ACC8000 SUPPLEMENTARY ASSIGNMENT-

Task one - evaluating published research

Read the article Ethics survey: Banking, media and big business on the nose

http://www.smh.com.au/business/bankinq-and-finance/ethics-survey-bankinq-media-and-big-business-on-the-nose-20160719-gq9f5h.html

Using the research as written up in the article, discuss the appropriateness of the following choices made in the research (if the article does not provide enough information, outline the information you would need to be able to adequately evaluation the choices made)

a. The choice of population from which to draw participants

b. How participants are recruited

c. The questions asked of the participants

d. The writing up of the findings (how understandable are they and how easy is it to compare the different scores that have been calculated for the different occupations, organisations and sectors?)

e. What could be done to the writing of the findings to make it more understandable?

f. What other information might be useful to evaluate the findings of the study?

Task two - drafting a research proposal

Recently the accounting firm Able Accountants implemented a new centralised system for issuing stationery, so that all stationary must be requested by email and is sent weekly from the Sydney office. The firm has offices in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne. There have been a number of complaints about the new system. You have been asked to investigate the types of problems people have experienced in using the new system and how widespread the problems are.

Requirements-

 a) Explain, providing reasons, the type of research approach that you believe, is appropriate for this research.

b) Write a research proposal outlining how you will go about this task. In your proposal address the following:

• the objective of the research
• who the participants will be
• how the participants will be selected
• how the data will be collected from participants
• how data will be analysed.

Task three - research in management accounting

It has been stated that 'top level management accountants are now emerging as members of the most important business decision-making groups guiding major organisational, operational and strategic choices' (Sorensen 2009, p. 1271). Furthermore, in such a context management accountants need a range of skills and knowledge (Paulsson 2012).

Requirements- Using at least ten research studies, answer the following the following questions:

a) What are the various activities/roles that management accountants undertake?

b) What skills and knowledge do management accountants need in order to be able to fulfil their roles?

c) To what extent have universities addressed the skills needed by management accountants in their undergraduate accounting courses?

Reference List-

Paulsson, G 2012, 'The role of management accountants in new public management', Financial Accountability & Management, vol. 28, no. 4, pp. 378-94.

Sorensen, JE 2009, 'Management accountants in the United States: practitioner and academic views of recent developments', in C Chapman, et al. (eds), Handbooks of Management Accounting Research, Elsevier Ltd, vol. 3, pp. 1271-96.