Assignment

Content assessed: Accounting regulation and topics(s) that your research is related to.

Key generic skills: Research, critical thinking and written communication.

Question 1 (10 marks, 1,000 words)

Find a newspaper article or web page report of an item of accounting news, i.e. it refers to a current event, consideration, comment or decision that has been published after January 2017. Your article could also come from one of the professional journals. The article should not come from an academic journal. Academic journals generally do not contain news articles or articles of less than one page and are usually only published 2 or 4 times a year. If you are having a problem ensuring that your article is from an appropriate source contact your subject lecturer.

Explain the article that you have found in your own words and clearly relate the concepts, ideas and facts within the article to one or more of the theories or topics that you have studied this session. For example, this from the Sydney Morning Herald in April 2016 could be linked to accounting regulation, ethics and measurement (and perhaps others). Provide a copy of the article or web page, with details of the source, date and page number with your question answer.

Question 2 (10 marks, 1,000 words)

Find an exposure draft or proposal for a new accounting standard which has been opened for public comments. These can be found on the websites of most standard-setting organisations, such as the IASB, AASB and FASB. (Hint: These websites can be quite difficult to navigate, so as a first step try typing “IASB exposure draft and comment letters”/”FASB exposure draft and comment letters” into Google or other search engine of your choice). Read a sample of the comments from a range of respondents. Select four respondents, for example, from accounting bodies, industry, companies or corporate bodies. If you are having a problem finding suitable comment letters then contact your subject Lecturer. Include copies of the comment letters you wish to discuss and complete the following tasks:

a) Describe in your own words the issues that the exposure draft/proposal and comment letters are dealing with. 

b) Is there agreement among the various groups? Describe the issues where there is agreement/disagreement and provide examples.

c) Can any of the comment letters be interpreted as being for or against regulation? Justify your answer with appropriate examples.

d) In your opinion, which of the three theories of regulation (e.g., public interest, private interest or capture theory) best explains the comment letters? Justify your answer.

Please note: you need to attach comment letters you selected for your report (no need to attach exposure draft).

Rationale

This assessment is designed to test your ability to: 

• deconstruct some accounting issues that have been the subject of theoretical analysis (SLO5); and
• engage in the accounting discourse including critical analysis of the various theoretical approaches applied within the accounting discipline (SLO6).

Marking criteria

Question 1

Criteria
Ability to find and describe an accounting issue.Inclusion of item of accounting news. (SLO5) (1 mark)	Copy of item included (1 mark)	A link to the item is provided (0.5 mark)	No copy or link provided (0 marks)
	High Distinction	Distinction	Credit	Pass
Description of major issues in article. (SLO5) (1 mark)	Description with in depth discussion and identification of all the key issues.	Clear identification and discussion of all key issues.	Clear coverage of most of the key issues in the article.	Summary provided, with one or two issues identified, but there may be other issues that could have been addressed that have been overlooked.
Linkage of major issues in article to one or more topics presented in the subject. (SLO5) (4 marks)	Response identifies a range of relevant topics and theories and is able to deconstruct and evaluate the issues through the use of theories and arrive at a logical position, for example by synthesizing the insights of different theories.	Response identifies a range of relevant topics and theories and is able to evaluate the issue with a discussion of theory containing relevant examples.	Response uses theory to provide a clear explanation and analysis of most of the relevant issues in the article.	Response provides a linkage to the most obvious topic as well as a brief description of the linkage to some of the related accounting theories.
Critical Capacity: Has the student deeply analysed the underlying assumptions of the accounting theories and perspectives of regulation they have utilised in their reposonse (SLO5) (2 marks)	Response critically evaluates the underlying assumptions of the applied theories and perspectives of regulation	Response crucially evaluates most of the assumptions in the applied theories and perspectives of regulation. Some may be evaluated with greater depth than others.	Response provides some critical evaluation of the theories as a whole and perspectives of regulation.	Response provides some summaries of the theories and the underlying assumptions and the perspectives of regulation.
Academic Writing Skills: Written expression and use of referencing. (2 marks)	Accurate use of syntax, spelling and punctuation; correctly refers to an extensive variety of sources to support arguments, including prescribed texts and a broad range of additional readings; reference list of an extensive range of resources used, correctly formatted using APA style.	Accurate use of syntax, spelling and punctuation; succinct and effective use of vocabulary; correctly refers to a broad range of sources to support arguments, including prescribed text and a variety of further readings.Reference list contains a broad range of relevant resources used, correctly formatted using APA style.	Accurate use of syntax, vocabulary, spelling and punctuation; correctly refers to more than the minimum requirement of sources to support arguments, including prescribed texts and recommended readings. Reference list formatted in APA style, with few or no errors.	Mostly accurate syntax, spelling and punctuation; correctly refers to minimum number of sources to support arguments, including prescribed texts. Reference list used, formatted in APA style, with minor errors.

Question 2 

Criteria
Ability to find comment letters, summarise issues and identify areas of agreement and disagreement. Inclusion of copies of comment letters. (SLO6) (1 mark)	Copy of comment letters included (1 mark)	A link to the comment letter is provided (0.5 mark)	No copy or link provided (0 marks)
	High Distinction	Distinction	Credit	Pass
Description of major issues in comment letters. (SLO6) (1 mark)	Description with in depth discussion and identification of all the key issues.	Identification and articulation of all the key issues.	Clear identification and some discussion of key issues in article.	Summary provided, with one or two issues identified, but with various other issues overlooked.
Description of issues where there is agreement/disagreement between the parties who have written comment letters. (SLO6) (1 mark)	All of the key areas of conjecture are described in depth and this is supported by evidence from comment letters.	All of the key areas of conjecture are described in depth	Most of the areas of conjecture are described.	The most obvious area of conjecture is briefly described.
Interpretation of comments letters as being for or against regulation. (SLO5) (1.5 marks)	Response identifies a range of appropriate examples of comments letters which are thoroughly justified as being for or against the existence of accounting regulation.	Response identifies several examples of comments letters which are appropriately justified as being for or against the existence of accounting regulation.	Response identifies some appropriate examples of comments letters which are adequately justified as being for or against the existence of accounting regulation.	Response identifies one or two examples of comments letters with limited justification as to whether they are for or against the existence of regulation.
Justification of why the theory or theories of regulation best explains the comment letters. (SLO6) (1.5 marks)	Response clearly applies all of the theories to the various issues in the comment letters and provides a well developed justification that critically evaluates the relevance of the theories to the issue.	Response applies all of the theories to the various issues, and provides a clear justification for the chosen theories.	Response applies most of the theories to various issues in the comment letters and provides a clear justification for the chosen theory/theories.	Response briefly applies some of the theories to one issue in the comment letters and provides a basic justification for the most obvious theory.
Critical Capacity: Has the student deeply analysed the underlying assumptions of the accounting theories they have used as examples? (SLO6) (2 marks)	Response critically evaluates all the underlying assumptions of the theories of regulation.	Response critically evaluates most of the underlying assumptions of the theories of regulation.	Response provides some critical evaluation of the theories of regulation as a whole.	Response provides some summaries of the theories of regulation and the underlying assumptions.
Academic Writing: Is the answer easy to follow and understand? (2 marks)	Accurate use of syntax, spelling and punctuation; correctly refers to an extensive variety of sources to support arguments, including prescribed texts and a broad range of additional readings; reference list of an extensive range of resources used, correctly formatted using APA style.	Accurate use of syntax, spelling and punctuation; succinct and effective use of vocabulary; correctly refers to a broad range of sources to support arguments, including prescribed text and a variety of further readings. Reference contains a broad range of relevant resources used, correctly formatted using APA style.	Accurate use of syntax, vocabulary, spelling and punctuation; correctly refers to more than the minimum requirement of sources to support arguments, including prescribed texts and recommended readings. Reference list formatted in APA style, with few or no errors.	Mostly accurate syntax, spelling and punctuation; correctly refers to minimum number of sources to support arguments, including prescribed texts. Reference list used, formatted in APA style, with minor errors.

Presentation

The following points are a general guide for presenting assessment items.

• Assessment items should be typed.
• Use 1.5 spacing.
• Use a wide left margin. Markers need space to be able to include their comments.
• Use a standard 12pt font such as Times New Roman, Calibri or Arial.
• Left- justify body text.
• Include a separate title page with your name, student number, subject code, assessment number and assessment question. Include class time and tutor’s name if applicable.
• Number your pages (except the cover page).
• Use a header or footer with your name and student number on each page.
• Always keep a copy of your assessments. Both a hard copy and an electronic copy.
• Most importantly, always use your spelling and grammar checker, but remember that this does not pick up all errors. You must still manually and carefully edit your work.

Requirements

For this assessment you are required to use APA referencing to acknowledge the sources that you have used in preparing your assessment. Please refer to the CSU referencing guide http://student.csu.edu.au/study/referencing-at-csu. In addition a very useful tool for you to use that demonstrates how to correctly use in text referencing and the correct way to cite the reference in your reference list can be found at https://apps.csu.edu.au/reftool/apa-6