Contemporary Issues in Accounting

Overview of the Subject

This subject develops the critical ability to evaluate financial accounting information through current issues. Exploration and understanding of the different theoretical and philosophical approaches to accounting that have evolved over time. It also continues to build upon the development of technical accounting skills through an understanding and application of selected contemporary accounting issues.

Details of each Assessment Item

The assessments for this subject are described below. The description includes the type of assessment, its purpose, weighting, due date and submission requirements, the topic of the assessment, details of the task and detailed marking criteria, including a marking rubric for essays, reports and presentations.

Supplementary assessment information and assistance can be found in Moodle.

KOI expects students to submit their own original work in both assignments and exams, or the original work of their group in the case of group assignments.

Assessment

Purpose: This assessment is designed to allow students to demonstrate a higher level of understanding of accounting standards and theoretical and philosophical approaches, as they apply to the resolution of more complex accounting problems. This assessment relates to Learning Outcomes a, b and c.

Topic: Does the current accounting framework meet the needs of the users of financial reports as prescribed in the objective of the Conceptual Framework of Accounting? How the conceptual framework revision to include Prudence is likely to address the disparity in Corporate Reporting is a requirement in your analysis.

Task Details: Download the latest annual report of any two listed companies. Annual Reports are available on the company website or ASX website.

Analyse the conceptual framework with reference to the annual reports of your chosen companies in light of the reporting requirements imposed on accountants and those charged with governance of corporations. Your analysis may include the following:

- Are the annual reports in compliance with the conceptual framework and AASB standard requirements?
- You need to use extracts from the annual reports to support your analysis.
- Provide screen shots of the relevant sections from the reports in your assignment.
- If they are not in compliance, explain the reason.
- How the conceptual framework revision to include Prudence is likely to address the disparity in Corporate Reporting
- You may find the explanations in the notes to the financial statements or in the Director's Report.
- Compare and contrast the two annual reports, identify the differences in disclosures of these corporations.
- Reference to material of the course and a critical analysis of the annual reports is required.

Students are to critically analyse and develop supported recommendations and conclusions, in reference to the relevant accounting framework (see Topics 1-5).

The analysis and supported recommendations need to be formatted into a professional report as would be expected in a modern organisation by management and clients.

Research Requirements:

Students need to support their analysis and recommendations with the text and minimum of 10 recent and relevant academic journal articles.

Other sources may also be used but students need to be confident of the academic validity of such sources.

Presentation

Report - 2000 +10% word report

The word count excludes the cover sheet, contents page, references, appendices, and illustrations (e.g. diagrams, graphs and tables).

- The report should be typed double spaced, using Times New Roman font size of either 10 point or 12 point.
- Every page should be clearly numbered.
- The assignment should include the following parts:
(a) A title / cover page, which indicates basic information such as Subject title, Subject code, Trimester number, Assignment title, group members' full names and KOI student numbers, word count and name of the tutor;
(b) Executive Summary;
(c) Table of Contents;
(d) Main contents - Introduction, analysis using suitable headings and subheadings, Conclusions and Recommendations, Appendices (if any);
(e) References (using Harvard - Anglia style);