accounting- BUSINESS SERVICES CENTRE Assessment Cover Sheet

QUESTION

BUSINESS
SERVICES CENTRE
Assessment Cover Sheet

Student Name

Student ID No.

Group

Teacher
Name

Helen Wilson

C1.2.15

Phone:

9564 1996

TeacherEmail
Contact

helen.wilson@holmesglen.edu.au

Course Name

Bachelor of
Business (Accounting)

Course
Code

BACC11

Unit
Name

Advanced Management
Accounting

Unit
Code

BAC204

Semester/Term/Year

2 2013

Elements
/ Outcomes

5

Due
Date

Start of Tutorial Week commencing 14 October 2013

Assessment
Type

Individual Assignment

Value
of Assessment

25% of final grade

Assessment
Conditions

Individual Work

Special
Requirements

None

DECLARATION
1.
I am aware that penalties exist for cheating,
plagiarism (copying) and unauthorised collusion with other students, or
external consultants.
2.
I am aware of the requirements covering style
and layout standards as designated by my teacher/tutor.
3.
For assessments other than those conducted
in-class, I have retained a copy. I understand that uncollected assessments
will be destroyed.

Student’s signature:………………………………………………………….. Date:………………

Questions

Possible Marks

Actual Marks

1

3

2

10

3

5

4

7

Total

25

Sustainability and
Management Accounting Assignment

Fortune
Wizard Insurance has recently set up an internal information system to improve
social and environmental practices within the company. The company has its head
office in Melbourne and offices in all capital cities and every regional city
with a population of more than 50 000 people. One of the underlying principles
of the company is to be socially and environmentally responsible. This
principle has been in place for many years, dating back to the firm’s founder, Jeannette
Dai, who felt that she would like to contribute to society rather than simply
maximising profits.

The
company is a major contributor to charities, particularly those that focus on
the homeless and the poor. It actively promotes environmental management in all
of the company operations. It sponsors a program that provides scholarships to
disadvantaged students to allow them to attend university, and it is proud to
offer employment in the company to long-term unemployed and the poor. Each year
it publishes a sustainability report that summarises its achievements across
each areaof performance.

Over
time these activities have become a marketing strength of Fortune Wizard. The
social and environmental stance taken by the company has attracted many
customers to the company. Listed on the Australian Stock Exchange in 2001, the
company has also become a preferred investment of ethical and green investment
funds.

The
mission statement of Fortune Wizard states that it will aim to:
·
Support employees in achieving their personal and
career goals.
·
Act in a socially responsible way when dealing with
insurance clients and the general community.
·
Promote a better social and physical environment
for the world.

However,
the current chief executive officer, Sylvia Trott, thinks that the firm has
become complacent and is resting on its past achievements. She is concerned
that the firm has built up a reputation for good social and environmental
practices but is not ‘walking the talk’. There is some level of discontent
among employees about the way that management treats staff, and this is impacting
on employee satisfaction. There have also been negative reports in the media of
its treatment of businesses in Phuket and Langkawi that were damaged in the
December 2004 tsunami. The reports claim that the company has tried to minimise
the amounts paid to these businesses by strictly applying clauses in the
insurance contracts that cover earthquake damage but not flood damage.

In
2004, the company’s net profit rose by 15 per cent to $173 million on an asset
base of $1,235 million. This is the third consecutive year of increased
profits. Earnings per share were 62 cents, and the market value was $5.40 per
share. The board is concerned that Fortune Wizard makes a loss on its insurance
business, while its investments yield a strong return and are the main reason
for the increase in profitability. Its investment portfolio includes shares in
BHP Billiton, Qantas, Telstra and James Hardie Industries.

The
board adopts a sustainability approach to viewing its performance and uses the
following key performance indicators to assess company performance:

Financial:
·
Net profit.
·
Gross insurance premiums.
·
Return on investment.

Economic indicators:
·
Policy, practices and spending on local suppliers.
·
Procedures for hiring local staff.
·
Development projects primarily for public benefit.

Social
indicators:
·
Employee satisfaction ratings.
·
Percentage of women in the top three tiers of
management.
·
Number of indigenous employees.
·
Customers’ ethical ranking of sales staff.
·
Number of staff hired who were previously
unemployed teenagers.

Environmental indicators:
·
Tonnes of paper recycled
per annum.
·
Percentage reduction in
electricity usage.
·
Litres of fuel per dollar of sales.

Required:
1. Explain
what is meant by sustainability reporting and why a publicly listed insurance
Company like Fortune Wizard may adopt this approach.

2. Consider
the list of key performance indicators used by Fortune Wizard. Explain how
these could be used to help achieve the mission.

3. Suggest
alternative performance measures that could be included in the performance
measurement system to assist Fortune Wizard to achieve its mission.

4. Write a
report to the chief executive officer explaining what steps she can take to
encourage staff to behave in a way that supports sustainability. Specifically,
explain to her how the performance measurement system could be used in a
balanced way to support the achievement of the company’s goals.

Word Limit 2000 words

Sustainability and
Management Accounting Assignment

This project is an individual project. Students are required to
complete an assignment that involves application of principles taught in the
subject.

Guide to Assignment Requirements & How to Submit
Your Electronic Copy of Assignments using Turnitin

In this subject, you
are required to submit an electronic copy of your assignments. The assignment is to be submitted to a
website called Turn-It-In, where the work will be checked for plagiarism. Your subject outline gives a full description
as to what constitutes plagiarism, in its many forms.
Prior to your
submission of your first assignment, you will be registered as a student in
your given class with Turn-It-In.
Turn-It-In will send you a notification that you have been enrolled to
your Holmesglen Student e-mail address and, should you be a new student, they
will also notify you of your own individual password.

To submit your
assignment, go to.turnitin.com/”>www.turnitin.com and enter your
Holmesglen Student e-mail address and the password sent to you by Turn-It-In.
You are then able to submit your assignment by uploading your electronic copy.
You will need to enter in the unique Class ID and the enrolment password show
below.

Class: BAC204 Advanced Management
Accounting
Class ID: 6856469
Enrolment password: BAC204

The system has been set
to enable you to check an Originality Report of your work. The first time that you do this, the response
time from Turn-It-In will be relatively short, however, should you decide to
change your work before final submission, the response time checking
originality can take a couple of hours.

To ensure that false
readings are kept to a minimum, please take note of the following:
·
Make sure that you reference any quoted
material using APA Style.
·
Always put quoted work in “inverted
commas”
·
Do not submit your Declaration front
sheet with your electronic copy
·
Do not start by stating the question as
outlined in the assignment.

ACADEMIC
CONDUCT
The Institute’s Student Charter expects
that you, as a student, will be honest in your studies and research and that
you will not do anything that will interfere with or frustrate the studies and
research of other students.

In particular, you are expected to:
·
Acknowledge
the work of others in all assessable work
·
Not
knowingly allow another student to use your work without acknowledgement
·
Use
only permitted materials in examinations.

In general, penalties for breaching the
above Academic Rules and Codes of Conduct include receiving a fail grade,
suspension, and/or exclusion from the Institute.

Plagiarism is defined in the Student
Diary as ‘the act of taking and representing as one’s own, material which has
been prepared or written by another person – it applies to both published and
unpublished material’.

Unless the assessment is a group task,
all work submitted for assessment must be completed by the student alone. While
discussion of the topic is encouraged, no student is permitted to use any work
of any other person and/or any material from any publication unless the source
has been acknowledged in full.

Any act of plagiarism in an item of
assessment is deemed to be the same as cheating and will result in the item of
assessment receiving a Fail grade and/or the student’s suspension or exclusion
from the Institute. Please refer to the
Student Diary under the section ‘Student Discipline Rules’ and the Bachelor of
Business (Accounting) Student Orientation kit for details of the penalties
available.

REFERENCING

Referencing is a critical component of
tertiary study. It is important that all sources are cited and that it is done
according to established and accepted conventions. There are many such
conventions and different institutions/faculties will require different
approaches.
In the interests of consistency the
system of referencing selected for this course is the Harvard Style and is
reflected on the Information Commons Intranet Guide to
Research at:

.ic.holmesglen.vic.edu.au/researchguides/research_resources.htm”>www.ic.holmesglen.vic.edu.au/researchguides/research_resources.htm

Please
note,
the Information Commons on-line resource has been reproduced in your ‘Academic
Writing Guide’ booklet.

This guide is a comprehensive resource
designed to ensure that you follow accepted conventions and do not run the risk
of committing plagiarism.

The guide to academic writing provides a
good resource for structuring reports and adhering to accepted conventions. For
students less familiar with these conventions it is also recommended that they
spend some time looking at the self-paced tutorial ‘Know it All’.
ASSIGNMENT
SUBMISSION/EXTENSIONS

All assignments to be submitted through
the Business Services Office should be placed in the Assignment Return Box
located near the Business Services Reception with an official assessment front
sheet attached. The Assignment Return
Box is cleared at 12 noon and 5.00 pm each day.

All assignments should be submitted by
the due date as determined by the lecturer. If circumstances prevent this, a
request for an extension must be made in writing to either the lecturer or
course leader prior to the due date – extensions will not be granted on or
after the due date. Where the lecturer/course leader is satisfied that your
reason for an extension is valid, a date for submission will be agreed.
Computer failure, work and family related pressures do not normally constitute
sufficient reason for the granting of extensions.

Documentary evidence such as a medical
certificate or statutory declaration is expected to accompany any application.

Please
note: The agreed date becomes the final date for submission.

Unless otherwise stated, pro rata
reductions in the awarded mark, (10% per working day) may be
made for assignments received late without a granted extension. However, assignments received more than two
weeks from the due date without an extension having been granted will not be
marked.

ANSWER:

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