1000 WORD ESSAY

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University of Stirling Division of Accounting and Finance

External Reporting ACCU9A4 Spring 2019

Coursework Essay (worth 15% of module grade)

Due to be submitted by 12 noon Thursday 14th February 2019

The mission of the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS)

foundation is to develop IFRS Standards that bring transparency,

accountability and efficiency to financial markets around the world.

Required:

An essay of no more than 1000 words:

Critically evaluate the need for high quality financial reporting standards.

You should ensure that you make appropriate use of suitable reference material (e.g.

journal articles, textbooks etc.) to support the arguments you develop in your essay

answer. You must ensure that the essay is correctly referenced. If the essay exceeds

the 1,000 word limit the excess material will be disregarded. Bibliographies or lists of

references are not counted as part of the word limit.

Submission:

YOU NEED TO SUBMIT YOUR ESSAY ELECTRONICALLY VIA THE

LINK WHICH WILL APPEAR ON CANVAS - UNDER ASSIGNMENTS.

******PLEASE MAKE SURE THAT YOUR STUDENT

NUMBER AND THE ESSAY TITLE APPEAR ON THE FIRST

PAGE OF YOUR ESSAY*****

Coursework will be accepted up to seven days after the submission date but the grade

will be lowered by 3% per day or part thereof. An extension to the submission date may

be granted by the module coordinator for good reason. However, after seven days

(including Saturdays and Sundays), or on the expiry of any agreed extension period,

the piece of work will be deemed a non-submission and will receive zero.

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YOU WILL RECEIVE INDIVIDUAL FEEDBACK IN RELATION TO THE

FOLLOWING:

Introduction: The clarity to which the essay topic is introduced and aims stated

Structure: Evidence of a logical structure / discussion flow

Knowledge: Evidence of the extent of knowledge in relation to the subject matter

Reference Material: The search for and effective use of published sources

Critical Analysis: Use of reference material to formulate balanced arguments

Style and Presentation: Professionally presented; correctly referenced; clear and

unambiguous writing style

Logical Conclusion: relating to essay contents

To help you:

On Canvas there are: Links to COMMENTARY by Arthur Levitt on the Importance of High Quality Accounting

Standards and six commentaries introduced by Imhoff and published in Accounting

Horizons in 1998 (Kaplan & Fender; Linsmeier et al.; Smith; Knutson & Napolitano;

Rogero; Wulff and Koski – Grafer).

However, you should search for additional information on the need for accounting

standards / global accounting standards and quality attributes / characteristics:

Hints on how you might try to locate additional reference material: (some suggestions

not an exclusive list!):

Look for information using key words using various sources:

 electronic journals accessed from library web pages

 Text books on financial reporting / international accounting

 web of science (A to Z of electronic resources from library web page)

 Google ‘scholar’ (type scholar from Google and search in scholar to conduct a web

search identifying academic articles)

 General internet search

 From relevant academic journal articles (check out the list of references

included in the articles to find more).

Referencing of source material:

Use the Harvard Style of referencing (example provided below):

Only cite references in your essay which you refer to (in other words don’t list books or

articles you have come across which are not relevant to your essay). If something is

relevant to the question, refer to it or quote from it.

In the text of your essay, the following example shows you how to reference in

alternative ways:

Example 1

According to Kavanagh and Drennan (2008) the need for accounting graduates to

develop a broader set of skills has been a topic of discussion for some time.

(This is not a direct quote therefore no page number is required)

Example 2

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According to Kavanagh and Drennan (2008), ‘for some years there has been much debate

between various stakeholders about the need for accounting graduates to develop a

broader set of skills’ (p279).

(This is a direct quote, quotation marks and page number required)

Alternatively, it is not necessary to directly refer to authors, but include details in

paranthesis at the end of the sentence. For example:

The need for accounting graduates to develop a broader set of skills has been a topic of

discussion for some time (Kavanagh and Drennan, 2008).

In your list of references at the end of your essay:

Kavanagh, M.H. and Drennan, L. (2008). What skills and attributes does an accounting

graduate need? Evidence from student perceptions and employer expectations.

Accounting and Finance, 48, 279-300.

If you are referring to an article written by more than two authors, the first time in

your essay you cite all names. Any time after, it is acceptable to cite the first name

followed by ‘et al.’

For example:

According to Gammie, Gammie and Cargill (2002)…..

However, Gammie et al. (2002) then suggest….

In your list of references at the end of your essay:

Gammie, B., Gammie, E. and Cargill, E. (2002). Personal skills development in the

accounting curriculum. Accounting Education, 11(1), 63-78.