CFA INSTITUTE RESEARCH CHALLENGE

HOSTED BY CFA SOCIETY OF PERTH

2020 COMPETITION

KICK-OFF MEETING

The CFA Institute:

- is the global association of investment professionals that sets the standard for

professional excellence and credentials

- has more than 152,000+ members in 163 countries and territories, including

145,000+ CFA charter holders and 148 member societies

- writes and administers the CFA Examination, the gold standard in investment

accreditation, and is a leading voice on issues of fairness, efficiency, and

investor protection for global capital markets

The CFA Society of Perth:

- is one in this network promoting the lifelong learning opportunities for over 200

members and candidates in Perth and the surrounding area

- is responsible for hosting the Local CFA Research Challenge

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CFA RESEARCH CHALLENGEBACKGROUND

2019 GLOBAL CHAMPIONS

Ateneo de Manila University

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WHAT IS THE CFA INSTITUTE RESEARCH

CHALLENGE?

• How is it organized?

- Worldwide intercollegiate competition between teams of students

- Organized by local CFA Institute volunteers – usually through CFA member societies

- At least 3 teams of 3-5 students participate

• What does it involve?

- Analysis of a publicly-traded company

- Interviews with company management

- Mentoring by a CFA charterholder

- Research report writing

- Presentation of research

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6,100+ Students

4,000+ Volunteers

1,150+ Universities

160 CFA Societies

117 Local Challenges

95 Countries

2019 SEASON SNAPSHOT

2020 TOURNAMENT DIAGRAM

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~110 LOCAL LEVEL CHALLENGES

Americas

Regional

New York, USA

20-21 April

~55 Teams

Asia Pacific

Regional

Seoul,

South Korea

18-19 March

~25 Teams

EMEA

Regional

Dead Sea Area,

Jordan

1-2 April

~35 Teams

Global FinalNew York, USA

22 April 2020

BENEFITS FOR STUDENTS

• Best practices in research and report writing

• Real-life learning experience as an Equity Analyst

• Access and exposure to leading industry professionals

• Professional report and experience to use on resume/CV and job interviews

• Experience presenting to top financial professionals

• Individual and team prizes

• Opportunity for travel

• Potential media exposure

• Robust global network of students and thousands of volunteers worldwide

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GLOBAL NETWORK OF THE WORLD’S TOP

BUSINESS AND FINANCE STUDENTS

COMPETITION TIMELINE

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Today Kick-Off

Next 2 Weeks Preliminary Research & Submit Final Teams*

Register with CFA Institute

5 Sept

1:00-3:30pm, ECU

Analyst Briefing – Conor O’Prey (Canaccord)

SXL Company Presentation

Videoconference

7 Oct First Draft Report Due to Mentors

14 Oct Final Report Due

17 Oct Local Semi Finals

Week of 22 Oct Local Final Presentations (7pm UWA)

18-19 Mar 2020 Regional Final in Seoul, South Korea

22 April 2020 Global Final in New York City, USA

* 30th Aug deadline to submit final teams

RULES OVERVIEW

• Each team consists of 3-5 students (undergraduate and/or graduate)

• Universities may form up to two teams each

• Students must be enrolled in the university they represent and registered for at least a part-time course load at the time of the kickoff meeting

• Reports and presentations must be the students’ original work

• Students may not have contact with the subject company outside of organized events

• Students may not enlist the help of any investment professionals other than the mentor or faculty adviser

• Mentors and faculty may NOT contact

the company

• Mentors, faculty, and subject company

may NOT provide material non-public

information

• Written reports must conform to the

guidelines set forth by CFA Institute

and include the cover page and

disclosure statement provided by CFA

Institute

• Teams may not use props in their oral

presentations

• Students, mentors, and faculty must all

agree to abide by the CFA Institute

Code of Ethics and Standards of

Professional Conduct

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ADVISER AND MENTOR INVOLVEMENT

Faculty Adviser

• Insight and guidance on research

methods and tools as taught in

academia

• 10 hours maximum of productive

time

• Access to faculty for other projects

unrelated to the Research Challenge

is permitted

• All work must be the original work of

the students

• Provide participating student email

addresses to CFA institute

Industry Mentor

• Insight and guidance on industry

practice

• 6 hours maximum of productive time

• Face to face or virtual

• Company management question

development

• Review first draft of research report

• Presentation development

assistance

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ETHICS RESOURCES

• Ethical Standards for Investment

Professionals: An Interactive Case-

Based Course

• Ethics Course Module 2: Standard

II—Integrity of Capital Markets

• Ethics Course Module 3: Standard

III—Duties to Clients

• Ethics Course Module 6: Standard

VI—Conflicts of Interest

• Ethics Course Module 7: Standard

VII—Responsibilities as a CFA

Institute Member or CFA Candidate

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SAMPLE REPORT

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https://www.cfainstitute.org/en/societies/challenge/past-champions

Written report:

• Maximum 10 A4 pages, appendix limited to

20 pages

• Prepared from the perspective of an

independent research analyst

• Contain only publically available

information

• Be original work

• Must include (Scoring):

− Business Description (5%)

− Industry Overview and Competitive Positioning (15%)

− Investment Summary (20%)

− Valuation (20%)

− Financial Analysis (20%)

− Investment Risks (15%)

− Other (5%)

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CFA INSTITUTE RESEARCH CHALLENGEASSESSMENT AND SCORING – STANDARD FORMAT

Presentation requirements:

• Only team members present

• No props can be used

• 10 minute presentation with up to 10

minutes for Q&A from judges

• Scoring:

- Financial Analysis (25%)

- Valuation (25%)

- Presentation (20%)

- Question & Answer (20%)

- Team Involvement (5%)

- Materials (5%)

The winner of the local final has the

highest combined score (50% written

report and 50% presentation)

REPORT SCORING

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Section

Maximum

Points Comments

Business Description 5

Industry Overview &

Competitive Positioning 15

Investment Summary 20

Valuation 20

Financial Analysis 20

Investment Risks 15

Corporate Governance 5

TOTAL 100

SAMPLE PRESENTATION

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https://www.cfainstitute.org/en/societies/challenge/past-champions

PRESENTATION SCORING

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Criteria

Maximum

Points Comments

Financial Analysis 25

Valuation 25

Presentation 20

Question and Answer 20

Team Involvement 5

Materials 5

TOTAL 100

SUBJECT COMPANY

Southern Cross Media Group (ASX:SXL)

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Business Description:

Southern Cross Media Group is engaged in the creation and broadcasting of content on free to air radio (FTA), TV and online media platforms across Australia. The Company broadcasts on over 80 metropolitan and regional FM and AM radio stations, digital audio and radio and regional FTA TV stations. • Radio stations include: Buddha, Kinderling, Easy Classic Rock and Old Skool• Other broadcast channels include: Seven, 7mate and 7two, nine, ten, life, go, gem

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INTERACTING WITH SOUTHERN CROSS

• Designated officers ONLY

• Host organized communications

ONLY

• Teams are permitted to interact with

the company as a member of the

general public

• Industry mentor or faculty adviser

must be present for all student-

subject company interactions

• As long as individuals aren’t

investment management

professionals, students may contact

and survey company suppliers,

customers, vendors, etc.

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WHERE TO BEGIN

• Visit the CFA Institute Research

Challenge website:

www.cfainstitute.org/researchchallenge

- Peruse educational materials

selected specifically for

participants

- Watch videos of past

presentations

- View past reports from winning

teams

- Faculty advisors to provide

participating student email

addresses to CFA institute

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STUDENT TIPS - 2020

• Mentor can provide broad advice but not perform detailed edits. The reports are meant to be your original work

• Determine project workplan ASAP and stick to it. Set meetings with mentor well in advance. Note that mentors may not be available at your best times

• Be prepared for your meetings. Be sure of what you need to get out of each session prior to arrival

• Keep ‘team debates’ outside of meetings as much as possible. Focus mentor time on the most pressing issues

• Try to reserve at least one session to fine tune your presentation with your mentor

• Email correspondence with mentors should be copied to the entire team, not just one person

• Communicate effectively with your mentor. Let them know how you are progressing and how you performed in the competition

HOW TO BEST UTILISE YOUR MENTOR

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STUDENT TIPS - 2020

• “Don’t commit to this if you have a busy schedule, its very time consuming and pretty stressful. The last thing you want to do here is let down your team mates and your university”

• “Don’t leave this to the last minute! Time management is key to a successful competition”

• “For the team who does progress to the ASEAN final, arrive at your destination a few days before the event starting date. We arrived on the day, so we were jet lagged and didn’t get proper practice in”

• “Get started early”. “We were still working on our report with half an hour to go”. “This was a tip last year however we ignored it, and so will probably this years’ group being students.”

• “Get to know your group early, find out everyone’s strengths and weaknesses, then from that assign parts and tasks for the report.”

• “We split up the report into 5 sections, i.eIndustry Overview, Business Overview, Financial Analysis, Modelling and Risks. From there we first worked on each others parts and then when finished we would sit down together and see if the part needed any improvement.”

• “Assign a group leader early to eliminate arguments and disagreements, or a method were you will resolve arguments.” You will have a lot of these with so many conflicting ideas, and with arguments you will waste a lot of time if not resolved promptly.”

• “Use your industry mentor and university mentor wisely. Ours was very helpful with our presentation, remember not to waste their time either and expect them to hold your hand. In the end its a group effort, you won’t get things right the first time and its the smallest details that count so make sure you prepare thoroughly for them to check.”

DONT’S TIPS:

• “The Research Challenge opened up numerous job opportunities”

• “The Research Challenge helped me connect my academic knowledge to the real world”

BENEFITS

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PAST STUDENT EXPERIENCE DISCUSSION

FORUM

• Register within 14 days of kick off:

- Students sign up with Faculty Advisors

- Faculty Advisors to sign participating students up AND send the list to martin.stulpner@perth.cfasociety.org

- Volunteers: http://www.cfainstitute.org/community/challenge/involved/Pages/volunteer_welcome.aspx

- Let us know of any sign up issues: martin.stulpner@perth.cfasociety.org

• Meet as a team to establish roles, discuss approach

• Begin your research (including CFA resources)

• Meet your faculty advisor and/or mentor

• Plan to attend sessions and training

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CFA RESEARCH CHALLENGENEXT STEPS

CFA Society of Perth Research Challenge:

http://www.cfasociety.org/PERTH/Pages/ResearchChallenge.aspx

CFA Research Challenge Webpage:

http://www.cfainstitute.org/community/challenge/Pages/index.aspx

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CFA RESEARCH CHALLENGEUSEFUL LINKS

• Refinitiv

- Access to the Eikon

database during the course

of the competition for all

team members (you will

need to opt-in)

• CFA Research Challenge

website:

- Ethics

- Research

- Report Writing

- Presenting

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CFA RESEARCH CHALLENGEADDITIONAL RESOURCES

Refinitiv is one of the world’s largest providers of financial markets data and

infrastructure, serving over 40,000 institutions in over 190 countries. They are

the 2019-2020 Official Global Data Provider of the CFA Institute Research

Challenge! As part of their sponsorship, each student registered for the

competition will receive complimentary access to Eikon. This product will

allow students to “access an incredible depth and breadth of financial

analysis data to make smarter decisions. Eikon is a flexible, open platform

that’s purpose-built for trade innovation and lets you connect with the world’s

largest directory of verified financial professionals.”

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REFINITIVOVERVIEW

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QUESTIONS?

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