Assignment

1Key objective:

Develop/enhance students’ problem-solving and teamwork skills.

Assignment question:

As a group, you are required to solve the following problem:

Eric is a first-year university student in the accounting program. Eric works part-time as a receptionist at a small business named Sparkle, which provides cleaning services to companies in the CBD area. The business is doing well and the client base is expanding. Anderson, the owner/manager of Sparkle (operating as a sole trader business), is a technophobe (that is, he is anxious about using new or advanced technology) and has been recording all business transactions manually. Recently, he found that manual bookkeeping is becoming increasingly difficult as a result of the volume of transactions and the growing number of clients. For instance, Anderson is starting to lose track of some clients’ payments and has often forgotten to pay the suppliers on time.

Anderson did a simple Google search for a user-friendly computerised accounting software and realises that there are many choices available (e.g., MYOB, Xero, etc.). Anderson is unsure which accounting software to use and approaches Eric (who has significant experience with a variety of accounting software) for a ‘solution’ to this problem.

Required

Assuming you are Eric, prepare a detailed report outlining what, in your view is the solution, to Anderson’s bookkeeping problem.

Hint: you should follow the steps of problem-solving (outlined in the relevant video) that were taught in Week 1 tutorials. The video is available under Week 1 on iLearn.

Reminder: You need to evaluate the alternative solutions. There is no ‘perfect/correct’ solution, and therefore you should provide a well justified ‘solution’ on the basis of your arguments.

Specific requirements:

a) Wordlimit

The report should be typed (in Microsoft Word) and should contain no more than 800 words, inclusive of references. However, it can be 10% over/under the word limit without incurring a penalty.

b) Formatting, writing and style

Your report should:

•  be well-structured with the steps of problem-solving being the headings
•  be free of typos or grammatical errors
•  present information in a logical order
•  provide clear arguments that are well explained
•  use 12-point (font size) Times New Roman (font style/theme)
•  use double-spacing throughout the report
•  use the Normal margin
•  provide each group member’s names in the Header 

c) Referencing

It is extremely important that you are familiar with the university policy on plagiarism that is included in the unit guide. You must re-write material in your own words and not just copy and paste from the internet or any other resources. You must properly reference material in the report (where appropriate) and provide a reference list at the end of the report. Although extensive research is not expected for this report, some research is needed to strengthen your arguments (that is, 2-5 references are expected for the report). Please use the Harvard or APA referencing style.