Report

individual_report.docx

Background Information and Reporting Task

You are the company spokesperson and chief communications officer for Goanna Ltd. You work very closely with the chief accountant, and report directly to the Chief Executive Officer (CEO).

Goanna Ltd is a leading manufacturer of men’s and women’s clothing, including denim jeans and jackets, with substantial markets in Australia, Singapore and New Zealand. While some of Goanna Ltd’s manufacturing operations are located in Australia, a considerable proportion is located in Bangladesh. Following the collapse of the Rana Plaza garment factory in Dhaka which killed over 1,100 Bangladeshi workers, Goanna Ltd was criticised for its policy of sourcing denim clothing from Bangladesh. Goanna Ltd has since joined the ‘Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety’ and has publicised this safety initiative on the company’s website.

It is 12:30 pm on a Thursday and you are enjoying lunch at a coffee-shop near to your office when you notice a noisy street demonstration. Protestors are marching down the main street, demanding that Goanna Ltd abandon its practice of sourcing denim clothing from Bangladesh. Many of the protestors are chanting slogans and carrying banners depicting garment industry workers suffering from silicosis attributable to the “sandblasting” process used in the manufacture of denim garments. News crews from commercial television and radio stations are recording the demonstration. On your Facebook and Twitter accounts, many of your friends are commenting extensively on the demonstration and the issue of “sandblasting denim”.

Upon your return to the office, you read an email sent only a few minutes ago by a friend from your RMIT University days who is now a journalist with a major newspaper. Your friend advises in her email that she is writing a story on Goanna Ltd criticising the company’s outsourcing practices and questioning why the company has not yet signed the Bangladesh Fire and Building Safety Accord. Her story will be published on Saturday.

Shortly after reading this email, you receive a phone call from Goanna Ltd’s CEO to say that he has called a press conference for 5:00 pm today where you will issue a statement on behalf of the company, addressing the demonstrators’ concerns.

Required: Use Legitimacy Theory and the Managerial Branch of Stakeholder Theory to:

(a) Analyse the current situation from the perspective of Goanna Ltd. You should consider the potential negative consequences for Goanna Ltd arising out of this situation.

(b) Devise a strategy for Goanna Ltd to respond to the situation. You should discuss actions to be taken by Goanna Ltd, as well as reporting strategies to manage perceptions of the situation (including your 5:00 pm press conference).

Report Requirements:

Referencing: Your report must be fully referenced in text and also include a list of references. The Harvard referencing system is required.

Word Limit: 2000 words (not including tables, diagrams or reference list)

Weighting: 20%

Marking: You should refer to the marking rubric below as this indicates the criteria upon which your report will be marked.

Submission: Electronically via course Blackboard site (includes automatic submission to Turnitin). Your report must be submitted as a Word document.

Client Report Marking Rubric 40

Scoring level

Depth and quality of research undertaken

Application of research to the task

Ability to apply appropriate accounting theories to the context of the task

Ability to synthesise information into a coherent and engaging report

Ability to correctly acknowledge sources using the RMIT Business Harvard Referencing system

Score

8 marks

12 marks

6marks

Accomplished

(High Distinction)

· Materials referred to are relevant and

· References are drawn from a wide variety sources and

· References support the arguments presented and

· Research is current and from a reliable source

6-8 marks

· The report discussion clearly addresses the issues raised in the task and

· The report is highly relevant to the needs of the client and

· The report clearly outlines the major findings of the investigation and the impact of these findings on the client

6-8 marks

· Your report makes clear links between your research and current accounting theories and

· Your report explains these links with clarity and applies these links to the task

6-8 marks

· The report is professionally presented and

· All grammar and punctuation is correct and

· The report is written in a style appropriate for the client and

· The report is highly engaging and easy to read and

· All sections of the report have been included and correctly constructed

· Minutes of 3 team meetings are included, and correctly constructed

10-12 marks

· Your team has used the RMIT Business Harvard referencing system to clearly and accurately record all cited sources in the report and

· Your team has provided a list of references which is correctly formatted in the RMIT Business Harvard style

6 marks

Highly Competent

(Distinction/

Credit)

· Most of the materials referred to are relevant

· References are drawn from a good range of sources

· References generally support the arguments presented

· Research is mostly current and from a reliable source

5-6 marks

· The report discussion addresses most of the issues raised in the task

· The report is mostly relevant to the needs of the client

· The report outlines the major findings of the investigation and the impact of these findings on the client

5 -6marks

· Your report makes links between your research and current accounting theories but at times these links lack clarity

· Your report mostly manages to explain these links and apply these links to the task

5-6 marks

· The report is professionally presented

· The majority of the grammar and punctuation is correct

· The report is written in a style appropriate for the client

· The report is engaging and fairly easy to read

· All sections of the report have been included and correctly constructed

· Minutes of 3 team meetings are included, and correctly constructed

8-10 marks

· Your team has used the RMIT Business Harvard referencing system to clearly and accurately record all cited sources in the report

· Your team has provided a list of references which is correctly formatted but

· Some minor errors in the citations and/or list of references

4marks

Satisfactory

(Credit/Pass)

· Some of the materials referred to are relevant

· References are drawn from a limited range of sources

· There is a lack of cohesion between the references cited and the topic being discussed

· Research is mostly current and from a reliable source

4 marks

· The discussion addresses most of the issues raised in the task but lacks some clarity

· The report at times lacks relevance and/or some of the conclusions drawn are erroneous

· The report outlines the major findings but lacks clarity in linking these findings to the client’s needs

3-4 marks

· While some attempts have been made to link accounting theories to your discussion these links lack clarity

· Your report does not manage to explain these links clearly and apply these links to the task

3-4 marks

· Improvement is needed in the report presentation

· There are some errors in grammar and punctuation

· The report is mostly written in a style appropriate for the client

· The report is not engaging and/or is not easy to read

· All sections of the report are included but there are some errors in these sections

· Minutes of 3 team meetings are included, but there are some errors in the minutes

4 marks

· Your team has used the RMIT Business Harvard referencing system to record cited sources in the report but have made some major errors in these citations and/or

· Your team has provided a list of references but there are errors in the construction of this list

3 marks

Unsatisfactory

· There is a lack of evidence of relevant research

· The research presented is too narrow

· The research presented does not support the topic

0-2 marks

· The report discussion fails to address most of the issues raised in the task and the discussion lacks clarity

· The report discussion lacks relevance and/or most of the conclusions drawn are erroneous

· The report does not outline the major findings

0-2 marks

· Little or no attempt has been made to link accounting theories to the discussion and /or the links made are incorrect

· Your report does not manage to explain these links and apply these links to the task

0-2 marks

· Major improvements in the presentation of the report are needed

· There are many errors in grammar and punctuation which need correction

· The report is written in a style that is inappropriate, the report is not engaging and/or is not easy to read

· Not all sections of the report have been included

· Minutes of 3 team meetings are omitted, or there are serious errors in the construction of the minutes

0-2 marks

· Your team has not used the RMIT Business Harvard system to record cited sources in the report and/or

· Not all sources are cited and/or

· No List of references or serious errors in the construction of this list

0-1 mark