Assignment: Newsletter and financial statements

Task - Complete the 2 questions given below. All workings, where appropriate, must be shown to substantiate your answers.

Question 1 - The regulatory environment and financial reporting

You are employed in a large accounting firm which specialises in preparing general purpose financial reports for large companies that are listed on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX). As the training manager, one of your key tasks is to prepare a regular newsletter for staff involved in the preparation of the above financial reports. The purpose of the newsletter is to keep staff updated on the latest financial reporting news, alerting staff of changes and developments that may impact their work, and provide enough information to staff to satisfy the following:

• For staff to understand the nature of the news / change / development and its potential impact (so staff can decide whether they need to investigate further given the nature of their own work);
• Provide directions to staff of where they can access further information on the news / change / development if they wish to (including website links where appropriate).

Required: Prepare a 2 page newsletter that identifies and summarises changes / developments and news in the financial reporting environment for the period from 1 May 2017 to 4 August 2017.

Question 2 - Financial statement presentation

The trial balance of Winter Ltd includes the following asset, liability and equity accounts at 30 June 2017:

Additional information:

• All assets other than cash at bank, cash management account, accounts receivable, interest receivable, inventory, raw materials, and pre-paid rent are non-current.
• All liabilities other than accounts payable, allowance for doubtful debts, current tax liability, accrued wages payable, interest payable, dividends payable and provisions listed below are non-current.
• Provision for annual leave includes $19,000 payable within 1 year.
• Provision for long service leave includes $8,000 payable within 1 year.
• Provision for warranty includes $5,000 payable within 1 year.
• In relation to the statement of financial position, where AASB 101 requires entities to disclose further sub-classifications of the minimum line items on the face of the statement or in the notes, the directors of Winter Ltd want to report only the minimum line items on the face of the statement, and leave the sub-classifications to be disclosed in the notes.

Required: Prepare the statement of financial position of Winter Ltd for the year ended 30 June 2017 in accordance with AASB 101, using the line items that a listed company is likely to use. Show all workings. Notes and comparative figures are not required.

Rationale

The purpose of this task is to help you further develop some of the skills and knowledge required and valued by the accountancy profession. The task that you will be required to undertake is similar to the tasks required of a professional accountant working within the financial reporting field.

Given that all reporting entities need to prepare general purpose financial reports, accounting professionals need to be experts in preparing key financial statement reports that comply with the presentation requirements contained in the accounting standards.

Accounting professionals also need to ensure that they are aware of current developments in the financial reporting environment and that their knowledge is up to date. They need to be able to identify changes that have occurred that may impact on their work and to know where they can obtain information about these changes.

In this assignment, you are asked to provide a summary of recent developments relating to financial reporting and prepare financial statement reports in accordance with accounting standard requirements. As such this assignment allows you to:

• develop the ability to identify and source changes to accounting/reporting requirements so as to update professional knowledge required for practice;
• acquire an awareness of current developments and changes (both locally and internationally) that may impact on current and future accounting and reporting rules and regulations;
• develop the ability to provide written material appropriate to the accountancy profession;
• appreciate the limitations of the currency of knowledge in a technical financial reporting area; and
• research current financial reporting obligations relating to the preparation and presentation of general purpose financial statement reports and apply this knowledge to a range of practical situations.

This assignment will assess your ability to:

• discuss critically and comprehensively changes and developments in the statutory and professional requirements upon which published financial statements are based;
• prepare basic financial statements for reporting entities, in accordance with accounting standard requirements; and
• be able to interpret and apply generally accepted accounting principles and specific financial accounting standards relating to concepts of recognition, measurement, and disclosure of key financial statement elements when preparing general purpose financial reports.

Attachment:- Assignment Files.rar