Accounting Theory and Practice

The research assignment is a workbook that comprises three (3) newspaper articles that demonstrate issues of

relevance to accounting theory.

 

Weighting:   15%

Word Length:   500 words per article (excluding the 100 word summary) with a 10% leeway.

 

1. THE DRAFT

 

An early draft must be shown to your tutor and marked as seen at your WORKSHOP 7 in week 10.  The draft

should be approximately 750 words (a minimum of three (3) pages of SINGLE line spacing in 12 point Arial font).

The penalty for failing to present a draft on the above date will be the deduction of one mark from the total

assignment mark.  (Note: your tutor is sighting your work, not reading it).

 

Please note that only ONE DRAFT PER GROUP needs to be shown to ONE TUTOR.  This means that for those

assignment groups which comprise students from different  workshops, only ONE GROUP MEMBER is required to

show a draft of their group assignment to their tutor and get the “Page to submit with draft – 3101AFE’ (on page 6

of these instructions) signed by that tutor.  Please also attach the newspaper article that you are choosing and fill

in the required details on “Page to Submit with Draft”.  Then both pages will be submitted with the complete

assignment as per the instructions (see highlighted information on pages 2 and 4).

 

1. REQUIREMENTS

 

1) GROUPS

• You are required to organise yourselves into groups of three (3) in order to submit a joint assignment.

 

• You are to appoint a group leader. This is the person who submits the assignment through

SafeAssign and who receives the feedback sheet. All members of the group will receive their mark

in Mark Centre.

• Your tutor will facilitate this process, but is not responsible for the formation of groups.

• No group may be smaller or larger than 3 UNLESS it includes in the submitted assignment a copy of an

email from the course convenor confirming that they have permission to form a group of this size.

• You are strongly advised to commence this assignment early in the semester in order to achieve a good

mark. Experience has shown that drafts of reports should be at least checked, revised, rechecked, and revised before submitting, and all checking should be done by someone other

than the author and, preferably, by both the other members of the group. Leaving it late significantly reduces your chance of

 

obtaining a good mark.

 

2) ARTICLES

Select three (3) articles, with the following in mind:

• Two articles are to be selected from the attached file of five articles.

• The third article is to be selected by the group from a newspaper  (either hard copy newspaper or

online newspaper source). The article

– must have been published no earlier than 1 March 2016 (articles used in lectures are

excluded).

– must relate primarily to accounting issues, financial reporting, or the accounting or capital

markets regulatory environment faced by business organisations to which  you can apply a

theory used in 3101AFE Accounting Theory and Practice, Therefore, issues such as income

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taxation, fringe benefits taxation regulation, etc will not be relevant.  If the article does not

relate to Accounting Theory content, zero marks will be awarded.

– The library has the ‘Australian Newspapers Online’ database which is a useful source from

which to find and download articles.

– Note: some newspapers provide a wider coverage of business news than others.  The

Financial Review, The Sydney Morning Herald, The Australian, The Courier Mail and The Age

provide a good coverage of business issues.

3) ACCOUNTING THEORIES

Select an accounting theory that is relevant to each article:

 

• DO NOT invent a theory – you MUST only use the theories listed on page 5 of this document.  Note: the

‘market for lemons’ is NOT a theory.

• EACH THEORY CAN ONLY BE USED ONCE i.e. three (3) different theories should be

used, one for each article.

– For example, if you select an article that relates to the Bonus Plan Hypothesis then you cannot refer

to that theory in your other two articles.

 

4) ANALYSIS/REPORT

A word count MUST be included at the end of each section within each of your three reports, plus an overall

word count must be given at the end of each report.

 

For each article, apply the chosen accounting theory in a report style format:

• Title of the Article and Article Reference Number (as shown in this document)

• Then, the four sections of your report, each with a word count at the end:

1. Summary (Part A):

– Summarise the article in a maximum of 100 words.

2. Accounting Theory (Part B):

– Identify and briefly describe the accounting theory that you will be using in this

analysis. Use appropriate references. (Suggested word count = 100 words)

3. Analysis (Part C):

– Provide an analysis of the relationship between the theory and the newspaper article.

Show how the facts of your article are directly related to the accounting theory

chosen.  Use references to support your arguments. PLACE REFERENCES AT THE END

OF EACH ARTICLE ANALYSED. (Suggested word count = 350 words)

4. Conclusion:

– Provide a brief conclusion. (Suggested word count = 50 words)

 

DO NOT reproduce the two articles which you select from this document– include only the title and number

of each article. You must include a copy of the article obtained by the group from a

newspaper or online source. Place this chosen article just before the analysis of this

article.

 

IF YOU DO NOT FOLLOW THESE INSTRUCTIONS, YOU WILL LOSE MARKS FOR PRESENTATION.

 

 

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1. WRITTEN COMMUNICATION

 

1) EXPECTATION

 

This is a group assignment, not three (3) individual bits stapled together at 2.00pm on the submission date.

This means that all three (3) group members need to work on the assignment as a group with each person

contributing, editing, proofreading, etc. so that there is a consistent style throughout the assignment and each

person can identify errors in the work of the others.  To obtain a good mark, significant editorial time is needed.

Do not submit the first draft of your assignment.  Multiple revisions of the assignment are needed to achieve a

good quality end product.

 

2) MARKS FOR WRITTEN COMMUNICATION

There are 7.5 marks for written communication.  Please refer to the criteria sheet and note:

 

Structure:  Use a report format with sub-headings, as described above in Part C(4) on page 2.

 

Written communication:

5. It is important to use sub-headings and short paragraphs to give clarity to your answer – clarity and

succinctness* are what distinguishes the very good from the average case study (*succinctness means

explaining the answer completely but concisely, i.e. in a relatively small number of words).

6. Allow time for overall editorial work on conclusion of the assignment (each person will have an

individual writing style).

7. SPELLCHECK (English) and GRAMMAR check must be run prior to submission.
8. English help is available to assist students with written communication. You can make weekly

appointments – refer to the Learning@Griffith website.

 

SUBMISSION/PRESENTATION

(a) Submission of assignment on Safe Assign: In order to create only one Word file (Safe Assign does not

accept pdf files), students need to copy and paste the criteria sheet, the marking sheet, the page to submit

with draft, and the group contribution sheet onto the front of their assignment file and fill in all the details

online. The instructions also state that you need to attach the Griffith group assignment submission sheet and

there is an online version that you can use and paste it into the existing document (please use the Word

document available on the link below).  Safe Assign will show a basic level of plagiarism as you are all using

these same documents. Do not worry about that.

http://www.griffith.edu.au/students/examsassessment/submitting-assignments

 

(b) For the assignment submission, to create ONE WORD FILE to be submitted by the group leader, students

will need to scan a copy of the signed group contribution sheet. This will create a pdf. Students then using

‘tools’ need to select ‘snap shot’ then highlight the entire page. Then switching to their word doc. students

paste the copied pdf as a picture to their assignments. There are other methods of accomplishing this task but

this seems the easiest at this stage.

PRESENTATION

1) PLEASE ENSURE THE SUBMISSION IS TYPED, SINGLE-SPACED, AND APPROPRIATELY REFERENCED.

2) COMPILATION OF THE ASSIGNMENT

Please compile the assignment in the following order:

• Griffith group assignment submission sheet – please ensure:

o THAT THE GROUP LEADER SIGNS THIS FORM on behalf of the group.

o That student numbers are unambiguous – make sure it is obvious which number you have

written. A ‘|’ should be a vertical line and clearly different from a ‘7’.

o That names are printed in English with family name, as recorded by Griffith University, in

capitals and underlined e.g. Majella PERCY.

 

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• Criteria Sheet and Marking Guide (on pages 8 and 9 of these instructions).

o PLEASE ENSURE ALL NAMES and STUDENT NUMBERS of GROUP MEMBERS are on the CRITERIA

SHEET AND MARKING GUIDE as well as on the assignment submission sheet.

o PLEASE UNDERLINE YOUR FAMILY NAME and put your family name in CAPITALS.

FAILURE TO FOLLOW THESE 2 INSTRUCTIONS WILL RESULT IN MARKS BEING DEDUCTED

 

 

• Signed ‘Page to Submit with Draft’ (on page 6).  (Place your chosen article just before the

analysis of this article).

• Team Contribution Declaration Sheet (on page 7 of these instructions).

• A title page.

• A table of contents with the names and numbers of the newspaper articles chosen.

• Analysis [see part C(4) on page 2]

– This section should contain normal academic referencing and reference sources. AT

LEAST TWO academic journal references per article MUST be included. Failure to do

so will result in marks being deducted.

– You MUST NOT refer to EITHER the Deegan textbook OR your WORKSHOP

Notes/PowerPoint slides IN YOUR REPORTS. Failure to follow this instruction will

result in marks being deducted.

 

• A comprehensive reference list (see GBS Resource Bank – link available on L@G)

3) DO NOT:

Please ensure that you:

– Ensure that this complies with the required format of a reference list

– https://app.secure.griffith.edu.au/reference_tool/index-core.php

 

In addition to the GBS Referencing Tool, you can also access an interactive Referencing Tool

that looks at referencing styles, including:

AGPS Harvard

APA (American Psychological Association)

• DO NOT Include the draft.

• DO NOT Include the copies of the articles contained in this document.  (Instead, you must list their

Titles in the Table of Contents and at the top of each section.)

• DO NOT put the criteria sheet and marking sheet at the back of the assignment.  (Instead, they MUST

be Page 2 and Page 3 of your assignment, and come immediately after the Griffith Group Assignment

Submission Sheet.)

 

Marks will be deducted for presentation if you do not adhere to these requirements.

 

4) SUBMISSION OF THE ASSIGNMENT

The designated Group Leader is to submit the assignment THROUGH SAFE ASSIGN at Learning@Griffith under

ASSESSMENT – Group Research Assignment Folder.

 

OTHER POINTS TO NOTE

1) EXEMPLARS

Exemplars will be posted on Learning@Griffith by the beginning of Week 4.

 

2) MARKING

The criteria sheet indicates how you will be marked.  In addition to this, a detailed mark sheet is attached for

your reference (page 9).  Please note, there are 7.5 marks for written communication and 2.5 marks for

presentation – this includes the correct recording of names and student numbers.

 

**You should refer to the Learning@Griffith website for penalties for late submission**

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ACCOUNTING THEORIES

 

 

LECTURE TWO + WORKSHOP  TWO

 

• Public Interest Theory

• Capture Theory

• Private Interest Theory (Economic Interest Group Theory)

 

LECTURE FOUR + WORKSHOP FOUR 

• Efficient Market Hypothesis

 

 

LECTURE FIVE + WORKSHOP FIVE

• Legitimacy Theory

• Stakeholder Theory  [Two branches of Stakeholder Theory – (1) ethical (moral) and/or

normative branch and (2) positive (managerial) branch]

 

 

LECTURE SIX + WORKSHOP SIX

Positive Accounting Theory

 

 

 

 

• Positive Accounting Theory – opportunistic perspective OR efficiency perspective

• Political Cost Hypothesis

• Management Bonus Hypothesis – opportunistic perspective AND/OR efficiency perspective

• Debt Hypothesis – opportunistic perspective AND/OR efficiency perspective

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