代写 Monash ACF5956 Advanced Financial Accounting

 
 
ACF5956 Advanced Financial Accounting
Research Assignment Assessment Requirements: Semester 1 2016
 
Weighting:         25% (marked out of 100)
Due Date:           End of Week 7 (4.00 pm Friday 22 April 2016)
Word Limit:               The business report should be a maximum of 1,500 words (excluding executive summary, references and any appendices)
The media release should be a maximum of two pages.
Learning objectives assessed:
This assessment task is designed to test your achievement of learning objectives 1, 2, 4 and 5.
This is an individual assessment task not a group project
It is designed to assist you in demonstrating your knowledge of, and ability to critically assess influences on a contemporary issue in financial reporting, disclosure and/or governance. It also provides you with an opportunity to further enhance your research, judgement and written communication skills.
Issue to be investigated:  Executive remuneration
You have recently been appointed as a graduate accountant in a company listed on the Australian Stock Exchange Top 300 (ASX300), and are currently reporting to the Chief Financial Officer (CFO).  (Note: you will be assigned your specific company by the beginning of Week 3).
There has been recent media and public attention given to the level and types of compensation paid to Australian executives. In particular, concerns have been raised that executive compensation is too excessive, that there is disconnect between executives’ compensation and their performance, and compensation packages do not adequately reduce executives’self-interested behaviour. Your company’s board of directors is worried about perceptions of the compensation packages paid to executives, particularly in light of the recently introduced two strikes rule. Applicable to Australian listed companies, the two strikes rule allows shareholders to vote on the compensation paid to the company’s executives, and if 25 per cent or more of shareholders vote, for the second time, against the executives’ compensation packages the company’s directors face re-election.
As a requirement of the Corporations Legislation (2001), Australian listed companies must provide an audited executive remuneration report as a component of the annual report.Using this report for the most recent financial year of your company, the CFO has asked you to research the compensation packages paid to the company’s most senior executive, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO), with a particular emphasis on whether the package is designed to encourage the CEO to act in the best interests of shareholders. With this in mind, you are to research the issue and present your findings in two documents:
1.            A business report to update the CFO and the board of directors on the compensation package paid to the CEO, whether this package helps align conflicting interests between the CEO and shareholders, and provide recommendations on how the compensation package could be restructured to improve future firm performance; and
2.            Prepare a two-page media release to alleviate any public and shareholder concerns about your company’s compensation package for the CEO, including outlining the types of compensation paid, their merits, and any potential changes to be made.
 
Your business report needs to be concise and informative. In preparing your report, you should investigate a range of issues:
              i.        Provide a description of the compensation package of the CEO, including details of the types of compensation paid and which type of compensation is tied to short-term versus long-term incentives;
             ii.        Critically analyse whether the compensation package of the CEO helps resolve agency conflicts between the CEO and shareholders and, if so, how this is achieved. Support your position and discussion with reference to accounting theory and academic research, as well as company-specific evidence of firm performance; and
            iii.        Recommend changes (if any) needed to the compensation package of the CEO to better align the CEO’s and shareholders’ interests. Support your position and discussion with reference to accounting theory and academic research.
A two-page media release. The media release should bein plain language suitable for non-accounting experts. In writing the media release, you should be mindful of the influence media releases have on the perceptions of key stakeholders of your company, including investors.
 
Further information
 
·         In preparing your business report, you must refer to accounting theory, academic research articles and, where relevant, high quality newspaper and professional articles.
·         The word limit for the business report excludes references and the executive summary.
·         A word count must be included. Students exceeding the word limit by more than 10% will incur a mark penalty.
·         You must keep a copy of your submission until your marked assignment is returned.
 
How to present your work:
Your report for the CFO should be presented as a formal business report. When writing your report, you should assume the audience (the CFO and the board of directors) are all financially literate and have a good understanding of accounting and finance concepts and terminology. You should rely on a range of academic and professional journal articles to support your views and recommendations.
Your two-page media release should be written in such a way as to provide information to an audience who are not accounting and finance experts.
For more information on appropriate report writing, formatting and referencing, you should refer to the Q Manual at the following site:
http://www.buseco.monash.edu.au/publications/qmanual/
Justification for Selection of this Assessment Task:
In addition to the development of knowledge of a contemporary area impacting accounting, this task is also designed to develop the following generic skills:
·         Research skills
·         Judgement
·         Written communication skills, aimed at both accountants and non-accountants
The research assignment is designed to broaden your understanding and application of theoretical knowledge gained in one major topic in the unit. Research skills, which involve the synthesis of information and communication of research findings through a business report, are essential skills that our graduates are required to demonstrate to employers.

代写 Monash ACF5956 Advanced Financial Accounting
 
This assignment is designed to further develop these valuable skills and attributes. The issue addressed is a contemporary issue in the business and accounting arena, and one that you need to be aware of. As future accountants it is essential you understand the impact of accounting regulatory changes on the organisation. 
It is also designed to enable you to demonstrate your written communication ability – a skill that is deemed by your future employers to be essential for graduates. In the most recent Graduate Outlook survey accounting and finance employers rated good communication skills as their number one priority when hiring graduates (Graduate Careers Australia, 2011).
All higher education providers of accounting degrees in Australia are required to provide evidence that their accounting graduates have achieved common national minimum threshold learning outcomes (TLOs) at the time of graduation. These TLOs were developed collaboratively with input from the professional accounting bodies, various business practitioners and accounting academics. Five TLOs were developed for the accounting discipline[1] of which both the judgement and communication standards are relevant for this assignment. These standards requires that an accounting graduate of a masters degree must demonstrate:
“Exercise judgement under supervision to solve routine accounting problems in diverse contexts using social, ethical, economic, regulatory and global perspectives.”
“Justify and communicate accounting advice and ideas in diverse collaborative contexts involving both accountants and non-accountants.”
Please keep this TLO in mind when preparing your assignment, as this is the basic benchmark against which your assignment submission will be assessed. These standards have been incorporated into the marking rubric.
Additional Information:
A signed cover sheet must accompany your assignment.
In addition, you are to include, as an attachment, a copy of the remuneration report for your allocated company. Failure to include the remuneration report will result in a 5 per cent penalty, which will be deducted from the total marks available for the assignment.
Your assignment is to be submitted in hard copy to the ACF5956 Advanced Financial Accounting assignment submission box located on Level 3 of H Building. It must be lodged by 4pm on Friday April 22, 2016. Please see the unit guide for information on the penalties for late submission.
Assignments will be returned to you, together with both general and specific feedback, in week 10 seminars.
Assessment Criteria:
A matrix outlining the assessment criteria and how your work will be assessed against these criteria will be provided on Moodle.This will assist you in completing the assessment task and to see the allocation of marks.