ACCT11081 - Introductory financial accounting

Assignment

Steps 3-6

STEP 3:

Kylie Boni ACCT11081 – Introductory of Financial Accounting 1 | P a g e

When it came to 5pm on Friday 17th of July 2020, I was beyond excited to log into Moodle to discover my new company for the ACCT11081 unit term 2. Many questions had me distracted throughout the day; would I be given the same company to continue with from term 1 – ACCT11059? Surely not that would give me an advantage on other students. Would I receive another foreign company, or would it be an Australian company? Would it be in the same industry or would Martin ensure I had a different industry? What preparation goes into organising who gets what company? Is it random or is it a long thought out process organise who get which company?

Finally, it was 5pm, I eagerly logged into to Moodle and straight into the excel spreadsheet, control F and type my name. there it is I received an Australian company, a well know company I had heard of. Happiness fulfilled me as I was working in AUD this term. Time to get the head down and bum up as I dive into looking at Helloworld and their financial reports.

Although I was excited in Term 1 to have a company from the United Kingdom being Marstons PLC, I was more relieved to have received an Australian company this term. Marston was a fantastic company to complete research on and complete the financial statements for however boy were the annual reports long! I am relieved to have shorter annual reports this time around although not too much shorter. Also, the use of Pounds did get slightly confusing at times especially when looking into their share prices. It took a little to click the P on the stock exchange meant pence not pounds. In the beginning I could not work out how their share prices were so large, yet they did not seem to be doing so well, then it clicked it was in pence, one of those lightbulb moments. I guess to the student with Marstons this term reading this could save you some time. Marstons you were fun however Helloworld and in AUD I could not be happier.

Downloading Helloworlds Annual reports it was yet again full of beautiful, glossy pictures of destinations around the world remarkably similar to the layout of Marstons I thought. I have included links to their reports below. Helloworld limited use the standard financial year which runs from July-June, ending the 30th June yearly.

2017 – https://www.helloworldlimited.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/HLO_FY17_Annual%20Report_Final.pdf

Kylie Boni ACCT11081 – Introductory of Financial Accounting 2 | P a g e

2018 – https://www.helloworldlimited.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/HLO_AnnualReport_ALL_2018_PRINT_LR.pdf

2019 – https://www.helloworldlimited.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/2019-Annual-Report-to-shareholders-final.pdf

Reading through Helloworld limited annual statements it was good to see a strong but steady growth over the last 4 years from 2016-2019 financial years. I found it much easy to follow than Marstons PLC. I noticed their focus form FY19 was business expansion which seems to be the same focus for the year ahead FY20. Over the last 4 years this has been the continued strategy of Hello world limited and with this they have continued with the profit increases as well as the earnings per share growth. Helloworld Limited seem to be focusing and investing their funds correctly. Other focuses for the company are Brand awareness which to me is a big one as if travellers do not know who you are they will be likely to stick to a company they do know for reliability and assurance that the company is strong and unlikely to go bankrupt. To go with the brand awareness, they will also focus on their people (staff) and technology. Interestingly enough, when searching helloworld travel I came across many videos of how they portray their work ethics, you will find these below as you read on. I found Helloworld financial report to be set out well and easy to follow, however why is it important to outline how many times each director has attended the meetings? Do investors really want to know this information, or do they actually look at that? I do sit here and wonder how many investors physically sit and read through the financial reports from beginning to end? Or do they just skip straight to the reports and notes on the reports to see what has been happening over the Financial year? To be honest I would probably read the companies focus, the risks, and the reports and notes only, is this wrong?

Being in the travel industry there are many risks related, according to Helloworld their main risks are demand, competition, exchange rates and the environmental and social sustainability. This financial year will have large impacts from the environmental risk. I know I am dying slightly that I can not get to Europe with the Children to visit the great grandparents. There were big plans to travel Europe next year however due to the environmental risk I don’t believe this will be happening.

Upon looking at the financial report of Helloworld my first thought was that they were set out much simpler than Marstons or is it because I have looked at more reports now? In my opinion they used simpler wording, were they aiming for younger investors with not a lot of experience in reading reports? I noticed straight away that they separated their Operating/investing and financial activities on the Statement of cashflows, they also stated receipts from customers (inclusive of GST) and the same for payments to suppliers (inclusive of GST).

I have enjoyed searching the internet to find some videos about Helloworld, here is a link to their company jingle: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fO85f2Ms5TU&list=PLZ5hLYLeGyKm3l6PZh2hbMbEMZKshe3aN&index=3&t=0s

Does it sound as familiar to you, as it did to me? It will all make sense as you read below and how Helloworld established.

Helloworld was established in 2013 when they consolidated their legacy brands Harvey World travel, travescene, Jetset and Travelworld. Then in 2016 following a merger with the AOT group Helloworld became Helloworld Travel Limited offering integrated travel solutions across all sectors of the travel

Kylie Boni ACCT11081 – Introductory of Financial Accounting 3 | P a g e

industry. Helloworld Travel limited employs more than 2,200 staff through 8 different countries included Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, USA, Asia, India, UK and Europe with their headquarters based in Sydney Australia. Not only are they listed on the Australian stock exchange (ASX) they provide international and domestic travel products and services to clients around the world. Since Financial year 2013 Helloworld Travel Limiteds Dividend per shar has risen from 1 cent to 12.5cents the last dividend paid to date was the 17.9.2019, it will be interesting to see if any dividends will be paid this September due to the current world pandemic. Like Marstons I feel Helloworld Travel will have been hit hard. They didn’t pay an interim Dividend in March like they have for the past 3 financial years.

Another fun video I came across is a staff Christmas, this is a good way to promote working for Helloworld showing staff enjoying a Christmas carols and having fun. This kind of Video to me suggests the culture of Heloworld is a exciting but fun workplace, and if you join their team you will be gaining a family as well. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=39wA7dQ5Rd4&list=PLZ5hLYLeGyKm3l6PZh2hbMbEMZKshe3aN I must say I may have even got excited and started singing along with them.

With the worlds current pandemic situation and with the travel industry at a standstill almost here is a video from one of the local helloworld owners. This again portrays helloworld to be a family orientated company who cares about their customers and their local community. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lAtNTTfb9Ko&list=PLZ5hLYLeGyKm3l6PZh2hbMbEMZKshe3aN&index=7&t=1s

Did you know that Helloworld has a TV series? Might be worth watching if you have some free time. Their first TV series aired on channel 9 from Oct 18 through to Mar 19. Helloworld then had a second series airing on channel 7 which commenced in Oct 19 and finalised in Mar 20. I wonder if they will return in Oct for a third series or will they delay the airing until the current pandemic is over?

Below is a link to my blog with background information on Helloworld Travel.

https://kyliecqu.wordpress.com/2020/08/03/helloworld-travel-limited-background-info/

Discussion with other re: similarities and or differences. – YET TO COME.

Kylie Boni ACCT11081 – Introductory of Financial Accounting 4 | P a g e