Focusing on Lush Cosmetics company
Accounting in Organisations and Society ACCT1046 - Accounting in Organisations and Society Assessment 2: Case Study Report ASSESSMENT DETAILS Assessment weight – This assignment is worth 30% of the total assessment for this course. Assignment due date: 23:59hrs Sunday 12 May 2019 Length: This assignment comprises six requirements (including the requirement to complete a micro-credential). You MUST answer all requirements. The total word limit is 2,000 words. The word count does not include any table of contents, introduction, tables and list of references. Submission and Assignment Format: You must submit your assignment via Turnitin, available under the Assignments tab on Canvas. Prior to submission please ensure you have complied with the following points: · The first page of your assignment contains your full name and student number. · Your assignment file is labelled in the following manner: your last name, your first name, and your student number, for example: BondJames3123007. · Full referencing (in-text citation and reference list) is required for this assignment. Please follow RMIT Harvard referencing style. The referencing guide is available on the RMIT Library website: http://www1.rmit.edu.au/browse;ID=8rwjnkcmfoeez (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. Late Submission: For assignments 1 to 7 days late, a penalty of 10% (of the marks awarded) per day will apply. For assignments more than 7 days late, a penalty of 100% will apply. Weekend days (Saturday and Sunday) are considered when counting total late days for submissions. Assessment Introduction You have been assigned a specific business for your Report. If you do not already know the business you have been assigned please check your emails from
[email protected]. Your business and its website are included in this email. You are required to undertake research on your business and then prepare a report which covers the requirements outlined below. Information on how to present your report is contained at the end of this document. As a starting point to your research, you should access your business’s website (this information is also provided in the email from
[email protected]) You are also encouraged to search out additional resources relevant to the requirements of the case. Requirements Requirement 1 (10 marks) Use the information from your research to provide a description of your business. In your description include the following; (a) The type of organisation it is (for-profit/not-for-profit; merchandiser/manufacturer; partnership/company etc.) (b) An outline of your business’s main products/services and activities; (c) It’s approach to corporate social responsibility and sustainability (within your discussion you must explain the meaning of ‘corporate social responsibility’ and ‘sustainability’); Requirement 2 (4 + 8 = 12 marks) Your business’s focus on corporate social responsibility and/or sustainability has the potential to create value/benefits for several stakeholder groups. Use the information from your research to do the following: (a) Identify four (4) specific stakeholder groups that are likely to benefit from your business’s corporate social responsibility focus. In your response, you must identify whether each specific stakeholder group is internal or external. (b) For each stakeholder group identified in part a), i. Describe in detail one (1) corporate social responsibility activity your business is undertaking to manage the impact their operations have on that group. ii. Explain how these activities are likely to create value for /benefit those stakeholders. Requirement 3: (3 + 3 + 3 + 3 = 12 marks) In Requirement 2 (b) you have identified four corporate social responsibility activities your business undertakes. To fulfil its corporate social responsibility, your business will also need to determine if these activities do in fact provide benefits as intended. For each of the four (4) corporate social responsibility activities you identified in Requirement 2 (b); (a) Identify two (2) items of management accounting information that would help your business decide whether stakeholder groups actually benefited from those activities then; (b) Explain how these items of information would help your business make this decision. Requirement 4 (6 marks) The focus on corporate social responsibility and sustainability taken by your business has the potential to create value/provide benefits not only to its stakeholders, but also to the business itself. Undertake research to identify two (2) benefits your business is likely to have gained from its focus on corporate social responsibility and/or sustainability. For each benefit identified you must use the information collected from your research to explain why you believe your business has gained these benefits. Requirement 5 (2 + 8 = 10 marks) Choose one specific product or service your business provides to its customers. Undertake research about this product/service and identify the following: (a) The price the product or service is sold for (you must provide the source of this information). (b) For each type of cost listed below, identify two (2) examples that are likely to be incurred in the provision of the product/service you have identified - e.g. if the product was ice-cream, then you could identify the raw ingredient ‘milk’ as a variable cost that would be incurred. (Note: you don’t have to find the dollar value of the cost. Note also, that the same cost may be more have more than one of these attributes). i. Variable cost; ii. Fixed cost; iii. Direct cost; iv. Indirect cost. You must provide a justification for your choices. Requirement 6 (10 marks) As part of this assessment you are also required to complete the Academic Integrity Awareness micro credential. You will need to complete and show evidence of achieving the digital badge for the Academic Integrity Awareness micro-credential. Please refer to the information page on your Canvas site to learn more about the micro-credential and how to access it. You can access this credential by clicking on the following link: Academic Integrity Awareness micro-credential. Once you have completed the micro-credential you can claim your micro-credential badge using the following instructions. Claiming Your Badge and Copying the URL For Submission After you have completed the micro credential you can demonstrate the knowledge you have learnt via your referencing and formatting choices within your report. Information about formatting and referencing can be found at the end of this document. You will be awarded a maximum of 10/60 marks for referencing and formatting. Summary of Marks (note: your report will be marked out of 60, then scaled to a final mark out of 30) Requirement 1 10 Requirement 2 12 Requirement 3 12 Requirement 4 6 Requirement 5 10 Requirement 6 10 Total60 Report presentation and format Your report should be presented as a business report to your senior manager. As such, it should be clear and concise. Include all relevant information, but only relevant information. http://www1.rmit.edu.au/browse;ID=vnomfn6fvodn1 It is your responsibility to ensure that you have submitted the word format (.docx or .doc) document assignment correctly and is available for marking via Turnitin by the due date. The report should have the following sections: 1. Title page 2. Table of Contents 3. Xxxx (A meaningful title for Requirement 1. You should also include additional headings for each part of Requirement1)) 4. Xxxx (A meaningful title for Requirement 2, part a)) 5. Xxxx (A meaningful title for Requirement 2, part b)) 6. Xxxx (A meaningful title for Requirement 3) 7. Xxxx (A meaningful title for Requirement 4) 8. Xxxx (A meaningful title for Requirement 4, part b)) 9. Xxxx (A meaningful title for Requirement 5, part a)) 10. Xxxx (A meaningful title for Requirement 5, part b)) 11. List of references Formatting Reports are to be well written and you are expected to follow the guidelines set out in the document entitled “Written Reports and Essays: Guidelines for Referencing and Presentation in RMIT Business”. This can be found at the web site: https://emedia.rmit.edu.au/dlsweb/bus/public/referencing/ http://www1.rmit.edu.au/browse;ID=0n2yedepkmk There is considerable information in this document and it is well worth reading. There is also material on the web sites: For tips on writing reports, please refer to the RMIT Learning Lab: https://emedia.rmit.edu.au/learninglab/content/reports-0 The document should be formatted following the guidelines below and the RMIT presentation guidelines: · Justified text · 1.5 line spacing · Page margins 2.0 centimetres for top, bottom and sides · Character size 12-point font, Times New Roman, · All graphs, tables and appendices (if used) should be labelled. Referencing In written assessments, all sources of information must be acknowledged and cited correctly using the RMIT Business version of the Harvard (author-date) referencing system A reference list must also be included in your report. Please refer to the Library Referencing Guidelines: http://www1.rmit.edu.au/library/referencing-guides Hints to Start your research The first step in learning about your business is to spend some time exploring its website. Make sure you click on all links in the website, as information you may find useful could be hiding in unexpected places!! After you have thoroughly explored the website, your next step should be to collect information from the internet. The success of this part of your research will depend, in large part, on the search terms you use. Some possible terms you could start with are as follows: · [your business name] sustainability · [your business name] sustainability report (note, not all businesses will have a sustainability report) · [your business name] social responsibility · [your business name] stakeholders · Costs of inputs [product/service your business supplies] Assessment Support If you are unsure about any parts of this assessment, please make sure you speak to your class leader as early as possible. In addition, in weeks 8 and 9 (the two weeks prior to the submission date) you will be able to attend special consultation sessions where you can ask questions about the assessment. Information about these sessions will be available on Canvas. Assessment 2: Case StudyPage 5 of 5