ACC602 Financial Accounting and Reporting

Assessment                 Assessment 3 – GPFS and Disclosure Documents Report

Individual/Group    Group (2–3 students)

Length                           2,000 words (+/- 10%)

Learning Outcomes

The Subject Learning Outcomes demonstrated by successful completion of the task below include:

a) Critically analyse regulatory and ethical frameworks that govern financial reporting in Australia.

b) Apply accounting principles and standards when accounting for areas such as revenue, assets, and liabilities and evaluate the judgments required in a range of diverse business contexts.

c) Prepare, critique, and evaluate General Purpose Financial Statements (GPFS) and related disclosures in accordance with accounting standards.

d) Evaluate developments in financial reporting and information from both social and technical perspectives.

Weighting                   30%

Total Marks               100 marks

Task Summary

Critique and interpret multiple GPFS and disclosure documents. Evaluate and discuss various aspects of financial reporting in the context of an ASX (Australian Security Exchange) listed company to help you link theory to the real-world application of accounting.

Please refer to the Instructions below for details on how to complete this task.

Context

You are required to critique and interpret the annual financial and corporate sustainability reports of a company listed on the ASX.

The assessment is designed to demonstrate your understanding of the regulatory and ethical frameworks that govern financial reporting.

The work involved here is rehearsal for real-world financial statement analysis. You will be able to evaluate the impact of financial results when different accounting policies are applied.

Task Instructions

The assessment is divided into two parts:

  • Part A: Critique and interpret GPFS and related disclosures in accordance with accounting standards.
  • Part B: Evaluate developments in financial reporting and information from both social and technical perspectives.

The discussion is to be submitted in a business report format including:

  • Title page
  • Executive summary
  • Table of contents
  • Introduction
  • Body of the report (include headings and subheadings)
  • Conclusion
  • Recommendations
  • Appendices
  • List of references

The word limit is 2,000 words (+/-10%). A minimum of three (3) different academic resources are required.

This is a group assessment. Each group will have 2–3 students. Your group will be allocated an ASX listed company by your Learning Facilitator. No two groups will be allocated the same company.

Once allocated an ASX-listed company, obtain the most recent corporate sustainability report and the annual report of your company.

The following is a selected list of top 100 ASX-listed companies. The Learning Facilitator will add more companies to the list as needed.

Group          ASX Code                  Company Name                 Sector
1                       BHP                        BHP Billiton Limited               Materials
2                       RIO                         RIO Tinto Limited                   Materials
3                       ORI                         Orica Limited                           Materials
4                       CCL                         Coca-Cola Amatil            Consumer Staples
5                      WES                       Wesfarmers Limited        Consumer Staples
6                     WOW                      Wesfarmers Limited        Consumer Staples

Part A: Accounting Policies
For your allocated company, refer to the notes to the financial statements pertaining to:

(i) Accounting policies
(ii) Property, plant and equipment as disclosed in the statement of financial position
(iii) Any disclosure on events occurring after balance date

Required:

(a) For your allocated company, based on the Australian Conceptual Framework for Financial Reporting, define and describe the recognition and measurement components of policy for accounting for each class of property, plant, and equipment.
(b) By applying widely used accounting theories, analyse the accounting policies used by your company to account for each class of property, plant, and equipment.
(c) Discuss and evaluate any information in the note disclosures on events occurring after balance date. Briefly describe the two kinds of events and the rules governing their disclosure in the financial reports.

Part B: Sustainability Reporting
For your allocated company, address the following:

(a) Company governance mechanisms in place to address sustainability
(b) In the context of ethical and social responsibility, how company’s risk management systems are addressed and incorporated in their sustainability reporting
(c) Any guidance company used in implementing environmental and social performance and reporting systems
(d) Critically evaluate how CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) voluntary disclosure varies across different companies and industries/sectors. Your response must make reference to at least three (3) academic journal articles.

Referencing

It is essential that you use appropriate APA style for citing and referencing research. Please see more information on referencing here: https://library.torrens.edu.au/academicskills/apa/tool

Submission Instructions

Submit this task via the Assessment 3 submission link within Assessments in the main navigation menu in ACC602: Financial Accounting and Reporting. The Learning Facilitator will provide feedback via the Grade Centre in the LMS portal. Feedback can be viewed in My Grades. Only one member of the group needs to submit the Group Report.

Upon submission of this assessment, you are deemed to be bound by the declaration below.

Academic Integrity

I declare that, except where I have referenced, the work I am submitting for this assessment task is my / my group’s own work. I have read and am aware of the Torrens University Australia Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure viewable online at: http://www.torrens.edu.au/policies-and-forms I am aware that I need to keep a copy of all submitted material and their drafts, and I will do so accordingly.