Contemporary Issues in Accounting

Subject Learning Outcomes

a) Evaluate financial accounting reporting issues and their impact

b) Examine various theoretical and philosophical approaches to accounting

c) Analyse current accounting issues including ethical requirements

d) Evaluate a range of contemporary accounting issues

Assessment Details

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 1

Assessment Type: Assignment - individual 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: This assignment covers the in-depth theoretical concepts with practical accounting task application based on the topics from the subject.

Task Details: Students are required to prepare a comprehensive report directed to an Australian ASX Top 100 listed corporation detailing a critical analysis of the effectiveness of the corporation to meet the obligations of the conceptual framework of accounting.

Consideration of the Conceptual Framework Objective, Recognition Criteria, Fundamental and Enhancing Guidelines is essential. The relationship between accounting research and professional practice is essential. This article needs to inform your arguments.

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. It should include an abstract, introduction, body, conclusion and bibliography. Maximum word count is 1500 words not including the abstract or bibliography.

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). Students need to stay within the assigned word limits, and indicate the word count on the cover page of the assignment. Marks will be reduced for assignments shorter than or greater than the minimum word count.
o The report should be typed double spaced, using Times New Roman font size of either 10 point or 12 point.
o Every page should be clearly numbered.
o The assignment should include the following parts:
o 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;
o Executive Summary;
o Table of Contents;
o Main contents - Introduction, analysis using suitable headings and subheadings, Conclusions and Recommendations, Appendices (if any);
o References (using Harvard - Anglia style);

Assessment 2

Assessment Type: Group report and presentation - combined group and individual assessment task. Please note: This is a group assessment and presentations are delivered by the group but individual presentation efforts are be marked. As Learning Outcome d) stipulates teamwork, this assessment must be done in groups of 2-5 students per group as advised by your tutor. Students are not permitted to refuse being part of a group.

Purpose: This assessment is designed to allow students to research and analyse current social issues in accounting and evaluate their impact on various stakeholders. As a group assessment, it further develops students' team working skills. This assessment relates to Learning Outcomes a, b, c and d.

Value: Total value is 30% made up of 10% Group marks for report plus 20% individual marks for presentation. This assignment marks will be scaled to a mark out of 30 total subject marks.

Topic: Sustainability Reporting in Accounting

Task Details: Groups are to research the current state of Sustainability Reporting. As a result of their research groups need to develop a video presentation detailing the current state of sustainability reporting including the issues, practices, etc using higher order analysis and explaining the implications for various stakeholders in relation to financial decision making. The video presentation should conclude with supported specific recommendations as to how organisations and their accounting advisors should proceed in light of the analysis.

Research requirements: Students need to support their analysis with reference from the text and minimum of ten (10) suitable, reliable, current and academically acceptable sources - check with your tutor if unsure of the validity of sources. Groups seeking Credit or above grades should support their analysis with increased number of reference sources comparable to the grade they are seeking.

Presentation: 5 minutes video presentation per group. Using the course material with reference to group report content, groups are to present their analysis and findings/ conclusions in a professional 5 (five) minute video presentation. All group members must participate in the preparation of the video.

Presentations should be a critical analysis covering the main theory elements of the course - not just presenting a factual story - reference to corporate reports and other material is encouraged. Information can be covered in any order in the presentation, but should contain elements of the course.

It is strongly recommended that groups prepare their presentations well in advance of the presentation date, and make some effort to review their video presentation. This will improve the presentation overall, and give groups a chance to improve and time manage their presentations

Videos may be prepared using any available platform such as iMovie, MoveMaker, Prezi and others

Group Report 1500 + 10% word report format - Word .doc or .docx. Title page, executive summary, table of contents, appropriate headings and sub-headings, recommendations/findings/conclusions, in-text referencing and reference list (Harvard - Anglia style), attachments if relevant. Single spaced, font Times New Roman 12pt, Calibri 11pt or Arial 10pt.