FIN254 Project Update!

Please visit the following link to access all nine resource files to help you complete the project. Alternatively you may get the resource files from the NSU resource drive. 

Project Resource Files  (Alternative Link)

The main purpose of this project is to identify best holding period giving us most return from a stock surrounding dividend announcement, record date, and annual general meeting (AGM) during the last 3 years from 2009 to 2011. You must do this job using the format and guidelines prescribed in the Project Instruction.


Four stocks have been assigned for each student and the assessment would be done for each student individually. Fortunately, I am providing you with most of the work done in form of the excel template. Without the template I was expecting a student to spend 35-40 hours on this project, but now with the template it should be completed in less than one-fourth of that time.

Following table lists all nine events that are important for your analysis.

Event Codes	Event Details
A	Pre-Declaration Date (one month before the dividend declaration date)
B	Dividend Declaration Date (or next available trading date in case of a holiday)
C	Pre-Spot Date (one day before spot trade starts)
D	Last Spot Date (last spot date, that is, last trading day before the record date)
	Record Date (no trading on this day, so no price available for it!)
W	Post-Record Date (first trading day after the record date)
X	1-Month Post-Record Date (trading date one month after the record date)
Y	AGM Date (Day of the Annual General Meeting)
Z	1-Month Post-AGM Date (trading date one month after the AGM date)

Combining above events we may come up with 25 different holding periods of a stock. They are AB, AC, AD, AW, AX, AY, AZ, BC, BD, BW, BX, BY, BZ, CD, CW, CX, CY, CZ, DW, DX, DY, DZ, WX, WY, WZ. Here, for example, AB means, buying a stock on pre-declaration date [A] and selling the stock on dividend declaration date [B]. Similarly, WX means, buying a stock on post-record date [W] and selling that on one-month post record date [X].

Before you start the project work please open and verify all the resource files to check whether there is any problem opening/accessing them. You need to prepare four excel files (one per stock) for the project. Please review the template file by checking three worksheets to understand the nature of the job you are assigned to do for the project. You need to prepare four such project files for the four assigned stocks.

After you are done writing your report, you should be ready to email me your word file. But for hard copy submission, please print the “Analysis” worksheet of four stock excel files and attach these four pages with the word report document file before submission.

If you are done completing all the steps prescribed in project instruction file, then you are now ready to send me your work. Before sending me the files, review the files again carefully for last minute editing, if necessary. It would not be possible for me to accept a second time submission. The submission deadline is 25^th of April, 2012 (Wednesday). You may definitely send me the files earlier if you are done to reduce pressure of the upcoming final exams.

Send me the four excel files (one excel file per stock) and the word report file to both of my email addresses (To: imran.edu@gmail.com, imran@northsouth.edu) as five attachments by the due date. Make sure to include your own email address too as CC, so that you have a copy of the sent email. You should use the following format to send your work to me.

Subject	FP121: nsu id; your name; section
TO	imran.edu@gmail.com, imran@northsouth.edu
CC	your own email address

You must submit a hardcopy as well. Print the word report file and attach four analysis worksheet pages of your four stocks with the report. If you don’t do both but follow one method of submission (either hardcopy submission in my office or softcopy submission through email), you would receive 50% credit for the project.

Please note that for each day of delay in submission, you would lose 20% of your project credit.