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Research paper instructions

The research paper is worth 15% of your final mark. You will need some time to do your research for this paper, and we recommend that you work on this assignment throughout the duration of the course rather than leaving it until the end. You should submit it prior to writing the final examination. For this assignment, you will prepare a research paper on an accounting theory  topic  of interest to you. The paper does not necessarily need to be related to the theory covered in the ACCT 453 curriculum, but it must be related to accounting theory rather than accounting practice. You must obtain approval for your research paper topic. Send the Student Support Centre an email with the topic you have chosen and a one page outline of your paper. Your email will be forwarded to the Academic Expert, who will respond with approval and/or additional considerations for your topic. When you have received approval for your topic choice, your topic will be recorded in the permanent records. You may change it if you like, but please let us know. You can contact any of us involved with ACCT 453 through a posting to the Student Support Centre. As for the topic, you should be aware that this is a research-oriented course, and your paper should reflect that. The discussion of the topic and the conclusions reached must use the concepts covered in the course or in current accounting research.  When you quote or paraphrase any source, your academic responsibility is to properly cite your source using MLA protocol. If you need to know how to do this, Athabasca University has resources available on its website. See  Helpful Links  below.

Papers on a variety of topics are available on the Internet, but if you are caught using anyone else's paper (or even your own paper submitted for another course), you will be penalized for academic fraud, so do your own original work. Be sure to read the page entitled  An Important Reminder about Academic Honesty . Assignment Objectives

1. Develop research skills. This is determined by the breadth of your analysis, the content of your report, and your bibliography. Provide approximately a dozen citations.  

2. Increase specific knowledge of your topic. This is determined by the depth of your analysis and the content of your report. Assignments submitted at or near the minimum requirements may not have sufficient breadth or depth of analysis but could still obtain a good mark.  

3. Improve report-writing skills. This is determined by the content of your report, your use of appropriate professional terminology, and your use of correct grammar, spelling, and headings and subheadings. It is further judged by your development of an appropriate introduction and conclusion. Some incorporation of accounting theory in your report would also be beneficial.

Requirements and Suggestions

· Remember that your instructor has to approve your topic selection before you get started on the research paper.  

· Your paper must be double-spaced, with 1-inch margins, and should be formatted using a 12-point typeface.  

· It is important that your topic reach beyond the scope of the course notes and that it can be adequately addressed in 7 to 10 pages. Papers longer than 10 pages in length will be penalized. This page count does not include any title, index, appendix, or bibliography pages.  

· At the minimum length requirement, three to four pages of your paper should be dedicated to describing the information obtained on the accounting topic, and three to four pages to providing your analysis. Indicate why the issue is significant to the accounting profession.  

· If you keep to the minimum length requirement, you may not obtain sufficient depth or breadth of analysis to get top marks, although a short but well-researched and well-written paper can still obtain 75% to 85%.  

· Ensure that you include a strong conclusion supported by your research and analysis. Analyze something current and relevant to the accounting profession or accounting theory—a controversial topic might be a good start. Professional association magazines, such as CGA (look for topics like harmonization of international accounting standards, or investigative and forensic accounting), CA (topics like auditor independence, ethics, Web trust), and CMA, are good sources for topic and research ideas.  

· Include a bibliography with your research paper to indicate sources used (beyond the course notes)—such as books, articles, magazines, and Web sites.

 

Marking Key		Marks Available
Research
Breadth of research	10
Various views shown	10
Bibliography	10
		30
Knowledge/Topic
Demonstrating accounting knowledge	10
Depth of analysis	10
Current relevance	10
		30
Writing
Introduction	5
Readability/Headings	5
Grammar	5
Spelling and use of terms	5
Accounting theory	5
Professional terminology	5
Recommendations	5
Conclusion	5
		40
Total Marks		100

Possible Topics Remember, you can choose any accounting theory topic of interest to you, but you musthave your topic approved by your instructor. Below is a list of possible topics:

· harmonization of international accounting standards

· auditor independence

· compensation and motivation

· stock options process and recording

· pension and other post-employment benefits

· Sarbanes-Oxley legislation

· MD&A with or without FOFI

· corporate fraud or illegal activities

· dysfunctional management

· positive accounting theory observed in organizations

· Bayes’ theorem and other probability models

· Nash equilibrium and adversarial versus cooperative implications

· successful efforts accounting in the oil and gas industry

· reserve recognition accounting in the oil and gas industry  Back to Top  

Helpful Links You may find the following links helpful when writing your research paper: Essay writing:

· Athabasca University Essay Writing Resources

A sample of MLA sites for business papers that refer to section headings:

· http://www.experiment-resources.com/mla-writing-format.html

· http://www.dianahacker.com/pdfs/Hacker-Levi-MLA.pdf

· http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/01/

Online sources for company annual reports:

· Websites

AnnualReports.com An American annual report service. CAROL Company Annual Reports On-Line provides access to company annual reports in the United States and Europe. Registration is required, but there is no charge. Globe Investor.com Annual Reports Service An annual report service from The Globe and Mail. IRIN Investor Relations Information Network (IRIN) provides access to more than 11,400 current and historical annual reports. SEDAR The System for Electronic Document Analysis and Retrieval provides access to public securities filings and is an excellent source for Canadian company profiles and annual reports.

· Athabasca University Library Databases

These  databases  do not provide access to company annual reports, but they do provide company profiles that are an excellent starting point for beginning research into companies. Some link directly to the company’s website and from there it is often possible to access the company’s annual report. Where the database does not link to the company website, type the full company name in quotation marks into a search engine such as Google. Business & Company Resource Center Select “Company Search” from the search options. Business Source Premier Select “Company Profiles” from the search options. Hoover’s Company Records