Recent Question/Assignment

VALUE: 25% of OVERALL ASSESSMENT

DUE DATE: Friday 12 September 2014 (The portal will close at 11.59pm AEST – Students
in Adelaide and Brisbane please note to adjust for the time difference accordingly)
Submission: The written assignment will need to be submitted electronically through the
student portal – use the link under “Assessments and Revision” to submit the information.
Learning Outcome 4: Research and argue a position in regard to a contemporary
issue in the accounting profession
REQUIRED:
Write a report based on the assignment details noted below. Your report should be
approximately 2500 words not including references, abstract and appendices. You
should include a word count on your report.
The Assignment is designed to test the following skills:
1. Your knowledge and your ability to research the issues and then apply the information
appropriately using judgement
2. Your communication skills – report writing
Please make sure you follow the guidelines noted in your subject outline especially those
relating to presentation of written work, late policy and academic integrity. You should
also familiarise yourself with the assessment marking rubric (attached) to guide you in how
you can score marks.
ACCM 4600
Accounting Theory &
Contemporary Issues
Assignment
Trimester 2, 2014 Individual Research Assignment
Kaplan Business School is part of Kaplan Inc., a leading global provider of educational services. Kaplan Business School Pty Ltd ABN
86 098 181 947 is a registered higher education provider CRICOS Provider Codes SA/QLD 02426B, NSW 02913J and VIC 02887F
ACCM 4600/2Trimester2014/Assignment /MIR
- 2 -
Details of Assignment:
The partners of a large Australian accounting practice have engaged your firm of consultants to
provide them with the information necessary to determine whether they should implement an
integrated reporting division in their firm. They would like to consider the viability of setting up
a division to give services in this area to their clients. One of the partners Sandra Slender wants
to know if their own practice could benefit from preparing its own financial statements in this
format as well.
You (a graduate accountant) and Jeremy Cartwright the director of your consulting firm had
preliminary discussions with the accounting firm and realised that there are two differing schools
of thought amongst the partners.
One group of partners think it is a gimmick and would be an expensive exercise that would add
little to the success of the practice and believe that the practice should focus on its core
business, accounting, audit and tax.
The other group of partners believe that it would give them a competitive advantage and that it
is an important way for them to make a real, positive contribution to the global community. They
think that there is a lot of scope for work of this nature in the business world which should also
improve the overall profitability of the accounting firm. This group keeps referring to the
business forum that they had been to earlier this year at the Institute of Chartered Accountants
in Australia and New Zealand and to an article titled “Release of Integrated Reporting
Framework”.
To make a decision, the partners have requested you to make sure that your report contains
(but is not restricted to) advice or responses to the following aspects:
1. A vision for integrated reporting, making sure that you give them a good understanding of the
meaning of integrated reporting;
2. Present elements of the integrated reporting framework and whether (and if so, how) it links
in with the work undertaken by the firm at present;
3. Arguments for and against introducing an integrated reporting division within the firm
4. Whether creating a division that provides such services would be of benefit to their firms
clients; include thoughts on an appropriate name for the division, the type of services that might
be offered, the type of skills the staff employed in it would require, do you think there is a market
for such services and how would you market it, etc
5. Should it be introduced within the accounting practice? Should the accounting practice
consider preparing integrated reports? What is the cost-benefit of preparing these reports?
You must use at least six resources to inform your discussion. The library databases
(http://elearning.kbs.edu.au/course/view.php?id=159) will provide some excellent journal articles Individual Research Assignment
Kaplan Business School is part of Kaplan Inc., a leading global provider of educational services. Kaplan Business School Pty Ltd ABN
86 098 181 947 is a registered higher education provider CRICOS Provider Codes SA/QLD 02426B, NSW 02913J and VIC 02887F
ACCM 4600/2Trimester2014/Assignment /MIR
- 3 -
on this topic. You are also aware of some excellent literature on this area and you will
incorporate this in your report. Remember that although many Australian companies are
engaging with the concept of integrated reporting they are unsure of what it really means or how
to implement it in their organisations.
REQUIRED:
Jeremy Cartwright, the director of your firm (which offers consultancy services to medium and
large accountancy practices around the world), with a reputation as someone who has expertise
in innovation and latest trends requested you to draft a response to the above scenario
providing this information in a report format.
Make sure that your report includes any information that you think will assist the partners to
make these important decisions. The partners want recommendations that they can discuss at
their next Board meeting.
Note: The Assessment Rubric or marking rubric is a separate document and you are advised to
read through it to obtain guidance on how the lecturers will mark your assignment. The report
writing skills will be marked by the ASC and the technical content by the lecturer. A summary of
the mark allocation is given below:
Technical Skills - content 15 Marks
Professional Competency Skills
Report Writing Skills:
Language and Presentation 3 Marks
Structure and Content 4 Marks
Research and Critical Awareness 3 Marks
Assignment Mark 25 Marks
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ End of Assignment ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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