Q Course Project Your Course Project is intended to be a comprehensive evaluation of the key objectives covered throughout this course. It will challenge you to apply your knowledge of various forecasting methods as well as CVP analysis and capital budgeting for a new business startup. Please use the grading rubrics below as an insight to how your course project submissions will be graded. You will complete all your work on the Course Project Excel Template. Please click on this Course Project Excel Template linkLinks to an external site. to download and save this template. It contains all the project information, and this file is what you will submit for each Milestone once you have filled out the required fields and answered all the questions. This is an individual project. Guidelines The following guidelines should be used when completing your project: • All DeVry University policies are in effect, including the plagiarism policy. • Any questions about this project may be discussed in the course Q & A area. • This project is worth 200 total points and will be graded on adherence to instructions, accuracy of computations, work shown, quality and completeness of question responses, and grammar and sentence structure. • All submissions must be on the Excel template provided rather than your own format. Course Project Milestones • Milestone 1 Due Week 3 • Milestone 2 Due Week 5 • Milestone 3 Due Week 7 Milestone 1 is worth 40 points and is due at the end of Week 3. Given a history of past annual sales, you will create a 5-year annual sales forecast using the weighted average method of forecasting, and will then answer questions about your results. See the Course Project Excel Template for additional details and requirements. Item Grading Criteria Points Possible Sales Forecast All work shown in a well-labeled, easy-to-follow format 10 Accuracy of result 10 Questions 1 - 2 All parts of question fully answered and response shows thought and some depth of analysis 8 points per question Limited or no errors in spelling, grammar, sentence structure or use of language 2 points per question Total 40 points Milestone 2 is worth 100 points and is due at the end of Week 5. Given a history of past annual sales and several forecast assumptions, you will create a 5-year forecasted Income Statement and a 5-year forecasted Balance Sheet using a mix of the percent-of-sales and pro forma methods of forecasting. Based on your resulting forecasted financials, you will conduct a ratio analysis, compute Required New Funds (RNF), and answer questions about your results. See the Course Project Excel Template for additional details and requirements. Item Grading Criteria Points Possible Forecasted Financials - Income Statement All work shown in a well-labeled, easy-to-follow format 10 Accuracy of result 15 Forecasted Financials - Balance Sheet All work shown in a well-labeled, easy-to-follow format 10 Accuracy of result 20 Metrics All work shown in a well-labeled, easy-to-follow format 10 Accuracy of result 10 Questions 1 - 5 All parts of question fully answered and response shows thought and some depth of analysis 4 points per question Limited or no errors in spelling, grammar, sentence structure or use of language 1 point per question Total 100 points Milestone 3 is worth 60 points and is due at the end of Week 7. Using the 5-year forecasted Income Statement and 5-year forecasted Balance Sheet you created in Milestone 2, you will analyze your financials using CVP analysis to determine breakeven and other metrics. You will also apply capital budgeting techniques to determine the profitability of your forecasted financials from the standpoint of your investor. Based on your analysis, you will answer questions about your results. See the Course Project Excel Template for additional details and requirements. Item Grading Criteria Points Possible Metrics All work shown in a well-labeled, easy-to-follow format 15 Accuracy of result 25 Questions 1 - 4 All parts of question fully answered and response shows thought and some depth of analysis 4 points per question Limited or no errors in spelling, grammar, sentence structure or use of language 1 point per question Total 60 points Best Practices • Although Milestone 1 is fairly straightforward, Milestones 2 and 3 will take more time and effort. Make sure to start Milestone 2 by the beginning of Week 4, and Milestone 3 by the beginning of Week 6. • If you are new to Excel, view the Excel orientation videos. You may also want to watch some Excel tutorials -- there are numerous tutorials on YouTube. • If clear, proper writing is a challenge for you, then download the FREE software from Grammarly.com. It will find your spelling mistakes and will even suggest better ways to structure your sentences. Even if you write well, you should use this tool! • After completing Milestone 2, make sure to correct any errors you have made, since your Milestone 3 will be based upon your Milestone 2 results. You don't want to risk losing points twice for the same error. • Have fun with this project!