1 Overview and requirement

The course has a required final project which may be done as a group (maximum of 3) or

individually.

The due date is Monday, December 2, 5:00pm.

The purpose of the project is for you to consolidate and enhance your understanding of the

tools and concepts we have been discussing this semester. Here is a general overview of the

project requirements:

•The project report should pose one or more questions and provide an appropriate

analysis of the data.

•You must submit both the PDF and Rmarkdown source for your document.

•The project report you submit should be professional-looking, readable, and created

in Rmarkdown. By “professional-looking” I mean something that would be acceptable

in a professional situation.

•The project report must be reproducible, meaning that all data analysis and graphs

are created within the Rmarkdown file, using R.

•Graphs and tables must be clear, have a clear purpose, and be informative in the

context of the report.

•You must adhere to academic standards of citation: If you rely on a source, you must

cite it appropriately. You must cite the sources of your data.

•I will be looking for evidence that you learned something while working on the project.

There is no specific length requirement. A reasonable paper length for a project might

be around 20 pages.

•The grading will be stricter for larger groups.

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2 Project descriptions

My primary goal for the project is for you to learn something, so I encourage you to work

on a project that you find interesting within the field of finance and accounting. I’m happy

to talk with you about what you’re thinking so I can help you determine a reasonable scope

and perhaps assist with resources. Once you have settled on a topic, please provide me with

a paragraph summarizing the data you plan to use and the analysis you hope to perform.

The due date for the summary is Sunday, October 20, 11:59pm.

2.1 Audience

Whatever data you use, the paper should contain:

•an overview of the relevant data, with summary information;

•an explanation of your question;

•a discussion of your findings;

•an explanation of how you used R in the analysis.

Use your judgment to assess what would be helpful to a reader.

2.2 Data sources

There are many data sources now available. I strongly suggest having a question before you

start looking at data, as you can spend a lot of time just figuring out how to use a dataset.

That said, it would be easiest if you take advantage of the data on WRDS. There should be

descriptions of some of the popular databases in the online tutorial.

2.3 Harvard Business Review

There may be an opportunity to publish your final project as a data analytics case study

for HKU’s Asia Case Research Centre (with some additional work). This means the case

will also be available on the Harvard Business Review website and that of Harvard Business

School Publishing. For those who are interested, I will work with you from the beginning

to ensure it satisfies the requirements for publication. This is a rare opportunity that would

not only be very rewarding, but it would also look great on your resume. The Asia Case

Research Centre recommends a group of no more than two members and working with

Asian datafor the project if you choose this option. (However, I do not think this is a

strict requirement.) Furthermore, please e-mail me your interests, along with your group

and idea, also bySunday, October 20, 11:59pm

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3 Groups

There is no one specific project, so you may form your own groups. However, for those who

are not already committed to a group but want to, I will help form groups.

Those who are interested in being assigned to a group will need to respond to a questionnaire

I will post on Moodle this week.