accounting-BAO 3309 Advanced Financial Accounting Semester 2 2012 Individual assignment

QUESTION

1
BAO 3309 Advanced Financial Accounting
Semester 2 2012
Individual
assignment
Assessment
Weight: 20%
Due Date:
(Week 9, 17 September 2012)
Research
Essay: Corporate sustainability reporting
Word limit:
2500 words (excluding abstracts and references)
Required:
1. Provide a
summary of the purpose of Corporate Sustainability Reporting by referring to
the Global Reporting Initiative’s Sustainability Reporting Framework (G3.1)
available at https://www.globalreporting.org/resourcelibrary/G3.1-Guidelines-Incl-Technical-Protocol.pdf

2. Critique
Stakeholder Theory and Legitimacy Theory that you have learnt in this subject
(See Deegan, 2009, Financial Accounting Theory, pp. 318-378) and the literature
about the empirical application of the two theories published in academic
journals (see Referencing and Style Item 2.2 on page 2) in explaining the
motivators for corporate voluntary sustainability reporting practice
3. Identify two
multinational companies from the Global 500 in 2012 (available at http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/global500/2012/full_list/index.html)
and compare their reporting on economic, environmental and social aspects in
their annual reports and standalone sustainability reports for the reporting
year 2011
4. Discuss how
legitimacy is managed through reporting by the two companies (in Item 3 above)
from the perspectives of Stakeholder Theory and Legitimacy Theory
References
1. Global
Reporting Initiative website
https://www.globalreporting.org/resourcelibrary/G3.1-Guidelines-Incl-Technical-Protocol.pdf

2. Global 500
companies in 2012
http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/global500/2012/full_list/index.html)

3. Deegan, C.
Financial Accounting Theory, 3rd Ed, McGraw Hill 2009
4. VU library
http://w2.vu.edu.au/library/EJournalSearch/

See next page
for further information2
The following matters should be given particular
attention:
1.
Submission of your assignment
1.1 Submission
of this assignment by due date (17 September) is compulsory for successful
completion of the subject. The electronic copy must be submitted through WebCT
Turnitin by due date. The printed copy along with a Turnitin Similarity
Report(less than 25% similarity required) can be submitted to your
lecturer at the conclusion of the lecture you normally attend in Week 9.
Students may also submit assignments through assignment drop box located in
front of School of Accounting office G3.02on or before the due date.
1.2 The printed
copy must be the identicalversion of the electronic copy submitted
through Turnitin at Webct. Inconsistent version of the printed copy and the
electronic copy will result in a Fail grade (Note: If you cannot submit your
assignment through Turnitin due to a technical problem then email your
assignment before the due date to your unit coordinators immediately. You
cannot withdraw an assignment from Turnitin after the due date).
1.3 Late
submission without extension approval from the Unit Coordinators and tutors
will be penalised 2 (out of 20) marks per day. Do not submit any assessable task
by slipping it under the door of your lecturer’s or tutor’s office.
1.4 No
Extension will be granted unless supported by appropriate documentation prior
to the due date. An application for an extension must be in writing and must
use the appropriate form (available from Faculty Student Administration Office
at Building A, Footscray Park Campus) with required evidence specified in the
form. A completed written application must be submitted to Unit Coordinator(s)
(e.g. by email) before the due date of the assignment.
1.5 Students
are responsible to protect their work and save data by making necessary backup.
Loss of data due to a computer or storage devices problems will not be
considered a valid reason for an extension
2.
Referencing and style
2.1 Assignment
must be typed using Word document and double-spaced with a normal margin (i.e.
3cm)
2.2 Evidence of
extensive research beyond the prescribed texts is required. Students should
refer to journals such as Accounting Forum, Business Strategy & the Environment
(John Wiley & Sons, Inc), The International Journal of Accounting, Journal
of Business Ethicswhich are available on the electronic journals webpage
of the VU library website at http://w2.vu.edu.au/library/EJournalSearch/
2.3 The
required referencing style is Harvard (Please visit VU library for examples of
Harvard Referencing Style at http://guides.library.vu.edu.au/Harvard). Essays
not using the required referencing style or not showing in-text and end of
textreferences will be returned unmarked
2.4 Avoid
Plagiarism
University and
the School of Accounting and Finance views plagiarism as a serious breach of
academic discipline. All students of the School should familiarize themselves
with the content of this document.
Academic
Honesty and Preventing Plagiarism Policy states plagiarism as
‘The practice
that involves use of another person’s intellectual output and presenting it
(without appropriate acknowledgement) as one’s own’. 3
Examples of Plagiarism:
• Word-for-word
copying of sentences/paragraphs in an assignment without acknowledgement or
with insufficient or improper acknowledgement;
• Downloading
essays or assignments from the web and presenting these for assessment;
• Presenting
another student’s work or research data as the student’s work;
• Copying out
parts of any text without acknowledging the source(s). This may be written
text, structures within texts, diagrams, formulae, sound files, still
photographs, audio-visual material (sound and image files),
graphics/animations/multimedia objects, other computer based material,
mathematical proofs, art objects, products and others. This can be done as
verbatim copying or paraphrasing.
• The use of
someone else’s concepts, experimental results, experimental conclusions or
conclusions drawn from analysing evidence or arguments without acknowledging
the originator of the idea(s) or conclusion(s).

Students are
responsible for:
• Understanding
and respecting the University’s policies and procedures regarding plagiarism,
collusion, and other forms of academic misconduct and as such should only
submit work for correction or academic credit that is their own or that
properly acknowledges the ideas, interpretations, words or creative works of
others;
• Avoiding the
lending or making accessible original work to others;
• Being clear
about the appropriate referencing rules that are applicable to their field of
study;
• Refusing to
be a party to another student’s efforts to undermine the academic integrity of
the University.
• Seeking
assistance with their learning and assessment tasks if they are unsure of
appropriate forms of acknowledgement.

(Should
students need assistance in academic writing please contact Student Learning
Support Unit at Building M Footscray Park Campus).4
Assignment Marking Sheet

Student
Name………………………………………..Student No………………. Part 1

Total of
15 marks

Marks

Quality in
summarising corporate sustainability reporting

15

Part 2

Total of
25 marks

Quantity of
international publications identified

5

Quality in critique
of Stakeholder Theory

5

Quality in
critique of Legitimacy Theory

5

Level of
discussion of empirical application of the Stakeholder Theory and Legitimacy
Theory to investigating motivators for corporate sustainability reporting
practice

10

Part 3

Total of
25 marks

Marks

Overview of
each companies and an inclusion of website link to the annual report and
sustainability report

5

Similarities
and differences in level of detail provided (reporting content)

10

Discussion
the similarities and differences way companies portray themselves (how
company present themselves, e.g. positive, negative or neutral, objective
image)

10

Part 4

Total of
25 marks

Marks

Level of
detail in discussion of the concept of ‘legitimacy’ from Stakeholder Theory
and Legitimacy Theory perspectives

10

Level of
detail in discussion of each theory as an explanation for the way companies
portray themselves

15

Presentation

Total of
10 marks

Marks

• adoption of
correct referencing style

5

• correct use
of structure such as Abstract, introduction and conclusion, logical flow of
assignment

5

Total marks

100

/100

Total mark
out of 100 reduced to a mark out of 20

20

/20

ANSWER:

REQUEST HELP FROM A TUTOR