ACCT5003 Accounting Research Project 1 Semester 1,...

Unit study package code: ACCT5003

Mode of study: Internal

Tuition pattern summary: Note: For any specific variations to this tuition pattern and for precise information refer to the Learning Activities section.

Individual Study: 1 x 1 Hours Weekly Seminar: 1 x 2 Hours Weekly

This unit does not have a fieldwork component.

Credit Value: 25.0

Pre-requisite units: 314712 (v.0) Business Research Methods 500 or any previous version OR MKTG5004 (v.0) Business Research Methods or any previous version

Co-requisite units: Nil

Anti-requisite units: Nil

Result type: Grade/Mark

Approved incidental fees: Information about approved incidental fees can be obtained from our website. Visit fees.curtin.edu.au/incidental_fees.cfm for details.

Unit coordinator: Title: Associate ProfessorName: Alistair BrownPhone: +618 9266 1069Email: [email protected]: Building: 407 - Room: 405B

Teaching Staff: Name: James (Chong M.) LauPhone: +618 9266 2294Email: [email protected]: Building: 407 - Room: 408A

Name: Nigar SultanaPhone: +618 9266 2974Email: [email protected]: Building: 407 - Room: 443

Administrative contact: Name: Tracey CarlyonPhone: +618 9266 2870Email: [email protected]: Building: 407 - Room: 419

Learning Management System: Blackboard (lms.curtin.edu.au)

Unit Outline

ACCT5003 Accounting Research Project 1 Semester 1, 2016

Curtin Business School (CBS)School of Accounting

ACCT5003 Accounting Research Project 1 Bentley Campus 15 Feb 2016 School of Accounting, Curtin Business School (CBS)

Page: 1 of 13CRICOS Provider Code 00301J

The only authoritative version of this Unit Outline is to be found online in OASIS

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Acknowledgement of Country We respectfully acknowledge the Indigenous Elders, custodians, their descendants and kin of this land past and present.

Syllabus This unit will be an individual accounting research project looking at industry and company performance which will result in a financial analysis of a company.

Introduction A warm welcome to all ACCT5003 Accounting Research Project 1 students. We really hope you enjoy this unit. Its intellectual foundation is built upon Dar's (2014) hybrid accountabilities. In this sense we develop your critical analysis and evaluation of an entity's inter-related (collided) managerial, governance, financial and carbon performance.

Best of luck with the semester.

Alistair

Unit Learning Outcomes All graduates of Curtin University achieve a set of nine graduate attributes during their course of study. These tell an employer that, through your studies, you have acquired discipline knowledge and a range of other skills and attributes which employers say would be useful in a professional setting. Each unit in your course addresses the graduate attributes through a clearly identified set of learning outcomes. They form a vital part in the process referred to as assurance of learning. The learning outcomes tell you what you are expected to know, understand or be able to do in order to be successful in this unit. Each assessment for this unit is carefully designed to test your achievement of one or more of the unit learning outcomes. On successfully completing all of the assessments you will have achieved all of these learning outcomes.

Your course has been designed so that on graduating we can say you will have achieved all of Curtin's Graduate Attributes through the assurance of learning process in each unit.

Curtin's Graduate Attributes

Learning Activities It would be great if you could attend the seminars each week in order to participate in activities and receive timely feedback on putting together some nice responses to your three assessments.

On successful completion of this unit students can: Graduate Attributes addressed1 Critically analyse the characteristics of different industry sectors and explain a firm’s competitive strategy

2 Scrutinise financial reports for performance trends and report to management.

3 Develop a research proposal relevant to the discipline.

Apply discipline knowledge Thinking skills (use analytical skills to solve problems)

Information skills (confidence to investigate new ideas)

Communication skills Technology skillsLearning how to learn (apply principles learnt to new situations) (confidence to tackle unfamiliar problems)

International perspective (value the perspectives of others)

Cultural understanding (value the perspectives of others)

Professional Skills (work independently and as a team) (plan own work)

Find out more about Curtin's Graduate attributes at the Office of Teaching & Learning website: ctl.curtin.edu.au

Curtin Business School (CBS) School of Accounting




http://ctl.curtin.edu.au/

Learning Resources Essential texts

The required textbook(s) for this unit are:

l Otley, D. (1980). “The contingency theory of management accounting: achievements and prognosis” Accounting, Organizations and Society, 1980. Vol. 5 (4), pp.413-428. (FOR PART ONE)

Johnson G. and Scholes K. (1999). Exploring Corporate Strategy (SWOT Analysis). Prentice Hall: London. (658 4012 JOH) (FOR PART ONE)

l Moores, K. and Yuen, S. (2001). Management accounting systems and organizational configuration: a life-cycle perspective. Accounting, Organizations and Society, 2001. Vol. 5 (4,) pp.351-389. (FOR PART ONE)

Porter , M. E. (2004). The competitive advantage: creating and sustaining superior performance. In Competitive Strategy: The Core Concepts. Chapter 1, pp. 1-30. Free Press, New York

(FOR PART ONE) l Stout, L. (2015) Video: Corporate Governance - What do shareholders really value?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s5Eoy988728

(FOR PART TWO)

l ASX Corporate Governance (2014) Corporate Governance Principles and Recommendations, 3rd, Corporate Governance Council, Sydney, NSW, Australia. (FOR PART TWO)

l Porter, M. E. (1987) From competitive advantage to corporate strategy, Harvard Business Review, 43-59. (FOR PART ONE) l Etter, E. R. , Lippincott, B. and Reck, J. (2006). An Analysis of U.S. and Latin American Financial Accounting Ratios, Advances in International Accounting, Vol.

19, pp. 145-173. (ISBN/ISSN: 0308-597X)

l Alexander, D. & Nobes, C. 2013. Chapter 17: Financial Appraisal, Financial Accounting: An International Introduction, 5th Ed. Pearson Education, Harlow, pp. 349-379. (FOR PART THREE)

l Geiler, P., & Renneboog, L. (2010). Chapter 14 Executive compensation: Incentives and externalities. In H. Kent Baker, & R. C. Anderson (Eds.), Corporate governance: A synthesis of theory, research and practice (1st ed. ). Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

(FOR PART TWO)

l Choi, B.B and Psaro, L.J. 2013. An analysis of Australian carbon emission disclosures, Pacific Accounting Review, 25(1): 58-79. (FOR PART THREE)

l Atrill, P. and McLaney, E. 2013. Chapter 8: Analysing and Interpreting Financial Statements (1), Financial Accounting for Decision Makers, 7th Ed. Pearson Education, Harlow. (FOP PART THREE)

l Ferreira, D. (2010) Chapter 12: Board Diversity. in Corporate Governance: A Synthesis of Theory, Research, and Practice, Anderson, R. and H.K. Baker (eds.), John Wiley & Sons, pp. 225‐242

(FOR PART TWO)

l Psaros, J. (2009) Australian Corporate Governance: A review and analysis of key issues, Pearson Education Australia. Chapters 1 & 3.

(FOR PART TWO)

Online resources

l Stout, L. (2015) Video: Corporate Governance - What do shareholders really value?


(FOR PART TWO)

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s5Eoy988728)

Other resources

Dar, S. (2014) Hybrid accountabilities: When western and non-western accounabilities collide, Human Relations, 67:131-151.

(INTELLECTUAL FOUNDATION OF UNIT)








Assessment Assessment schedule

Detailed information on assessment tasks

1. Investigation (Part One), Case Study (Part Two) and Research Report (Part Three) focus on a listed Australian company of your choice* and a particular stakeholder group in mind, and are to be used as a framework in answering the following overarching research question: Informing a particular group of society (for example, shareholders, bankers, managers, environmental accountants...), prepare an Accounting Research Project Report that provides an analysis of a listed Australian company of your choice, taking into account its competitive strategic responses (Part One), corporate governance (Part Two) and financial and carbon disclosure peformance (Part Three).

* Please do not select any of the following companies: A2 Milk Company Ltd, AFT Corporation Ltd, Alcoa, Air New Zealand Ltd, Alumina Ltd, AMP, ANZ Bank, Arrium Ltd, Atlas Iron, Austrailan Agricultural Company Limited (AAC), Axiom, Bank of China, Bellamy's, BHP, Billabong, Binomics, Blackmores Limited, Caltex, Capilano Honey Limited, Carnegie Wave Energy, Cash Converters, CBH, China integrated Media Organization, China Magnesium Coporation Ltd, Coca-Cola Amitil, Coles, Commonwealth Bank, Crown Resources Limited, Dan Murphy's, Dexus Property Group, Dick Smith Holdings, Domino’’’’s Pizza, Dragon Mining, Fortescue Metal, Frankland River Oil, Gage Roads, Gateway Group, Grain Trade Australia, GWA,Harvey Norman, iinet, JB Hi-Fi, Macquarie Telecom, Medibank Private Limited, Metcash, Myer, National Australia Bank, Newcrest Mining limited, Navitas Ltd, News Corp, Oil Search, Orolon Group Ltd, Origin Energy, Peet Limited, Planet Gas Ltd, Qantas, Oroten Group, Otto, QBE Insurance Group,REA Group, Rio Tinto, Santos Ltd, Scentre Group (SCG), 7 Eleven, Suncorp Group, Sydney Airport Holdings, Surfstick, SWM, Telstra, Tower Limited,TPG Telecom, The Reject Shop Ltd, Treasury Wine, TRS, Virgin Australia, Wesfarmers, Westpac, Woolworths, Woodside Petroleum, Xero Corp.

CASE STUDY (Part Two):

ACCT5003 Accounting Research Project 1

Assessment Task: Case Study (Assignment/Part Two)

Semester 1, 2016

Value: This Case Study (Part Two) assessment task accounts for 20% of the final mark.

Due Date for Case Study (Assignment - Part Two): Mon May 16th, 2016 at 4:00pm.

Due Dates for other parts: Investigation (Part One): Tues April 12th, 2016 at 4:00pm; and Final Accounting Research Project Report (including Part Three) Mon June 6th, 2016 at 4:00pm.

Task: This Case Study (Part Two) assessment focuses on a listed Australian company of your choice, and will be linked to Investigation (Part One) and Research Report (Part Three). Part One focuses on the current competitive strategy responses of your chosen company within a particular industry. (Note that Part Two examines how effectively your chosen company tackles issues of corporate governance, and Part Three asks you to take a holistic/big picture view of your chosen company by scrutinizing its financial reports for performance trends.)

Case Study (Part Two) Task: In light of your chosen stakeholder group, the Case Study (Part Two) examines how effectively your chosen company tackles issues of corporate governance.

The maximum number of words for your answer for Case Study (Part Two) is 400 words. This word count is inclusive of in-text references but exclusive of end-of-text references and appendices.

CASE STUDY (PART TWO) INSTRUCTIONS:

With a particular stakeholder group in mind, select a listed Australian company of your choice. Refer to your chosen company’s annual reports and also information from other sources for e.g., websites. Identify three current corporate governance practices/mechanisms in place of the company including the board of directors and board sub-committees structure, risk management, directors and Chief Executive Officer’s remuneration. Critically analyse the current corporate governance practices by the company in light of the corporate governance practices recommended by Australian Securities Exchange Corporate Governance Council which is known as‘Corporate Governance Principles and Recommendations 2014(ASX CGC 2014). Explain fully how the company’s corporate governance structure could be improved (where necessary) by following the ASX CGC 2014 guidelines. You are expected to identify three major issues of

Task Value % Date Due Unit Learning Outcome(s) Assessed

1

Case Study 20 percent Week: 12 (Teaching Week 10) Day: Monday Time: 4.00pm

1

2

Investigation 40 percent Week: Week 7 (Teaching Week 6) Day: Tuesday Time: 4pm

1,2

3Research Report 40 percent Week: Week 15

Day: Monday Time: 4.00pm

1,2,3





corporate governance facing your chosen company, apply discipline knowledge, provide evidence-based knowledge, suggest recommendations for improvement and support all assertions with references. As an example, your report may grouped under the following headings (although you may include additional headings also):

l Current corporate governance practices/mechanisms in place; l Critically analyse the current corporate governance practicesl; l Explain fully how the company’s corporate governance structure could be improved.

Research Project Report Format:

The cover page must show the following:

l unit name, l semester and year, l relevant teaching staff’s name (i.e., Dr Nigar Sultana), l your student ID and full name.

The assignment must use:

l 12-point Times New Roman font l single-spaced 1-inch wide margins, and l printed single-sided A4-sized paper l paragraphs (not dot points)

The maximum number of words for your answer for Part Two (word count is inclusive of tables and figures but excludes references and appendices) is 400 words.

Do not exceed the word limit or use inappropriate formatting such as using smaller font size, 1.5 line spacing, or narrower page margin, etc.

Note that it is the quality, not the length of the report that determines the grade of the assignment.

File Format and File Name:

MS Word with a file name “Student ID_ACC5003_S1_2016_Part Two for Dr Sultana”.

For example, for a student with a student id 1234567, the file name should be 1234567_ACC5003_S2_2015_ARP1 for Dr Sultana.doc (or .docx). Referencing: All your references must be properly cited in your content and included in the reference list at the end of report. Plagiarism is a serious academic offence. Students should become familiar with Curtin policy on plagiarism to avoid committing the offence. Student Guidelines for Avoiding Plagiarism and Student Checklist to Prevent Plagiarism can be downloaded from

http://academicintegrity.curtin.edu.au/global/studentbook.cfm. Submission: The soft copy of your work must be submitted via Turnitin on Blackboard. (You can refer to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PcbGIAcNXjs for how to submit your Turnitin assignment.) Please note that the Blackboard site may be taken offline occasionally for maintenance purposes. During these maintenance periods, you will not have access to the materials on Blackboard and will not have access to Turnitin. Curtin Technology Services (CITS) will notify the university

community of the scheduled maintenance work generally around two weeks in advance. Please make sure to check your Curtin email regularly and to pay attention to the maintenance schedule since this can affect the submission of your assessment tasks. Late submissions will not be accepted.

2.

Assessment Investigation (Part One), Case Study (Part Two) and Research Report (Part Three) focus on a listed Australian company of your choice* and a particular stakeholder group in mind, and are to be used as a framework in answering the following overarching research question: Informing a particular group of society (for example, shareholders, bankers, managers, environmental accountants...), prepare an Accounting Research Project Report that provides an analysis of a listed Australian company of your choice, taking into account its competitive strategic responses (Part One), corporate governance (Part Two) and financial and carbon disclosure performance (Part Three).





http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PcbGIAcNXjs


ACCT5003 Accounting

Research Project 1 Assessment Task: Investigation (Part One)

Investigation (Part One) Value: This assessment task accounts for 40% of the final mark.

Due Dates: Investigation (Part One): Tues April 12th, 2016 at 4:00pm.

Other Due Dates: Case Study (Part Two): Mon May 16th, 2016 at 4.00pm; and Final Accounting Research Project Report (including Part Three) Mon June 6th,2016 at 4pm.

Task: This assessment focuses on a listed Australian company of your choice, and is linked to Case Study (Part Two) and Research Report (Part Three). Investigation (Part One) focuses on the current competitive strategy responses of your chosen company within a particular industry. (Note that Case Study (Part Two) examines how effectively your chosen company tackles issues of corporate governance. Research Report (Part Three) asks you to take a holistic/big picture view of your chosen company by scrutinizing its financial reports for performance trends.)

INVESTIGATION (PART ONE):

ACCT5003 Accounting Research Project 1

Assessment Task: Investigation (Part One)

Semester 1/2016

Task: Investigation (Part One) focuses on the current competitive strategy responses of your chosen company within a particular industry. The specific question of the assessment is: Informing a particular stakeholder group of society (for example, shareholders, bankers, managers, environmental accountants…), prepare an Accounting Research Project Report that provides an analysis of a listed Australian company of your choice, taking into account its competitive strategic responses.

The maximum number of words for your answer to Part One is 600 words.

A financial analysis of an organization should be undertaken in the context of the organization’s environmental, economic and social and political settings. In this regard, Otley (1980, p.413) states that “the contingency approach…is based on the premise that there is no universally appropriate accounting system which apply equally to all organizations in all circumstances. Rather, it is suggested that particular features of an appropriate accounting system will depend upon the specific circumstances in which an organization finds itself.” Chenhall (2003, p.127) similarly observes that accounting research has paid increasing attention to the need for the designs of accounting systems to suit the nature of the environment, technology, size, structure, strategy and national culture. “

REQUIRED FOR INVESTIGATION (PART ONE): Select a listed Australian company of your choice. Refer to your chosen company’s Annual Reports and information from other sources and other readings. Analyse critically the different industry sectors in which the company operates in. Explain fully the company’s competitive strategic responses to the characteristics of its industry/industries and its contextual variables and how such competitive strategic responses may influence its annual financial reporting. Your report may include but not limited to the following issues:

l Identify the industry/industries and the contextual variables in which the organization operates in. l Analyse critically the characteristics of the industry/industries. l Analyse critically the contextual variables which affect the industry/industries and the company. l Analyse critically how and why the organizations has responded strategically to the characteristics of the

industry/industries and the contextual variables you identified above. l Discuss fully how and why company’s strategic responses may influence its annual financial reporting. l Provide evidence-based analyses and conclusions. l Demonstrate application of discipline knowledge.

Research Project Report Format: The cover page must show the following:





l unit name, l semester and year, l relevant teaching staff member’s name (i.e. Professor James Lau), l your student ID and full name.

The assignment must be: l in 12-point Times New Roman font l single-spaced with 1-inch margins, l printed single-sided in A4-sized paper, and l use paragraphs (not dot points).

The maximum number of words for your answer for Investigation (Part One) is 600 words (word count is inclusive of tables and figures but excludes references and appendices). Do not exceed the word limit or use inappropriate formatting such as using smaller font size, 1.5 line spacing, or narrower page margin, etc. Note that it is the quality, not the length of the report that determines the grade of the assignment. File Format and File Name: MS Word with a file name “Student ID_ACC5003_S1_2016_ProfJames”. For example, for a student with a student id 1234567, the file name should be 1234567_ACC5003_S1_2016_accountingresearchproject for Prof James.doc (or .docx). Referencing: All your references must be properly cited in your content and included in the reference list at the end of report. Plagiarism is a serious academic offence. Students should become familiar with Curtin policy on plagiarism to avoid committing the offence. Student Guidelines for Avoiding Plagiarism and Student Checklist to Prevent Plagiarism can be downloaded from

http://academicintegrity.curtin.edu.au/global/studentbook.cfm. Submission: Please note that the Blackboard site may be taken offline occasionally for maintenance purposes. During these maintenance periods, you will not have access to the materials on Blackboard and will not have access to Turnitin. Curtin Technology Services (CITS) will notify the university community of the scheduled maintenance work generally around two weeks in advance. Please make sure to check your Curtin email regularly and to pay attention to the maintenance schedule since this can affect the submission of your assessment tasks. Late submissions will not be accepted.

3. Assessment Investigation (Part One), Case Study (Part Two) and Research Report (Part Three) focus on a listed Australian company of your choice and a particular stakeholder group in mind, and are to be used as a framework in answering the following overarching research question: Informing a particular group of society (for example, shareholders, bankers, managers, environmental accountants...), prepare an Accounting Research Project Report that provides an analysis of a listed Australian company of your choice, taking into account its competitive strategic responses (Part One), corporate governance (Part Two) and financial and carbon disclosure performance (Part Three).


FINAL ACCOUNTING RESEARCH PROJECT REPORT (PART THREE)

Read the following articles to inform your response to the Final Accounting Research Project (Part Three).

Alexander, D. & Nobes, C. 2013. Chapter 17: Financial Appraisal, Financial Accounting: An International Introduction, 5th Ed. Pearson Education, Harlow, pp. 349-379.

Atrill, P. and McLaney, E. 2013. Chapter 8: Analysing and Interpreting Financial Statements (1), Financial Accounting for Decision Makers, 7th Ed. Pearson Education, Harlow.

Choi, B.B and Psaro, L.J. 2013. An analysis of Australian carbon emission disclosures, Pacific Accounting Review, 25(1): 58-79.

Etter, E. R. , Lippincott, B. and Reck, J. (2006). An Analysis of U.S. and Latin American Financial Accounting Ratios, Advances in International Accounting, Vol. 19, pp. 145-173.





In addition, refer to your chosen company’s Annual Report and information from other sources.

Scrutinize your chosen company’s Annual Report for performance trends of the company. In particular, investigate the carbon emission disclosure performance record and financial performance record of your chosen company (30 marks)

In investigating the performance record of your chosen company, compile all three parts of your accounting research project into a FINAL ACCOUNTING RESEARCH PROJECT REPORT. A table of contents is NOT required for this report. However, a short introduction is required outlining the importance of conducting a financial analysis that embraces a critical understanding of a company’s competitive strategy responses, effective governance structures and performance trends (2 marks). It also requires a transitional paragraph between Investigation (Part One) and Case Study (Part Two) (1 mark), and a transitional paragraph between Case Study (Part Two) and Research Report (Part Three) (1 mark). A concluding paragraph is also required that evaluates the performance of the chosen company (6 marks).

Final Accounting Research Project Report (Part Three) Format:

The cover page must show the following:

l unit name, l semester and year, l Alistair’s name, l your student ID and full name.

The assignment must use:

l 12-point Times New Roman font l double-space format, 1-inch margins, and l single-sided A4-sized paper l paragraphs.

The maximum length of the Accounting Research Project (Part Three) is 1600 words, excluding the cover page, references, and appendix. Do not exceed the word limit or use inappropriate formatting such as using smaller font size, 1.5 line spacing, or narrower page margin. Note that it is the quality, not the length of the report that determines the grade of the assignment.

File Format and File Name:

MS Word with a file name “Student ID_ACC5003_S1_2016_Alistair”.

For example, for a student with a student id 1234567, the file name should be 1234567_ACC5003_S1_2016_accountingresearchproject for Alistair.doc (or .docx).

Referencing: All your references must be properly cited in your content and included in the reference list at the end of report. Plagiarism is a serious academic offence. Students should become familiar with Curtin policy on plagiarism to avoid committing the offence. Student Guidelines for Avoiding Plagiarism and Student Checklist to Prevent Plagiarism can be downloaded from

http://academicintegrity.curtin.edu.au/global/studentbook.cfm. Submission: The hard copy of each part and report must be submitted to your lecturer’s mailbox by the due date and time. The soft copy of your work must also be submitted via Turnitin on Blackboard. (You can refer to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PcbGIAcNXjs for how to submit your Turnitin assignment.) Please note that the Blackboard site may be taken offline occasionally for maintenance purposes. During these maintenance periods, you will not have access to the materials on Blackboard and will not have access to Turnitin. Curtin Technology Services (CITS) will notify the university community of the scheduled maintenance work generally around two weeks in advance. Please make sure to check your Curtin email regularly and to pay attention to the maintenance schedule since this can affect the submission of your assessment tasks. Late submissions will not be accepted.

Pass requirements

To pass this unit all assessment parts must be completed and the aggregate mark for ACCT5003 must be 50% or higher.

Fair assessment through moderation





Moderation describes a quality assurance process to ensure that assessments are appropriate to the learning outcomes, and that student work is evaluated consistently by assessors. Minimum standards for the moderation of assessment are described in the Assessment and Student Progression Manual, available from policies.curtin.edu.au/policies/teachingandlearning.cfm

Late assessment policy

This ensures that the requirements for submission of assignments and other work to be assessed are fair, transparent, equitable, and that penalties are consistently applied.

1. All assessments students are required to submit will have a due date and time specified on this Unit Outline. 2. Late submission of assessments is not accepted in this unit. Students will receive a zero mark for any assessment item submitted late.

Assessment extension

A student unable to complete an assessment task by/on the original published date/time (eg examinations, tests) or due date/time (eg assignments) must apply for an assessment extension using the Assessment Extension form (available from the Forms page at students.curtin.edu.au/administration/) as prescribed by the Academic Registrar. It is the responsibility of the student to demonstrate and provide evidence for exceptional circumstances beyond the student's control that prevent them from completing/submitting the assessment task.

The student will be expected to lodge the form and supporting documentation with the unit coordinator before the assessment date/time or due date/time. An application may be accepted up to five working days after the date or due date of the assessment task where the student is able to provide an acceptable explanation as to why he or she was not able to submit the application prior to the assessment date. An application for an assessment extension will not be accepted after the date of the Board of Examiners' meeting.

Deferred assessments

If your results show that you have been granted a deferred assessment you should immediately check your OASIS email for details.

Supplementary assessments

Supplementary assessments are not available in this unit.

Referencing style

The referencing style for this unit is Chicago.

More information can be found on this style from the Library web site: http://libguides.library.curtin.edu.au/referencing.

Copyright © Curtin University. The course material for this unit is provided to you for your own research and study only. It is subject to copyright. It is a copyright infringement to make this material available on third party websites.

Academic Integrity (including plagiarism and cheating) Any conduct by a student that is dishonest or unfair in connection with any academic work is considered to be academic misconduct. Plagiarism and cheating are serious offences that will be investigated and may result in penalties such as reduced or zero grades, annulled units or even termination from the course.

Plagiarism occurs when work or property of another person is presented as one's own, without appropriate acknowledgement or referencing. Submitting work which has been produced by someone else (e.g. allowing or contracting another person to do the work for which you claim authorship) is also plagiarism. Submitted work is subjected to a plagiarism detection process, which may include the use of text matching systems or interviews with students to determine authorship.

Cheating includes (but is not limited to) asking or paying someone to complete an assessment task for you or any use of unauthorised materials or assistance during an examination or test.

From Semester 1, 2016, all incoming coursework students are required to complete Curtin’s Academic Integrity Program (AIP). If a student does not pass the program by the end of their first study period of enrolment at Curtin, their marks will be withheld until they pass. More information about the AIP can be found at: https://academicintegrity.curtin.edu.au/students/AIP.cfm

Refer to the Academic Integrity tab in Blackboard or academicintegrity.curtin.edu.au for more information, including student guidelines for avoiding plagiarism.

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You may also require a computer or mobile device for preparing and submitting your work.

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It is your responsibility to ensure that your enrolment is correct - you can check your enrolment through the eStudent option on OASIS, where you can also print an Enrolment Advice.

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Information on all these things is available through the University's "Student Rights and Responsibilities" website at: students.curtin.edu.au/rights.

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Recent unit changes Students are encouraged to provide unit feedback through eVALUate, Curtin's online student feedback system. For more information about eVALUate, please refer to evaluate.curtin.edu.au/info/.

Recent changes to this unit include:

1. A reference (Dar, 2014) for the intellectual foundation of the unit is provided in the Introduction.

2. The Introduction also emphasises the inter-relationship (collision) of an entity's managerial, governance, financial and carbon performance, and how well-intentioned stragegies in management and governance may fall short of the needs of other forms of an entity's performance .

3. The Program encourages the participation in the face-to-face seminars.

To view previous student feedback about this unit, search for the Unit Summary Report at https://evaluate.curtin.edu.au/student/unit_search.cfm. See https://evaluate.curtin.edu.au/info/dates.cfm to find out when you can eVALUate this unit.





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Program calendar

Program Calendar – Semester 1 2016

Week Begin Date

Seminar Pre-readings Activities/Other Assessment Due

Orientation 22 February

Orientation Week

1. 29 February

Introduction Performance Trends Analysing and interpreting financial statements Overview of the components of the Accounting Research Project (1) AB

Atrill & McLaney (2013) (FOR PART THREE)

It would be helpful if students brought along a laptop or tablet.

1. Theorising the integration of industry sector characteristics, competitive strategy responses; corporate governance and performance trends. 2. Selection of company and stakeholder for assessment of Accounting Research Project; 3. Case study analysis and interpretation of financial statements; 4. The thrust of Atrill, P. and McLaney, E. 2013. Chapter 8: Analysing and Interpreting Financial Statements (1), Financial Accounting for Decision Makers, 7th Ed. Pearson Education, Harlow; 5. Practical: structuring the Part Three Assessment; 6. Practical: using the medium of paragraphs to present the arguments of assessment; 7. Practical: writing the first draft of your introductory paragraph for Part Three Assessment; 8. Practical: constructing an Abstract; 9. Practical: a refresher on in-

2. 7 March Purposes of research. Purposes and requirements of report. Identification of issues. Contingency theory. (1)JL

Otley, D. (1980)

(FOR PART ONE)

Seminar and student interaction

3. 14 March Industry sector. Characteristics of organization/industry. Identification of relevant information. Competitive strategic responses 2(JL)

Johnson, G. and Scholes, K. (1999).

Porter , M. E. (2004)

(FOR PART ONE)

Seminar and student interaction

4. 21 March IProduct/industry life cycle. Organizational configurations and strategic responses. Application of discipline knowledge. 3(JL)

Moores, K. and Yuen, S. (2001)

(FOR PART ONE)

Student presentations and interactions

5. 28 March Tuition Free Week

6. 4 April Evidence -based analysis and conclusions. Financial implications of competitive strategic responses.

Student presentation and interactions

7. 11 April Key aims :

to achieve a shared understanding of corporate governance definition;

to understand stakeholders shareholders in relation to corporate governance (1) NS

Stout, L. (2015) Video: Corporate Governance - What do shareholders really value? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s5Eoy988728

(FOR PART TWO)

Student Discussion Video Presentation

INVESTIGATION (PART ONE)

ASSESSMENT: WORD LIMIT 600

WORDS 4PM APRIL 12 2016

8. 18 April Tuition Free Week

9. 25 April ANZAC DAY PUBLIC HOLIDAY (2) NS (2) Geiler, P., & Renneboog, L. (2010). Chapter 14 Executive compensation: Incentives and

During the week read







externalities. In H. Kent Baker, & R. C. Anderson (Eds.), Corporate governance: A synthesis of theory, research and practice (1st ed. ). Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. (FOR PART TWO) Ferreira, D. (2010) Chapter 12: Board Diversity. in Corporate Governance: A Synthesis of Theory, Research, and Practice, Anderson, R. and H.K. Baker (eds.), John Wiley & Sons, pp. 225‐242 (FOR PART TWO)

Chapter 14 Geiler & Renneboog (2010) Executive Compensation and Incentives (FOR PART TWO) Ferreira (2010) Chapter 12 Board Diversity (FOR PART TWO)

10. 2 May Keys Aims To understand the role of the board and management in setting the culture in an organisation; To develop an understanding of the key recommendations and principles of the ASX Corporate Governance Principles and Recommendations with 2010 Amendments (NS 3)

Psaros, J. (2009) Australian Corporate Governance: A review and analysis of key issues, Pearson Education Australia. Chapters 1 & 3. (FOR PART TWO)

Video Presentation 1 and Student Discussion http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=tone+at+the+top+videos&FORM=VIRE3#view=detail&mid=44D4EB13EA4611BFAEDE44D4EB13EA4611BFAEDE Video Presentation 2 and Student Discussion https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xUFKEvRvHK0

11. 9 May Key Aims to understand 1. What are governance structures? 2. What is meant by board diversity? 3. To be able to analyse a specific board for diversity? 4. Consider CSR and corporate governance? (NS 4)

ASX Corporate Governance (2014) Corporate Governance Principles and Recommendations, 3rd, Corporate Governance Council, Sydney, NSW, Australia. (FOR PART TWO)

Student Discussion Analysis of Wesfarmers Annual Report

12. 16 May Performance Trends (2) AB Financial Appraisal

Alexander & Nobes (2013) Chapter 17: Financial Appraisal, Financial Accounting: An International Introduction, 5th Ed. Pearson Education, Harlow, pp. 349-379;

It would be helpful if students brought along a laptop (or tablet), a copy of their chosen company's annual report.

Case Study financial appraisal; 2. Analysis and interpretation of chosen company financial statements; 3. A glimpse of Alexander, D. & Nobes, C. 2013. 4. Practical: Students to provide a first draft of the Abstract, introduction, copies of submitted responses to Part One and Part Two, first section of Part Three and reference list.

CASE STUDY (PART TWO) ASSESSMENT:

WORD LIMIT 400 WORDS

4PM MAY 16 2016

13. 23 May Performance Trends (3) AB Analysis of Greenhouse Gas Reporting Hybridisation of Reporting Models

Choi & Psaro (2013) It would be helpful if students brought along a laptop (or tablet), a copy of their chosen company's annual report and stand-alone sustain-ability report.

1. Case Study Analysis of Greenhouse Gas reporting; Financial appraisal of chosen company; 2. Hybridisation of Reporting Models - Integrating the findings of MA, A&CG and FA; 3. Analysing Eller, E. R. , Lippincott, B. and Reck, J. (2006). An Analysis of U.S. and Latin American Financial Accounting Ratios, Advances in International Accounting, Vol. 19, pp. 145-173; 4. Reviewing Choi, B.B and Psaro, L.J. 2013. An analysis of Australian carbon emission disclosures, Pacific Accounting Review, 25(1): 58-79. 5. Practical: Students to provide a second draft of the Abstract, introduction, copies of submitted responses to Part One and Part Two, first section of Part Three and reference list

14. 30 May Performance Trends (4) AB Reporting to management

It would be helpful if students brought along a laptop, (or tablet) a copy of their chosen company's annual report and stand-alone sustainability report, together with all resources used in the development of response to Part

1. Checklist of The Final Accounting Research Project 1 requirements; 2. Practical: Students to provide a preliminary draft of the Final Accounting

Research Project for feedback.

RESEARCH REPORT (PART THREE) ASSESSMENT

(including PARTS ONE & TWO): WORD LIMIT 1600

WORDS 4PM JUNE 6 2016





http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=tone+at+the+top+videos&FORM=VIRE3#view=detail&mid=44D4EB13EA4611BFAEDE44D4EB13EA4611BFAEDE

http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=tone+at+the+top+videos&FORM=VIRE3#view=detail&mid=44D4EB13EA4611BFAEDE44D4EB13EA4611BFAEDE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xUFKEvRvHK0

Three.

15. 6 June Study Week

16. 13 June Examinations

17. 20 June Examinations





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