Corporate Accounting Assignment
Topic: Financial Reporting Standards and Environmental Disclosures
"Currently, most companies that report on sustainability publish stand-alone reports. However, a trend toward integrating sustainability reporting with financial results is emerging and is supported by the International Integrated Reporting Council's (IIRC) efforts to develop a global integrated reporting framework. Both stand-alone and integrated sustainability reporting require the involvement of accounting professionals. Accounting majors, many of whom have grown up in an environment that strongly values ecologically, ethically, and socially responsible corporate behavior, represent the future accounting professionals" (James 2015, p.1).Disclosures onorganisationalbehaviour in relation to the natural environment form an essential component of integrated sustainability reporting. This assignment would assist you to explore the ability of the currentinternational financial reporting standards (IFRS) in monitoring the impacts of organisational operations on the natural environment.
(Reference: James, ML 2015, 'The benefits of sustainability and integrated reporting: an investigation of accounting majors' perceptions', Journal of Legal, Ethical & Regulatory Issues, vol. 18, no. 1, pp. 1-20.,)
1. What is environmental reporting? Explain how reporting on environmental issues could be related to the objectives of general purpose financial reports (GPFR).
2. Identify two accounting standards (IAS/IFRS) that are relevant to environmental impacts of an organisational operation. Explain the relevance of these accounting standards with environmental issues related to business activities.
3. Select the most recently published annual report of a company from an environmentally sensitive sector. Provide a critical discussion of the environmental disclosures in relation to financial accounting reported by the company you selected.
Required:
Write an essay to discuss the above three points using appropriate headings.
(The"guidance/hints" provided in page 2 and the "assessment criteria and assignment structure" presented in page 5 should help you in preparing and organising the essay)
You are to form into group of two for the submission of this assignment. Assignments undertaken by an individual (1) student will not be accepted for marking.
Guidance/Hints for obtaining a reasonable understanding of the assignment topics:
a) Your reading must include:
- Academic journal articles (minimum 6 should be referenced)
- International Accounting Standard Board (IASB) Frameworks and standards
- Corporate annual reports from any environmentally sensitive sector
- Recent corporate environmental news published in newspapers/magazines/online
b) You must provide appropriate referencing (both in-text and in the reference list) of the sources of information obtained.
c) Critical thinking and discussion in question no. 3 should cover at least the followings:
- Identify environmental issues of the company you selected that could be considered relevant
- What is disclosed/not disclosed
- How disclosure/non-disclosure would affect the reporting of the financial performance and position of the company
- How disclosure could be improved from the perspective of decision usefulness and accountability
We would like to encourage you to go beyond the guidance/hints listed above. We look forward to be exhilarated by your research skill and written communication!