MPA 701 – AccountingTrimester 3, 2019
Assessment Task 2 – The Essay
DUE DATE AND TIME:
Week 7, Friday 10th January 2020, 11:59 pm
PERCENTAGE OF FINAL GRADE:
15%
Learning Outcome Details
Unit Learning Outcome (ULO)
Graduate Learning Outcome (GLO)
ULO 1_ Describe the institutional environment of
general purpose financial reporting, including the
impact of a conceptual framework, regulation and
conventional practices.
DGLO 1_ Discipline knowledge and capabilities:
appropriate to the level of study related to a discipline
or profession.
ULO 4_ Prepare transactions and resultants reports
reflecting methods used by economic entities to
treat critical financial events.
DGLO 5_ Problem Solving: creating solutions to
authentic (real world and ill-defined) problems.
Assessment Feedback:
Students who submit their work by the due date will receive their marks and feedback on CloudDeakin
within 15 working days.
Assessment Rubric:
The rubric of the task is attached separately in the Assessment Task 2 folder.
Background
There have been numerous discussions regarding the relevance of accounting information over the past
decades. One of the recent critiques comes from Lev (2018*), who claim that “there is a wide-spread and
growing dissatisfaction with the relevance and usefulness of financial report information, particularly among
investors and corporate executives. The dissatisfaction is corroborated by extensive research which
consistently documents a growing gap between capital market indicators and financial information, more so
for reported earnings.”
*Lev, B. 2018. The deteriorating usefulness of financial report information and how to reverse it. Accounting
and Business Research 48 (5): 465–493.
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Required:
You are required to research information on the below issues.
1- Based on the conceptual framework and real life, discuss the relevance and usefulness of financial report
information (you should discuss three aspects).
2- The reasons that drive the changes in relevance and usefulness of financial report information (you
should analytically discuss three relevant reasons).
3- How to improve the status quo regarding the relevance and usefulness of financial report information
(you should include three proposals).
Then discuss and document the results of your research on the above issues in an essay format with the
following suggested sections1:
Introduction (suggesting 100-150 words);
Body, can be presented under some subheadings (suggesting 900-1000 words);
Conclusion (suggesting 100-150 words).
Additional information:
You are expected to undertake research in order to complete this task. Review of the above referred journal
article can be a good point to start with. Your research should also include further primary-source references
i.e. peer-reviewed journal articles, professional publications and scholarly books (avoid Wikipedia type
material).
You are required to use a minimum of 6 references (minimum 4 academic peer reviewed journal articles
and the other 2 can be from other types of resources e.g. professional publications) to support your
discussion. Your references can be included the given article.
Word Limit: 1200 words (excluding reference list, title and headings), double-spaced, 12-point Ariel or Times
New Roman font. A word count must be included. Students exceeding the word limit by more than 10% will
incur a mark penalty.
Students must submit a properly referenced assignment that complies with the Harvard referencing style.
This includes in-text citations and a reference list.
No need for a cover sheet.
You must keep a copy of your submission until your assignment mark is released.
The assignment is to be submitted online.
You are allowed to make resubmissions within the submission period. Please note that your last
submission overwrites previous submissions.
Submission Instructions
A header should be inserted into all assignment pages using the following syntax:
Your surname _ Your first name _ Your student ID
For example: Shi _ Wei _ 111111111
1
This word limit is guidance only. Your word allocation between sections may vary.
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To submit your assignment from the CloudDeakin top menu:
1. Select “Assessment”, “Assignments”
2. Select “Assessment Task 2 – Essay”
3. Select “Add a file”
4. Select “Browse” and then choose your Essay file.pdf file (make sure that your essay includes your
name and student ID on the cover page and in the header on each page of the document).
5. Select “Submit”.
Plagiarism and Submission confirmation
Any work you submit may be checked by electronic or other means for the purposes of detecting collusion
and/or plagiarism.
Please be reminded that this assessment task is an individual
assignment in this unit. Any plagiarism and collusion will result in severe
consequences for the students involved. Please consult the Unit Guide for further
details regarding plagiarism and the potential Consequences. For the study support
follow the below link:
http://www.deakin.edu.au/current-students/study-support/study-skills/handouts/plagiarism.php
When you are required to submit an assignment through your CloudDeakin unit site, you will receive an
email to your Deakin email address confirming that it has been submitted. You should check that you can
see your assignment in the Submissions view of the Assignment dropbox folder after upload, and check for,
and keep, the email receipt for the submission.
Policy on extensions:
Extensions can be granted for unexpected circumstances such as serious illness or for compassionate reasons
under special circumstances. Extensions can only be approved by the Unit Chair (Ali Yaftian). Please email
your request to ali.yaftian@deakin.edu.au before the due date. You will be asked to provide evidence to
support your request and a draft of the work completed to date. Where an extension is approved you will be
given between 1 day and 2 weeks to submit your work. For requests after the due date please submit your
request to Special Consideration:
https://www.deakin.edu.au/students/studying/assessment-and-results/special-consideration.
Work or holidays or other assignments are NOT grounds for an extension – you are expected to manage
these issues as part of your studies. You are strongly encouraged to start early and to continually backup your
assignment as you progress. Computer crashes or corrupted files will NOT be accepted as valid reasons for
an extension of any length.
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Late submission penalties:
The following marking penalties will apply if you submit an assessment task after the due date without an
approved extension: 5% will be deducted from available marks for each day up to five days, and work that
is submitted more than five days after the due date will not be marked.
The late penalty is therefore calculated as follows:
Days late
1 day late
Submitted after
But before
Displayed in
Dropbox
shown in hours
Penalty
Friday 10th Jan. 2020,
Saturday 11st Jan.
Penalty 5/100
11:59pm
2020, 11:59pm
2 days late
Saturday 11st Jan.
Sunday 12nd Jan.
shown as 1 day late
Penalty 10/100
2020, 11:59pm
2020, 11:59pm
3 days late
Sunday 12nd Jan. 2020, Monday 13rd Jan.
shown as 2 days late Penalty 15/100
11:59pm
2020, 11:59pm
4 days late
Monday 13rd Jan.
Tuesday 14th Jan.
shown as 3 days late Penalty 20/100
2020, 11:59pm
2020, 11:59pm
5 days late
Tuesday 14th Jan.
Wednesday 15th Jan. shown as 4 days late Penalty 25/100
2020, 11:59pm
2020, 11:59pm
th
Submissions received after Wednesday 15 Jan. 2020, 11:59pm will not be marked without an
approved extension.
Notes
Building evidence of your experiences, skills and knowledge (Portfolio) – Building a portfolio that
evidences your skills, knowledge and experience will provide you with a valuable tool to help you prepare for
interviews and to showcase to potential employers. There are a number of tools that you can use to build a
portfolio. You are provided with cloud space through OneDrive, or through the Portfolio tool in the Cloud
Unit Site, but you can use any storage repository system that you like. Remember that a Portfolio is YOUR
tool. You should be able to store your assessment work, reflections, achievements and artefacts in YOUR
Portfolio. Once you have completed this assessment piece, add it to your personal Portfolio to use and
showcase your learning later, when applying for jobs, or further studies. Curate your work by adding
meaningful tags to your artefacts that describe what the artefact represents.
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