1
BAO 3309 Advanced Financial Accounting Semester 2 2012
Individual assignment
Assessment Weight: 20%
Due Date: (Week 9, 24thSeptember 2012)
Research Essay: Corporate sustainability reporting
Word limit: 2500 words (excluding abstracts and references)
Required:
- Provide a summary of the purpose of Corporate Sustainability Reporting by referring to the Global Reporting Initiative’s Sustainability Reporting Framework (G3.1) available at https://www.globalreporting.org/resourcelibrary/G3.1-Guidelines-Incl-Technical-Protocol.pdf
- Critique Stakeholder Theory and Legitimacy Theory that you have learnt in this subject (See Deegan, 2009, Financial Accounting Theory, pp. 318-378) and the literature about the empirical application of the two theories published in academic journals (see Referencing and Style Item 2.2 on page 2) in explaining the motivators for corporate voluntary sustainability reporting practice
- Identify two multinational companies from the Global 500 in 2012 (available at http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/global500/2012/full_list/index.html) and compare their reporting on economic, environmental and social aspects in their annual reports and standalone sustainability reports for the reporting year 2011
- Discuss how legitimacy is managed through reporting by the two companies (in Item 3 above) from the perspectives of Stakeholder Theory and Legitimacy Theory
References
1. Global Reporting Initiative website
https://www.globalreporting.org/resourcelibrary/G3.1-Guidelines-Incl-Technical-Protocol.pdf
2. Global 500 companies in 2012
http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/global500/2012/full_list/index.html)
3. Deegan, C. Financial Accounting Theory, 3rd Ed, McGraw Hill 2009
4. EJournalSearch/
See next page for further information2
The following matters should be given particular attention:
1. Submission of your assignment
1.1 Submission of this assignment by due date (24th September) is compulsory for successful completion of the subject. The electronic copy must be submitted through WebCT Turnitin by due date.
The printed copy along with a Turnitin Similarity Report
(
less than 20% similarity required) can be submitted to your lecturer at the conclusion of the lecture you normally attend in Week 9. Students may also submit assignments through assignment drop box located in front of
School of Accounting office G3.02
on or before the due date.
1.2 The printed copy must be the
identical
version of the electronic copy submitted through Turnitin at Webct. Inconsistent version of the printed copy and the electronic copy will result in a Fail grade (Note: If you cannot submit your assignment through Turnitin due to a technical problem then email your assignment before the due date to your unit coordinators immediately. You cannot withdraw an assignment from Turnitin after the due date).
2. Referencing and style
2.1 Assignment must be typed using Word document and double-spaced with a normal margin (i.e. 3cm)
2.2 Evidence of extensive research beyond the prescribed texts is required. Students should refer to journals such as
Accounting Forum, Business Strategy & the Environment (John Wiley & Sons, Inc), The International Journal of Accounting, Journal of Business Ethics
which are available on the electronic journals webpage
2.3 The required referencing style is Harvard .Essays not using the required referencing style or not showing
in-text and end of text
references will be returned unmarked
2.4 Avoid Plagiarism
University and the School of Accounting and Finance views plagiarism as a serious breach of academic discipline. All students of the School should familiarize themselves with the content of this document.
Academic Honesty and Preventing Plagiarism Policy states plagiarism as
‘The practice that involves use of another person’s intellectual output and presenting it (without appropriate acknowledgement) as one’s own’. 3
Examples of Plagiarism:
• Word-for-word copying of sentences/paragraphs in an assignment without acknowledgement or with insufficient or improper acknowledgement;
• Downloading essays or assignments from the web and presenting these for assessment;
• Presenting another student’s work or research data as the student’s work;
• Copying out parts of any text without acknowledging the source(s). This may be written text, structures within texts, diagrams, formulae, sound files, still photographs, audio-visual material (sound and image files), graphics/animations/multimedia objects, other computer based material, mathematical proofs, art objects, products and others. This can be done as verbatim copying or paraphrasing.
• The use of someone else’s concepts, experimental results, experimental conclusions or conclusions drawn from analysing evidence or arguments without acknowledging the originator of the idea(s) or conclusion(s).
Assignment Marking Sheet
Student Name………………………………………..Student No……………….
Part 1
|
Total of 15 marks
|
Marks
|
Quality in summarising corporate sustainability reporting |
15 |
Part 2
|
Total of 25 marks
|
Quantity of international publications identified |
5 |
Quality in critique of Stakeholder Theory |
5 |
Quality in critique of Legitimacy Theory |
5 |
Level of discussion of empirical application of the Stakeholder Theory and Legitimacy Theory to investigating motivators for corporate sustainability reporting practice |
10 |
Part 3
|
Total of 25 marks
|
Marks
|
Overview of each companies and an inclusion of website link to the annual report and sustainability report |
5 |
Similarities and differences in level of detail provided (reporting content) |
10 |
Discussion the similarities and differences way companies portray themselves (how company present themselves, e.g. positive, negative or neutral, objective image) |
10 |
Part 4
|
Total of 25 marks
|
Marks
|
Level of detail in discussion of the concept of ‘legitimacy’ from Stakeholder Theory and Legitimacy Theory perspectives |
10 |
Level of detail in discussion of each theory as an explanation for the way companies portray themselves |
15 |
Presentation
|
Total of 10 marks
|
Marks
|
• adoption of correct referencing style
|
5 |
• correct use of structure such as Abstract, introduction and conclusion, logical flow of assignment
|
5 |
Total marks |
100 |
/100 |
Total mark out of 100 reduced to a mark out of 20 |
20 |
/20 |
|