Accounting Essay / Report

ACCT2060 Individual Assignment- Semester 2 2015

Page 1 of 3

ACCT2060 Individual Assignment

Sustainability/Corporate Social Responsibility Report

Semester 2, 2015

DUE DATE: Wednesday 30 September 2015, 7 pm (Singapore time)

(You may submit the assignment more than once, before the due date. Only the latest submission will be marked. Please be advised that it could take a few hours for Turnitin’s Originality Report to be generated. Please also note that Turnitin will only generate one Originality Report in any 24 hour period – so you may have to wait longer to see a report on a resubmitted assignment than on your first submission.)

LENGTH: 2000 – 2500 words (excluding table of contents, reference list and Appendix (if any- appendix is optional)) (Note: penalties apply to assignments that do not keep to the word limit) MARKS: This assignment is worth 20% of the total assessment for this course. (Note: This assignment is to be completed as an individual assignment)

Objectives of the Assignment This assignment develops your capabilities to analyse, reason logically and conceptualise financial, social and environmental issues; and is aligned with the Course Learning Outcomes of identifying, understanding and interpreting accounting concepts. The use of Sustainability and/or Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Report enables you to apply your accounting knowledge to a real world context. The assignment is aligned with the following course learning objectives:

- Understand the ethics of business, corporate governance, and corporate social responsibility (CSR) - Reflect on financial information use in a business context - Interpret business reports and accounting information to support business decision-making processes

At the completion of the assignment you are also expected to achieve the following Program

Learning Outcome (PLO):

- Apply a broad theoretical and technical knowledge of business practice in diverse contexts. - Apply reasoned judgements to solve problems in a variety of business contexts with reference to ethical, regulatory and global perspectives.

Overview of assignment requirements Assume you are preparing the report for a friend who wishes to invest in a business which conducts

itself in a socially and environmentally responsible way. In your report, you are required to advise

your friend on the economical/financial, social and environmental performance of the business. You

should choose and analyse the financial and Sustainability/CSR reports of one of the specified below

organisations (Please note that a marking rubric/guide will be available on RMIT Blackboard); and

advise your friend whether or not to invest in the business in the report conclusion. You should

demonstrate that you have undertaken research, and cite the sources you have used through

appropriate in-text referencing and bibliography.

ACCT2060 Individual Assignment- Semester 2 2015

Page 2 of 3

We highly suggest you go through the sustainability chapter in the text book before you commence

writing the assignment. Then go through the annual reports of your chosen company as well as

other online resources which provide extra support for financial, social and environmental

performance of your chosen company. It is important that you follow the assignment template to

write your report.

You are required to prepare a report on one of the following specific organisations below:

Telstra (Financial year 2013) Myer (Financial year 2014)

Adidas (Financial year 2013) Qantas (Financial year 2014)

AGL (Financial year 2013) AMP (Financial year 2013)

Westfield Group (Financial year 2014) Fortescue Metals (Financial year 2014)

The assignment’s template is as follows:

 Title Page

 Table of contents

 Introduction

 Financial/Economic performance

 Social performance

 Environmental performance

 Conclusion

 Reference List

 Appendix (optional)

With the financial section of your assignment, the minimum requirement is to locate and summarise

the company’s basic financial information as outlined below. Then, most importantly you should

discuss the financial performance (particularly profitability) of the company using the management

reports, online resources, financial and sustainability reports. It’s highly recommended to provide

some comparison analysis with company’s previous financial years (up to 2 years) and/or

competitors or industry averages to support your report analysis.

Company name: xxx

General financial information Financial year xxx

(A)

Total Assets

Total Liabilities

Total Owners Equity

(B)

(Basic) Profit earned/share (EPS)

(C)

Total Ordinary Shares issued

(D)

Profit received by Shareholders (DPS)

(E)

Net Cash flows from Operating Activities

(F)

Net Cash flows from Investing Activities

ACCT2060 Individual Assignment- Semester 2 2015

Page 3 of 3

As a result of reading your chosen company’s CSR and/or Sustainability Report, you should discuss

matters relating to the company’s sustainability practices and reporting in your report including but

not limited to the following issues:

 Aspects of company’s environmental performance -related to natural capital- including but not limited to environmental protection, energy and carbon emission concerns, and waste production concerns.

 Aspects of company’s social performance -related to human capital and society wealth creation potential- including but not limited to the employee health, human rights protection, contributions to the community, customer involvement, and product responsibility.

Other appropriate issues in completing this assignment:

 A report format should be used for your written submission. Please ensure you use headings and sub-headings to structure your report. Please ensure that your report is typed with the following formatting style recommended: 1.5 line spacing, 11 point font, minimum 3 cm margin on left-hand side of paper.

 Your assignment must be appropriately referenced using the Harvard Style referencing system. Both in-text citations, as well as a reference list at the end of your assignment, are required. You should refer to the referencing guidelines provided at: https://www.dlsweb.rmit.edu.au/bus/public/referencing/index.html

o Note that when citing an annual report, either by paraphrasing or using direct quotes, you must reference the annual report (in your reference list) according to the following format: Name of company. (Year of publication) Title of annual report (in italics). Place of publication: Publisher.

(To cite an annual report in-text, you will generally have to use the organisation’s name,

as an author name is usually not present.)

Penalties for inadequate or incorrect referencing will apply.

 This assignment is to be completed as an individual assignment. All electronically submitted assignments will be automatically forwarded to Turnitin and subjected to an assessment of authenticity/originality, so please ensure your submission is your own individual work – severe penalties will apply for work that is not original/individual. You are allowed to submit your work prior to the due date to obtain an originality report. If the report requires revision you are allowed to adjust your assignment and resubmit. Please note: Any resubmissions into Turnitin takes 48 hrs to obtain a new Originality Report. Late submissions due to this process will incur late penalties. Please aim to submit your assignment a week prior to assessment due date.

 Your assignment must be submitted electronically (via the course Blackboard site, at ‘Assessment’) by Wednesday 30 September 2015, 7 pm. This deadline will be strictly enforced. Late submissions will be marked as if submitted on time, and then the mark awarded will be reduced by 10% (of the total available marks) for each day or part-day that the assignment is late. For example, if your assignment is one day late then you will be penalised 10% of 20 marks which is 2 marks. Assignments that are late by 7 days or more will not be marked and will be awarded zero unless a formal extension of time has been granted.

 Please refer to the Academic Integrity presentation available at ‘Assessment’ on the course Blackboard site.

o Do not include the wording of the assignment instructions in your submission o A hard copy submission is not required.