Developingstudentcompetencies_AnintegratedapproachtoafinancialstatementanalysisprojectThispaperpresentsaninstructionalresourceforanintegratedfi-nancialstatementanalysisproject.Theprojectrequiresaquantitativeanalysisofacompany'sfinancialstatementsandawrittenre-searchreport.Theprojectisdesignedtodevelopstudents'criticalthinkingandanalyticalcapabilitiesthroughtheapplicationofcourseconceptstoarealcompany,whilealsoprovidingopportunitiestodevelopprofessionalcompetencies.FollowingAnson'sInstruc-tionalDesignModel(2007),theintegratedprojectincludessupportingactivities,whicharedesignedtoaidstudentsinachiev-ingtheproject'slearninggoals.Thesupportingactivitiesincludein-classinstructiononfinancialratios,acomputerlabsessiononExcel,draftpapers,peerreviewsofwriting,andpaperrevisions.Thein-tegratedprojectalsoservesasanexampleofanassignmentthatisconsistentwithtworecenteducationframeworks,theInte-gratedCompetency-BasedFramework(Lawsonetal.,2014)andtheAICPACoreCompetencyFramework(2015),whichbothadvocateforincreasedintegrationofprofessionalcompetencieswithintheac-countingcurriculum.Ourinstructionalresourceprovidesprojectinstructions,supportingactivities,aswellasimplementationguid-anceandagradingrubric.Thepaperdiscussesadaptationstotailortheprojecttovariouscoursesandaudiences.Theresourcesinthisarticleareusefulforinstructorsimplementingafinancialstate-mentanalysisprojectintoaccounting,finance,financialstatementanalysisandinvestmentcoursestargetedateithertheundergrad-uateorgraduatelevels.2.GoalsforstudentlearningAnson'sInstructionalDesignModel(2007)remindsinstructorstoexplicitlyconsiderlearninggoalswhendevelopingassignments.Thebroadlearninggoalsoftheintegratedcourseprojectareforstu-dentstoanalyzeandevaluateaccountingdisclosureswhilealsodevelopingresearch,Excel,writingandteamworkskills.Developingcompetenciesintheseareashaslongbeenadvocatedintheaccount-ingeducationliterature(e.g.,AICPA,2015;Burnett,2003;DeLange,Jackling,&Gut,2006;Kavanagh&Drennan,2008;Lawson,etal.2014).Ourprojectisdesignedtoachievetheselearninggoals,andtodevelopstudentcompetencies,byrequiringstudentstoanalyzefinancialstatements,calculateandinterpretfinancialratios,researchacompany's10-K,andthensynthesizethisinformationintoawrittenresearchreport.Thespecificlearninggoalsofthecourseprojectareforstudentsto:A.applyExcelskillstoSECdataandpreparesummaryinformationB.prepareandformatfinancialdataforpresentationandanalysisC.calculate,interpretandcomparefinancialratiosusingSECdataD.applyresearchskillstoassessacompany'sbusinessoperationsandstrategyE.applyresearchskillstolearnaboutanindustryF.applyanalyticalskillstocomparefinancialstatementsfortwocompaniesinthesameindustryG.workinteamstocreateaprofessionalwrittenresearchreportH.evaluatetheworkofotherstudentsusingguidedpeerreviewsTheproject'slearninggoalscanbelinkedtoasubsetofthecompetenciesoutlinedintheAICPA'sCoreCompetencyFramework5(AICPA,2015),aswellastheIntegratedCompetencies-BasedFrame-workforAccountingEducationpresentedbyLawsonetal.(2014).TheelementsoftheframeworksandthecompetenciesthisassignmentspecificallyseekstodeveloparelistedinFig.2.3.AssignmentdesignAnson'sInstructionalDesignModel(2007)suggeststhatanassignment'slearninggoalsshouldin-fluencethedesignoftheassignmentanditsdeliverables.Theintegratedcourseprojectcomprisestwogradedcomponents:anindividualExcel⑴componentand(2)ateamwritte...
