Description
Assessment Task 2: Individual Research Report
Overview
You are required to write a two-part report that responds to questions posed in 2 individual case studies that apply knowledge and skills to key themes that have been introduced through the lectures, readings and workshops.
The purpose of this assessment is for you to understand the dynamics of key issues impacting on a particular segment of the money and debt markets, provide a prognosis of the likely direction for this issue into the future and provide a solution to this problem.
Learning Outcomes
This assessment is relevant to the following course learning outcomes:
CLO1: Explore and evaluate various fixed income securities and their respective markets
CLO2: Apply finance theories and tools to value different types of fixed income and money market securities.
CLO3: Analyse the impact of monetary policy on debt markets and conduct credit risk analysis.
CLO4: Develop practical risk management techniques.
Assessment details
The report is to be written for the Manager of the financial institution where you have recently been employed as a graduate trainee. The Manager has asked you to prepare two short reports on issues that affect the day-to-day operation of the business and require the business to understand the impact of these issues.
The response to the case study may include peer-reviewed academic, and non-academic articles and financial institutions’ publications and research.
The following structure is required for each case study for your report:
Statement of problem or issue
Interpretation and critical analysis
Results of the research/recommendations
Reference list
The following specific questions will need to be addressed in each case study
Case Study 1: Monetary policy
What are the objectives of monetary policy in Australia?
How does the Reserve Bank of Australia deliver changes in monetary policy?
What indicators does the Reserve bank use to make policy decisions about the setting of monetary policy?
Recommendation: What is the future direction for monetary policy?
Case Study 2: Credit Ratings Agencies (CRA)
What issues emerged for the CRA’s during the Global Financial Crisis?
What are conflicts of interest, when might these conflicts of interest arise for CRA’s and how might they mitigate these risks? Discuss the effectiveness of the mitigants.
Recommendation: What role could regulators play in the future in addressing conflicts of interest for CRA’s?
Note: The main guidance for the assignment comes from topics and themes in the lectures, readings and workshops. Students will gain insights into completing this assignment by attending all workshops. Use of tables and figures is encouraged.
When using tables and figures remember to label them and reference and discuss their content in the text. Detailed analysis can be contained in tables and appendices in preference to the main text.
Assessment Criteria
This assessment will measure the following criteria per case study:
Statement of problem or issue
Interpretation and critical analysis
Results of the research/recommendations
Submission Format
The assessment will be submitted in Canvas as a file upload. The accepted format will be .pdf, .doc, .docx
Questions?
If you have any questions, check the discussion board see if they have already been answered. If not post your question or alternatively ask your teacher in your workshops.
Referencing guidelines
Use RMIT HarvardLinks to an external site. referencing style for this assessment.
You must acknowledge all the courses of information you have used in your assessments.
Refer to the RMIT Easy CiteLinks to an external site. referencing tool to see examples and tips on how to reference in the appropriated style. You can also refer to the library referencing page for more tools such as EndNote, referencing tutorials and referencing guides for printing.
Academic integrity and plagiarism
Academic integrityLinks to an external site. is about honest presentation of your academic work. It means acknowledging the work of others while developing your own insights, knowledge and ideas.
You should take extreme care that you have:
Acknowledged words, data, diagrams, models, frameworks and/or ideas of others you have quoted (i.e. directly copied), summarised, paraphrased, discussed or mentioned in your assessment through the appropriate referencing methods
Provided a reference list of the publication details so your reader can locate the source if necessary. This includes material taken from Internet sites
If you do not acknowledge the sources of your material, you may be accused of plagiarism because you have passed off the work and ideas of another person without appropriate referencing, as if they were your own.
RMIT University treats plagiarism as a very serious offence constituting misconduct.
Plagiarism covers a variety of inappropriate behaviours, including:
Failure to properly document a source
Copyright material from the internet or databases
Collusion between students
For further information on our policies and procedures, please refer to the University websiteLinks to an external site..
Assessment declaration
When you submit work electronically, you?agree to the?assessment declarationLinks to an external site..
Other detail
Students MUST double-check and confirm that they have completed/uploaded the correct assessment task. Students who upload the wrong task, or an incomplete file, will be penalized accordingly (i.e., what they upload will be assessed or any late submissions that flow from their error will have marks deducted in accordance with the course guide requirements).