coursework assignment 2008/09 this coursework focuses on the analysis and empirical investigation of the corporate capital structure and the cost of capital, including the study of the impact of industry and economic conditions. it provides you the opportunity to explore the major issues in this area in the context of the contemporary business reality. it involves investigation and comparative analysis of the capital structure and the cost of capital of a pair of companies and their industry. it requires exploring not only the current circumstances and state of affairs but also the recent developments in both the companies and their industry in the context of their broader economic environment. from the table below, selecting this company to investigate in your report. 1 vodafone plc british telecom plc telecommunications information on the companies and industries, such as accounting, market and economic data, you can find on financial databases, like the thomson one, banker analytics available online through the library’s financial information databases (http://banker.thomsonib.com/ and login to: thomson one banker) or the datastream. there are a number of other internet sources that you can also use. you should decide on the data, sources and the information you will use in your analysis and report. however, the sources that you use should be publicly available and the data verifiable. you should also consistently quote your sources in the text, as you use or refer to the information, and fully disclose them in your list of references. required 1) investigate the capital structure of the two companies as it emerges in their reported financial statements. identify similarities and differences and offer possible explanations. explore and describe the changes over the recent years but also focus on the discussion and explanation of your findings. your investigation can be extended back to five or ten years. 2) evaluate the current cost of capital for your companies using alternative valuation models. 3) provide a clear description of the industry background and place the companies within this framework. identify the relevant factors that explain your findings but keep the discussion of strategic aspects limited to only the relevant and important issues. 4) discuss the impact of industry and economic factors and developments in national and international level, if you consider them relevant. this analysis should be focus on identifying the relevant factors and you should discuss their relevance and importance for your findings. 5) you are encouraged to consider important recent developments in the industries, like the recent credit problems emanated from the us sub-prime mortgage market and their effect in the banking industry, other industries and the economy in general. similarly, you can explore the impact of industry consolidation in terms of mergers and acquisitions activity, if they are relevant to the capital structure and cost of capital of your companies. your own interpretation and evaluation is key element of a good essay and it has to be always clear. in developing your discussion you should consider both theoretical and empirical evidence from the academic literature. your assignment should be written and presented in the form of an academic paper, set out in the harvard style, complete with notes and a full set of references to the materials and sources that you use (see for example: http://www.lib.monash.edu.au/vl/cite/harvex.htm). Any and all the references to material used must be properly acknowledged and completely referenced. Whenever you use information from an original source you have to report this source in the text and give full details of it in the reference list. A list of references at the end of your essay is not enough. If you use actual extract from a source, you should place it in speech quotes or use italics. Although you are required to calculate cost of capital estimates, and to do this as accurately as possible, this is not the main purpose of the assignment. Your calculations and estimates should provide the basis for a critical commentary and discussion. In this discussion you should include both the methods that you have employed and your findings. References The basic list of references for this module will provide a suitable point of departure for your research, but higher marks will be awarded for evidence of research effort - although simply listing references that do not appear to have played a role in your analysis will not impress. You should make use of the University''s full-text and abstract electronic bibliographic databases, such as Proquest, Emerald, Ebsco, KeyNote, Mintel,