accounting

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AC 302: Advanced Management Accounting

Coursework Assignment Autumn 2018

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Preamble: “The modern business environment is increasingly complex and unpredictable. Within this new business environment, management control systems need to be able to balance accuracy, immediacy and innovation to support the overall functions of an organisation.”

Requirement: Critically evaluate the effectiveness of budgetary control in an increasingly unpredictable environment.

Essay Question

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1. Critical evaluation is required – do not just describe, but analyse, assess,

compare.

2. Reference to a good range of relevant literature is required to support your

arguments.

3. The essay should not exceed 1,500 words (excluding references, appendix

endnotes and footnotes), and must be typed or word-processed.

4. You must use at least a font size of 12, and the document should have a line

spacing of 1.5.

General points

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• An essay should be well-structured, using suitable subheadings.

• Typically, an essay should include: – Introduction – Main section, with subsections addressing and evaluating main issues – Reference to a wide range of relevant literature – Conclusion – List of references (in accordance with approved referencing format)

Essay Structure

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• Content and Organisation • Is the content of the essay relevant to the requirements, and does it address all requirements

comprehensively? • Is the essay logically organised so that the reader can easily follow its structure? • Does each section clearly address a key aspect of the assignment and make sense? • Is it clear how each section relates to other sections, particularly the one coming before it or

after it? • Are the subject headings for each section appropriate?

• Language and Layout • Is the language in the essay suitably formal? • Are grammar, spelling and punctuation all accurate? • Are all references in the essay accurate and correctly presented? • Are all references in the reference list accurate and correctly presented?

Essay Structure - Checklist

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• You are expected to reference your work in accordance with the Harvard style of referencing. • Examples of how to cite references in the essay. (Citing is acknowledgement of the source of

your idea). The convention is to write the surname(s) of the author(s), followed by the year of publication, e.g.:

Managers use management accounting information to make better decisions (Drury, 2018). • Note that when you cite the source at the end of a sentence/idea, you need to put the

surnames and year in parentheses ( ).

• Drury (2018) indicated that managers use management accounting information to make better decisions.

• Note that when you mention the author’s surname in the sentence, you don’t need to put the surname in parentheses. Only the year of publication is in parentheses.

• Drury (2018, p. 16) indicated that management accounting “provide relevant information to help managers make better decisions”.

• Note that if you take a direct quote from a source, you should put it in quotation marks and include the page number.

Referencing

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Reference List • Examples of how to compile a list of references:

• Books: Drury, C. (2018), Management and Cost Accounting (10th ed.), London:

Cengage Learning.

• Journals: Byrne, S. and Damon, F. (2008), To participate or not to participate? Voice and explanation effects on performance in a multi-period budget setting, The British Accounting Review, 40(3), September, pp. 207-227.

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Make sure that when you present an idea or a point that you’ve read somewhere else, you always cite the source, by referencing appropriately. Otherwise, you might be in danger of plagiarizing someone else’s work – a serious academic offence More on plagiarism can be found at: http://student.reading.ac.uk/essentials/_the-important-stuff/rules-and- regulations/plagiarism-rules-for-referencing.aspx

Plagiarism