Year
2021Credit points
10Campus offering
No unit offerings are currently available for this unit.Prerequisites
ACCT600 Accounting for Decision Making
Teaching organisation
3 hours per week for twelve weeks or equivalent.Unit rationale, description and aim
The Accounting Professional Bodies classify financial accounting and reporting skills as a core competency area for accountants. This unit has been designed to extend your technical knowledge of financial accounting and reporting issues within a contemporary global reporting environment. The unit has also been designed to provide you with the opportunity to develop an understanding of the relationship between accounting and the economic, social and natural environments. This unit aims to provide you with the ability to prepare financial reports in line with statutory requirements. It will also provide you with the opportunity to focus on the concept of accountability and to what extent conventional accounting discharges the public interest commitment of the accounting profession.
Learning outcomes
To successfully complete this unit you will be able to demonstrate you have achieved the learning outcomes (LO) detailed in the below table.
Each outcome is informed by a number of graduate capabilities (GC) to ensure your work in this, and every unit, is part of a larger goal of graduating from ACU with the attributes of insight, empathy, imagination and impact.
Explore the graduate capabilities.
On successful completion of this unit, students should be able to:
LO1 - explain the theoretical principles of the conceptual framework of Accounting that underpin accounting practice. (GA4, GA5)
LO2 - analyse the role of regulatory framework and justify the need for International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), as a global means of regulating accounting in the preparation and presentation of financial reports. (GA5, GA8)
LO3 - analyse, measure and disclose a complex range of financial accounting events in accordance with the IFRS. (GA3, GA5)
LO4 - interpret the fundamental and ethical role of accountants in identifying and promoting stewardship via exploring sustainability development goals and new standards of reporting in sustainability reporting. (GA2, GA5)
LO5 - apply complex general purpose financial statements in line with IFRS. (GA5, GA7)
Graduate attributes
GA2 - recognise their responsibility to the common good, the environment and society
GA3 - apply ethical perspectives in informed decision making
GA4 - think critically and reflectively
GA5 - demonstrate values, knowledge, skills and attitudes appropriate to the discipline and/or profession
GA7 - work both autonomously and collaboratively
GA8 - locate, organise, analyse, synthesise and evaluate information
Content
Topics will include:
- Accounting and its regulatory environment
- Corporate governance issues
- Accounting ethics and values
- Capital markets research
- Environmental reporting
- Sustainability development goals
- Theoretical base and practice for social accounting
- The accounting profession and environmental and social accounting
Learning and teaching strategy and rationale
ACU’s teaching policy focuses on learning outcomes for students. Our teaching aims to engage students as active participants in the learning process while acknowledging that all learning must involve a complex interplay of active and receptive processes, the constructing of meaning for oneself, and learning from others. ACU promotes and facilitates learning that is autonomous and self-motivated, is characterised by the individual taking satisfaction in the mastering of content and skills and is critical, looking beneath the surface level of information for the meaning and significance of what is being studied.
The schedule of the workshop is designed in such a way that students can achieve intended learning outcomes sequentially. Teaching and learning activities will apply the experiential learning model, which encourages students to apply higher order thinking. The unit ensures that learning activities involve real-world scenarios that in turn assist with ‘real-world’ preparedness. The unit also uses a scaffolding technique that builds a student’s skills and prepares them for the next phase of the learning process.
This unit is structured with required upfront preparation before workshops, most students report that they spend an average of one hour preparing before the workshop and one or more hours after the workshop practicing and revising what was covered. The online learning platforms used in this unit provide multiple forms of preparatory and practice opportunities for you to prepare and revise. It is up to individual students to ensure that the out of class study is adequate for the optimal learning outcomes and successes.
Mode of delivery: This unit is offered in different modes. These are: “Attendance” mode, “Blended” mode and “Online” mode. This unit is offered in three modes to cater to the learning needs and preferences of a range of participants and maximise effective participation for isolated and/or marginalised groups.
Attendance Mode
In a weekly attendance mode, students will require face-to-face attendance in specific physical location/s. Students will have face-to-face interactions with lecturer(s) to further their achievement of the learning outcomes. This unit is structured with required upfront preparation before workshops, most students report that they spend an average of one hour preparing before the workshop and one or more hours after the workshop practicing and revising what was covered. The online learning platforms used in this unit provide multiple forms of preparatory and practice opportunities for you to prepare and revise.
Blended Mode
In a blended mode, students will require intermittent face-to-face attendance determined by the School. Students will have face-to-face interactions with lecturer(s) to further their achievement of the learning outcomes. This unit is structured with required upfront preparation before workshops. The online learning platforms used in this unit provide multiple forms of preparatory and practice opportunities for you to prepare and revise.
Online Mode
In an online mode, students are given the opportunity to attend facilitated synchronous online seminar classes with other students and participate in the construction and synthesis of knowledge, while developing their knowledge. Students are required to participate in a series of online interactive workshops which include activities, knowledge checks, discussion and interactive sessions. This approach allows flexibility for students and facilitates learning and participation for students with a preference for virtual learning.
Assessment strategy and rationale
Assessments are used primarily to foster learning. ACU adopts a constructivist approach to learning which seeks alignment between the fundamental purpose of each unit, the learning outcomes, teaching and learning strategy, assessment and the learning environment. In order to pass this unit, students are required to achieve an overall score of at least 50% and attempt all assessment items. Using constructive alignment, the assessment tasks are designed for students to demonstrate their achievement of each learning outcome.
Assessments are the same regardless of whether teaching mode is attendance, blended, or online. This is indicated in overview of assessment table below.
Overview of assessments
| Brief Description of Kind and Purpose of Assessment Tasks | Weighting | Learning Outcomes | Graduate Attributes |
|---|---|---|---|
Assessment 1: This task is designed to test students’ understanding about issues challenges of regulatory and conceptual framework. Submission Type: Individual Assessment Method: Solving current issues Artefact: Written report | 30% | LO1, LO2 | GA4, GA5, GA8 |
Assessment 2: This assessment task will require students to solve and answer problem and/or case study-based accounting scenarios. The purpose of the second assessment is to develop student’s knowledge and skills in determining how varying economic events affect accounting. Teams are formed that make an innovative verbal presentation. Submission Type: Group Assessment Method: group presentation Artefact: Group oral presentation | 30% | LO3, LO5 | GA3, GA5, GA7 |
Assessment 3 –Research project The purpose of the final piece of assessment is to further students understanding of how accounting is interrelated with the economic, social and natural environments. The assessment task will also motivate students to consolidate their learned knowledge of special topics in the measuring of complex financial events through the research. Submission Type: Individual Assessment Method: research project Artefact: Research report | 40% | LO2, LO4 | GA2, GA5, GA8 |
Representative texts and references
Deegan, C 2019, Financial Accounting, 9th edn, McGraw Hill, Sydney. (prescribed textbook)
Henderson, S, Peirson, G & Herbohn, K 2017, Issues in financial accounting, 16th edn, Pearson Education Australia, Sydney.
Loftus, J, Leo, KJ, Daniliuc, S, Boys, N, Luke, B, Ang, HN, & Byrnes, K 2020, Financial reporting, 3rd edn, John Wiley & Sons, OLD.
Rankin, M, Stanton, P, McGowan, S, Ferlauto, K & Tilling, M 2017, Contemporary issues in accounting, 2nd edn, John Wiley & Sons, OLD.
Scott, WR 2019, Financial Accounting Theory, 8th edn, Pearson Education Australia.
Australian Accounting Standard Board 2019, The standard-setting process, <https://www.aasb.gov.au/About-the-AASB/The-standard-setting-process.aspx>.
Barth, ME, Li, K and McClure, C 2021, ‘Evolution in value relevance of accounting information’, (March 2, 2021). Stanford University Graduate School of Business Research Paper No. 17-24, <http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2933197>
Cooper, C, Coulson, A & Taylor, P 2011, ‘Accounting for Human Rights: Doxic Health and Safety Practices – The Accounting Lesson from ICL’, Critical Perspectives on Accounting, vol 22, no.8 pp.738-58.
Financial Reporting Council 2020, Financial Reporting Council annual report 2019-20, <www.frc.gov.au>.
Gray, R, 2013, ‘Back to Basics: What do we mean by environmental and social accounting and what is for? – a reaction to Thornton’, Critical Perspectives on Accounting, vol 22, no.6, pp.459-68.
Lehner, O, Leitner-Hanetseder,, S & Eis, C 2019, ‘The whatness of digital accounting: status quo and ways to move forward’, ACRN Journal of Finance and Risk Perspectives 8 Special Issue Digital Accounting (2019), pp. I -X, < http://www.acrn-journals.eu/resources/editorial_si.pdf>
Rupley,KH, Brown, D & Marshall, S 2017, ‘Evolution of corporate reporting: From stand-alone corporate social responsibility reporting to integrated reporting’, Research in Accounting Regulation, vol 29, iss 2, pp172-76, <https://doi.org/10.1016/j.racreg.2017.09.010>.