Financial Management Practices and Their Impact on Organizational Performance:

Your essay should critically asses the relationship between organizational performance and financial management practices. These include capital structure decision, investment appraisal techniques, dividend policy, working capital management and financial performance assessment.

Thank you. This is the rubric for this paper

Grading Rubric for Essay/Research Paper

Grading Criteria Percentage

Deliverable requirements addressed; understanding of material and writer’s message and intent are clear. The students provided details that enabled the reader to comprehend the essence of the study. (35%)

Scholarly research which supports writer’s position properly acknowledged and cited direct quotations may not exceed 10% of the word count of the body of the assignment deliverable (excluded title page, abstract or table of contents if used, tables, exhibits, appendices, and reference page(s). Inclusion of plagiarized content will not be tolerated and may result in adverse academic consequences. (20%)

Critical thinking: position is well justified; logical flow; examples. The Student demonstrates critical thinking and provides evidence to support the analysis. (20%)

Structure: includes introduction and conclusion; proper paragraph format and reads as a polished, academic paper or professional presentation, as appropriate for the required assignment deliverable (10%)

Mechanical – no spelling, grammatical or punctuation errors (10%)

APA – deliverable is cited properly according to the APA Publication Manual (6th Ed.) (5%)