7101AFE Financial Accounting Theory and Practice
RESEARCH ASSIGNMENT
Trimester 1, 2017
OVERVIEW
This assignment provides you with an opportunity to work with real world business news and to apply the various concepts learned in the course in the context of your own social, political and economic environments. This assignment has two parts. In Part A, you need to discuss about IFRS enforcement in your own country. For Part B, you will need to read the Wikipedia article on Volkswagen emissions scandal posted on Learning@Griffith and answer the questions that appear in this document.
THIS IS AN INDIVIDUAL ASSIGNMENT and requires INDIVIDUAL SUBMISSION.
Draft Due Date: Wednesday 3rd May (in your workshop)
Assignment Due Date: 19 May 2017 14:00Hrs
Weighting: 18%
Word Length: As specified for each question; you must state the word length of your answer after each answer. There is only a 5% leeway on the word limit; any further violation will be penalised.
THE DRAFT
An early draft must be shown to your course convenor and marked as seen at your workshop on Wednesday 3rd May 2017. The draft should be a minimum of one page of double line spacing in 12 point Arial font. The penalty for failing to present a draft on the above date will be the deduction of five marks from the total assignment mark. (Note: Your course convenor is sighting your work, not reading it).
Your course convenor will keep the signed copy of this page (you may need to take a photo of the signed page for your record).
REQUIREMENTS
Part A: 10 marks
Consider the country where you have lived the longest time of your life. Has this country adopted the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) yet? If yes, when and how? How are the IFRS enforced? That is, what mechanisms and regulations are there to ensure that firms actually implement the IFRS in preparing their financial statements? Discuss.
If your answer is no, is there any plan to adopt IFRS? When and how? As of now, what are the barriers to adopting the IFRS? Discuss.
Word limit for Part A: 500 words
Part B: VW Scandal TOTAL = 20 MARKS
Please read the Wikipedia article on VW scandal and answer the following questions.
Question 1: In your opinion, has VW breached its social contract? Take a position and justify your position with examples from the Wikipedia article. (Word limit: 300 words; 6 MARKS)
Question 2: Consider the daily ordinary share price (in Euros) of VW over the period from 10 Sept 2015 to 6 Oct 2015. Why do you think the VW stock price reacted in the way it reacted during this period? (Word limit: 500 words; 10 MARKS)
6/10/2015 106.90
5/10/2015 102.80
2/10/2015 101.15
1/10/2015 105.05
30/09/2015 104.95
29/09/2015 103.30
28/09/2015 107.10
25/09/2015 115.55
24/09/2015 118.90
23/09/2015 118.90
22/09/2015 111.20
21/09/2015 133.70
18/09/2015 161.35
17/09/2015 167.40
16/09/2015 167.50
15/09/2015 166.85
14/09/2015 165.50
11/09/2015 166.25
10/09/2015 166.90
Question 3: Explain how the future earnings performance and financial position of VW would be affected as a result of the scandal. You need to be specific about which elements of the financial statements are likely to be affected and how. (Word limit: 200 words; 4 MARKS)
Word Count
Make sure that you include a word count at the end of each answer. Otherwise, you will lose marks for presentation.
WRITTEN COMMUNICATION
EXPECTATION
It is expected that you put your own efforts in doing the assignment and not take any help from external sources, including help from other students. If your answer is very similar to others’, heavy penalty and/or charges of academic misconduct may occur. To obtain a good mark, significant editorial time is needed. Do not submit the first draft of your assignment. Multiple revisions of the assignment are needed to achieve a good quality end product.
WRITTEN COMMUNICATION and PRESENTATION
Although no separate mark has been allocated for the quality of communication and presentation, low-quality communication (e.g., spelling errors, poor grammar and lack of clarity) may affect your score in each section of the assignment. So please pay attention to the following points:
Written communication:
It is important to use sub-headings and short paragraphs to give clarity to your answer - clarity and succinctness* are what distinguishes the very good from the average case study (*succinctness means explaining completely but concisely).
Allow time for overall editorial work on conclusion of the assignment (each person will have an individual writing style).
SPELLCHECK (English) and GRAMMAR check must be run prior to submission PLUS it is strongly encouraged that students check the clarity of their writing using the tool “WritersDiet” available at http://writersdiet.com/WT.php
Presentation:
High quality presentation includes an appropriately prepared title page, following the instructions for the assignment properly, and good layout of the submission.
Assistance
English help is available to assist students with written communication. You can make weekly appointments – refer to the Learning@Griffith website.
SUBMISSION/PRESENTATION
ASSINGMENTS MUST BE SUBMITTED ONLINE VIA TURNITIN BEFORE SUBMISSION DEADLINE. MAKE SURE YOU KNOW HOW TO UPLOAD WORD DOCUMENTS TO TURNITIN.
PLEASE ENSURE THE SUBMISSION IS TYPED, DOUBLE-SPACED AND APPROPRIATELY REFERENCED (NO HANDWRITTEN or PDF COPY WILL BE ACCEPTED; YOU GET ZERO MARK IF YOU DO SO).
COMPILATION OF THE ASSIGNMENT
YOUR SUBMISSION MUST HAVE A GRIFFITH ASSIGNMENT COVERSHEET and you MUST declare the originality of your work. The COVERSHEET should be followed by a TITLE PAGE. The title page MUST state your name (as per enrolment records), your Griffith ID and date of submission.
A comprehensive reference list (see GBS Resource Bank – link available on L@G)
Ensure that this complies with the required format of a reference list
https://app.secure.griffith.edu.au/reference_tool/index-core.php
In addition to the GBS Referencing Tool, you can also access an interactive Referencing Tool that looks at the following four referencing styles:
AGPS Harvard
APA (American Psychological Association style 6th edition)
MLA (Modern Language Association style 3rd edition)
Vancouver style
DO NOT:
Please ensure that you DO NOT:
Include the draft
Put the criteria sheet at the back of the assignment.
**Students are advised to refer to the Learning@Griffith website for penalties on late submission**
PAGE TO SUBMIT WITH DRAFT - 7101AFE T1 2017
Student’s name and student number (as per enrolment records):
LAST NAME:_________________________ FIRST NAME:______________________
Workshop information:
Workshop day/time: …………………………………………………………..
Convenor’s signature:…………………………………………………………..
Date: …………………………………………………