Qantas Airways Limited Financial Analysis Assignment Sample

• Subject Name : Accounting and Finance

Implementation of Balanced Scorecard at Qantas Group

Executive Summary of Balanced Scorecard at Qantas Group

This report has provided a brief description of the balanced scorecard and its components. It has provided a calculation of return on investment for Qantas Group for the year 2019 and the ways in which ROI can be improved. It also covered the ways in which the implementation of a balanced scorecard system would help the Qantas group to improve its competitive advantage. The report has provided a conclusion about the overall suitability of a balanced scorecard for Qantas Group. 

Contents

Executive Summary.

Introduction.

About the company and its operations.

Leadership.

Return on Investment

Ways to improve return on Investment

Increasing the revenues generated by business.

Reduction in Costs.

Increase in the asset turnover.

Balanced Scorecard and its major components.

Components of balanced scorecard.

How the company can improve its competitive advantage by implementing Balanced Scorecard.

Increase in level of customer satisfaction and customer loyalty.

Improvement in financial performance.

Driving improvements in internal business processes.

Driving innovation and achieving product differentiation.

Conclusion.

References.

Introduction to Balanced Scorecard at Qantas Group

This report focuses on the balanced scorecard and explores the possibility of the use of this tool by Qantas Group, the biggest airline company of Australia to achieve its strategic goals. A balanced scorecard is a management tool that splits the strategic vision of the organization into various steps and actions that are to be taken so as to achieve their goals and it is one of the most popular performance management tools. This report provides a brief overview of Qantas Group, calculation it’s ROI, description of balanced scorecard and its components and would suggest ways in which the implementation to BSC would help Qantas Group to gain competitive advantage. 

About Qantas Airways Limited and Its Operations

Qantas Airways Limited is the largest Airlines Company in Australia. The company is involved in the operation of both domestic and international airlines. It is also involved in the provision of air transport services, freight services and frequent flyer programs. The company was founded in the year 1920 and it started operating international flights in the year 1935 (Qantas.com n.d.). The headquarter of the company is located in Mascot which falls in the state of New Southern Wales. Some of the popular segments of this company are Qantas Domestic, Jetstar Group, Qantas Loyalty, Qantas International and Corporate. Qantas Domestic, Qantas International and Jetstar Group are involved in the operation of flights for passengers while the Qantas Loyalty is involved in organizing programs for recognizing the loyalty of customers (Reuters n.d). The company has more than 29000 employees and mainly operates in Australia, Asia and New Zealand while has certain limited operations in the UK and the United States of America (IBIS World n.d.). The company owns a total of 314 aircraft which include 6 aircraft that are dedicated for freight services to national as well as international locations (Reuters n.d).

Leadership

At present, the company is lead by Mr. Alan Joyce as its Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director. He was appointed as the CEO in the year 2008 and has held experience of nearly 15 years with various airline companies (Qantas.com n.d.). Apart from him, the group is managed by Andrew Finch as its General Counsel and Vanessa Hudson as its Chief Financial Officer.

Return on Investment

The return on investment is a measure that is used to find out the efficiency of an investment in terms of the return that will be generated on the investment. The main purpose for which any investment is made is to earn profits or return on that investment, so investors are always interested to know what is the return that is generated by various investments made by them so as to be able to know that which investment offers the best return (CFI 2017). Investors use the return on investment ratio as a tool to compare the profitability of various investments held by them (Edmunds n.d.). As the return on investment is stated in the form of a percentage, it is really useful in evaluating a particular investment or in comparison of different investments. It is used to find out the benefit that will be earned by an investor on the cost of the investment made by them. A higher return on investment ratio shows that the investment is profitable and it tells an investor whether or not it was worth investing into the company.

The formula for calculation of return on investment is given below:

Return on Investment = Net Profit/ Total Assets*100%

The net profit of the Qantas Group as taken from its Annual Report of the year 2019 is $ 891 million (Qantas n.d. b).

The average total asset of the Qantas Group (Based on total assets of the year 2018 and 2019) is equal to $19012 million (Qantas n.d.b).

By using the above formula for calculation of return on investment, the return on investment of Qantas group for the year 2019 is 4.69 percent. The return on investment ratio of the group is quite low which shows that the company is not able to generate a good return on its investments.

Ways to Improve Return on Investment

Increasing the Revenues Generated by The Business

The most common reason for low return on investment of a company is that the profits earned by it quite less as compared to the cost of its investment. The revenue generated by the business is one of the important factors which affect the profits generated by the company. If the revenues generated by a company are declining, it would automatically lead to a fall in the profits generated by the company and will cause its Return on investment to go down (Edmunds n.d.). One of the most effective ways to increase the return on investment is to adopt certain strategies so as to bring a significant improvement in the sales revenue of the company (Luckham 1982). Sales revenue can be increased either by increasing the selling prices or achieving a major boost in the quantity or volume of products or services sold by the company. A company should revise its pricing strategy as well as adopt various sales promotion techniques to increase the total sales revenue for the company.

Reduction in Costs

A company should try to bring down its both direct and indirect costs so as to achieve an improvement in its return on investment. A decrease in the direct and indirect costs would ultimately lead to an increase in the net profit of the company (Luckham 1982). As a result of higher net profits, the return on investment generated by the company will increase.

Increase in The Asset Turnover

Another important way for a company to achieve an improvement in its return on investment is by increasing its sales generated with its existing assets or by achieving the same level of sales with lesser assets. At times companies own too many assets that are quite expensive or have excess inventory or outstanding debtor's balances. Companies should take an effort to properly manage their inventories and accounts receivables so that the working capital of the business are not blocked in these and they do not unnecessarily increase the number of total assets which causes a decline in return o investment of the company (Luckham 1982). Hence, a company must properly manage its assets and get rid of those assets which are not able to generate the desired level of sales revenue for the business.

Balanced Scorecard and Its Major Components

A Balanced Scorecard is a tool used by the management of an organization to get a quick but detailed view of the business. A balanced scorecard includes both financial as well as non-financial measures for evaluating the performance of the business (BC Campus n.d.). In the past, companies measure their performance only in terms of the financial gains made by them, however, it was later realized by them that just focusing on financial measures is not enough. There are certain important non-financial measures that must be taken into consideration in order to get a complete overview of the performance of the business organization. As the name itself suggests, a balanced scorecard provides a view of the financial measures as well as the important strategic and non-financial measures so as to provide a more "balanced" overview of the overall performance of the organization (Kaplan, Norton 1992).

Components of A Balanced Scorecard

A balanced scorecard is made up of 4 major components that are used to measure the performance of the business. Every component of the balanced scorecard provides a view of a different side of the business organization such that management can have a look at the balanced or complete view of the organization.

Components of A Balanced Scorecard

Learning and Growth

This component of the balanced scorecard focuses on the corporate culture that prevails at the business organization. At present, the current business environment involves a tough competition within the nation and also from businesses that exist in other nations of the world. In order to be able to deal with the tough competition that prevails in the market, a business must make regular improvements to its current products and processes and must be capable of driving innovation so as to be able to launch new products which have additional features and utility in comparison to products offered by competitors. If an organization is able to use innovation and drive improvement in its processes, it will add value to the company (Moore n.d.).

Customers

This component of the balanced scorecard focuses on the aspect of customer satisfaction achieved by the business. As no business could survive without its customers, it is quite important for a company to evaluate how well it is doing in relation to its clients or customers. There is no doubt that every business organization aims at providing the highest level of satisfaction and win the loyalty of customers. It is important for the top management of the company to know how it is performing in relation to customer service and customer satisfaction. The balanced scorecard measures how the company has performed in terms of customer service and how the company is looked at in the industry as compared to its competitors. Some of the variables which are used to measure this are – number of repeat customers, number of new customers, a ranking of the company in the industry and market share of the products offered by the company (Balancedscorecards.com n.d.).

Internal Business Processes

This component of the balanced scorecard looks at the capability of the organization to run its processes and business activities in a smooth manner. The balanced score measures the efficiency of the business in carrying out its operations. It focuses on factors like the reduction of waste, reduction in time taken by various processes and optimum utilization of all the resources owned by the company. The internal business processes of any business are also an important aspect that must be considered by the company in measuring its performance. It is important to achieve customer satisfaction and high quality of customer service but this can be achieved only when this is converted in the form of actions that must be taken by the company internally so as to fulfill the expectations of its customers. The internal factors that must be considered in the balanced scorecard comprised of those factors which can affect the level of customer satisfaction such as quality of products and/or services offered to the customers, skills and expertise of staff, level of productivity attained by the company, process cycle, and inefficiencies existing in current processes (Balancedscorecards.com n.d.). A business organization must try to identify its core competencies and measure them from time to time.

 Financial

This component of the Balanced Scorecard looks at the financial performance of the business. The most important financial objectives of any business organization are – profitability, growth and maximization of wealth of shareholders. This component of a balanced scorecard consists of most of the indicators that were used traditionally for evaluating the performance of any company. The various financial metrics that are included in the balanced scorecard would depend upon the type of the company and the nature of its operations. Financial performance can be measured by looking at various financial indicators such as an increase in sales revenue, an increase in operating income, positive cash flows, return on equity, etc (Kaplan and Norton 1992). Some other types of financial metrics include earnings per share, inventory turnover ratio, return on investment, asset turnover ratio, etc. The financial metrics that are included in the balanced scorecard must be able to cover those metrics which could have an impact on the decisions taken by management.

How the Company Can Improve Its Competitive Advantage by Implementing Balanced Scorecard

The industry in which Qantas Group operates is the airline industry which is characterized by large investments in infrastructure and a large number of employees. Owing to these reasons, airline companies are required to incur significant fixed costs. Apart from these huge fixed costs, they operate in an extremely competitive environment and are required to respond immediately to market demands so as to be able to survive in the market (Erdogan and Kaya 2014). Hence, it is quite important for airline companies to manage their performance and use appropriate tools to measure their present as well as future performance. The balanced scorecard is one such useful tool which can help the Qantas Group to successfully implement its business strategy as it allows a company to analyze its performance from four different aspects (Belay 2017). The implementation of balanced would enable the Qantas Group to improve its competitive advantage in a number of ways as described below:

Increase in The Level of Customer Satisfaction and Customer Loyalty

The services provided by any airline company involve various steps starting from the reservation of the passenger, check-in and check out at the airport, and ends with departure from the airport. A Balanced scorecard would allow a big Airline company like Qantas Group to look at those areas which are prone to issues and problems (Erdogan and Kaya 2014). A balanced scorecard provides information about various indicators such as a number of customers, rate of complaints made by customers, the efficiency of check-in service, the quality of cabin services, the quality of food and beverages provided during the flight, etc. which allows the airline company to improve these areas and increase the level of satisfaction attained by its customers (Erdogan and Kaya 2014).

Improvement in Financial Performance

A balanced scorecard can help the Qantas group to improve its financial performance in the long run. Most of the performance management tools that are used by organizations tell about short term performance of the business however, the balanced scorecard is different from other tools. A balanced scorecard provides information about the long term financial performance of the business. It provides information about some indicators that are specific to the airlines industry such as revenue passenger kilometers, revenue per workload unit, cost per available kilometers, etc. which are very useful for understanding the actual financial performance of an airline company which cannot be understood and evaluated properly by using the traditional indicators financial performance such as earnings per share, price-earnings ratio, net profit ratio, debt to equity ratio, etc. (Erdogan and Kaya 2014).

Driving Improvements in Internal Business Processes

The implantation of a balanced scorecard by Qantas Group would help it to drive some major improvements in its internal business processes. The main operation processes for Qantas Airlines are ground services, passenger services, predefined planning and maintenance, etc. which are related to the operation of flights carried on by it (Erdogan and Kaya 2014). In order for smooth functioning and timely provision of flight service provided by Qantas, all the processes must be carried out in a smooth and efficient manner. If each operational department at Qantas Group implements its own balanced scorecard, it would enable the company to assess the performance of its internal processes. This will enable the Qantas group to know the real state of its internal processes and it could identify those processes where major process improvements are required.

The company can also use the balanced scorecard to assess the efficiency and effectiveness of services provided by third-party providers and subcontractors (Erdogan and Kaya 2014). The airline companies employ the services contractors and subcontractors for certain services such as management of airport terminal and ground services. It is important for the airline company to assess the performance of the services carried out by the subcontractors because if anything goes wrong with those services, the airline company will only be answerable to the passengers (Erdogan and Kaya 2014). If the Qantas group would implement the balanced scorecard to its different operational processes it would be able to check the quality of services provided by its subcontractors.

Driving Innovation and Achieving Product Differentiation

The implementation of a balanced scorecard would enable the Qantas group to keep itself updated about technological advancements that take place in the market, human resources and airline cooperations. There exists a strong completion between various companies that operate in the airline industry and if one company introduces a new innovative service, it is imitated by other companies within no time (Erdogan and Kaya 2014). Therefore, in order to beat the competition, the Qantas group would require differentiating itself from its competitors. This can be achieved by ensuring that it has staff who is better skilled and trained and are capable of providing better quality services. By using a balanced scorecard, the company could get information about some of the most important human resource performance indicators which are manager/pilot ratio, the number of permanent employees held by the business, satisfaction of employees, etc. (Erdogan, Kaya 2014). As the Qantas group be able to appropriately measure its human resource performance this will enable them to take the required actions to put in place better-trained personnel who will enable it to drive innovation and product differentiation.

Conclusion on Implementation of Balanced Scorecard at Qantas Group

On the basis of the above discussions and explanations, it can be concluded that a balanced scorecard is really effective to have a "balanced" and complete picture of the performance of the business as it covers both financial as well as non-financial indicators. A balanced scorecard could prove a really effective performance management tool for any company operating in the airline industry as it would enable it to assess its performance from various aspects. It is highly suitable for organizations like Qantas to implement balanced scorecard as due to the nature of its operations and the industry in which it operates, there is a strong need for a multidimensional performance management system like balanced scorecard which would help them to decide their key performance indicators which would ultimately enable them to gain a competitive advantage and achieve its strategic goals.

References for Implementation of Balanced Scorecard at Qantas Group

Balancedscorecards.com. n.d. What is a balanced scorecard?. [Online]. Available athttps://balancedscorecards.com/balanced-scorecard/#learn-overview

BC Campus. n.d. Describe the balanced scorecard and explain how it is used. [Online]. Available at https://opentextbc.ca/principlesofaccountingv2openstax/chapter/describe-the-balanced-scorecard-and-explain-how-it-is-used/

Belay, A.A. 2017. Operational performance measurement of world major airlines with a particular emphasis of Ethiopian airlines: An integrated comparative approach (Doctoral dissertation). . [Online]. Available at http://uir.unisa.ac.za/handle/10500/24946

CFI. 2017. What is return on investment (ROI)? [Online]. Available at https://corporatefinanceinstitute.com/resources/knowledge/finance/return-on-investment-roi-formula/

Edmunds S. n.d. How to improve ROI. [Online]. Available at https://smallbusiness.chron.com/improve-roi-67173.html

Erdogan, D. and Kaya, E. 2014. Understanding performance indicators of organizational achievement in Turkish airline companies. Journal of Management Research, 6(4), pp.109-123. http://joa.isa-arbor.com/request.asp?JournalID=1&ArticleID=1843&Type=2

IBIS World. n.d. Qantas Airways Limited - Premium company report Australia. [Online]. Available at https://www.ibisworld.com/au/company/qantas-airways-limited/32/

Kaplan, R. and Norton D. 1992. The Balanced Scorecard—Measures that drive performance. [Online] . Available at https://hbr.org/1992/01/the-balanced-scorecard-measures-that-drive-performance-2

Luckham W.R. 1982.Six ways to increase owner’s returns on investments. International society of arboriculture. Louisville, Kentucky

Moore M. n.d. Components of a balanced scorecard approach to strategic hr. [Online]. Available at https://smallbusiness.chron.com/components-balanced-scorecard-approach-strategic-hr-67048.html

Qantas.com. n.d. 2019 Annual report. [Online]. Available at https://investor.qantas.com/FormBuilder/_Resource/_module/doLLG5ufYkCyEPjF1tpgyw/file/annual-reports/2019-Annual-Report-ASX.pdf

Qantas.com. n.d. About us. [Online] . Available at https://www.qantas.com/au/en/about-us.html

Reuters. n.d. Qantas Airways Limited QAN.AX. [Online]. Available at https://www.reuters.com/companies/QAN.AX

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