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SUNWAY UNIVERISTY BUSINESS SCHOOL

BACHELOR OF SCIENCE (HONS) ACCOUNTING & FINANCE
ACADEMIC SESSION: AUGUST - DECEMBER 2014
ACC3014: CORPORATE REPORTING: THEORY AND PRACTICE
ASSIGNMENT: ESSAY
SUBMISSION DATE: 30 OCTOBER 2014

INSTRUCTIONS TO CANDIDATES
1.

There are SIX (6) pages in this Assignment including the cover page.

2.

This assignment will contribute 25% to your final grade.

3.

This is a group assignment (NO MORE THAN THREE MEMBERS).

4.

The essay should have a word count of at least 3,500 but not exceeding 4,000 and typewritten using either Times New Roman (12 points) or Arial (11 point) fonts. You should
use 1.5 line spacing and a margin of 2.5 cm or 1 inch.

5.

Please DO NOT submit a hardcopy of the assignment.

6.

You should submit this essay to Turnitin at least 3 days before the due date to generate
an originality report. Early submission to Turnitin will give you the opportunity to
improve your essay for re-submission before the due date.
IMPORTANT
Assignments must be submitted on their due dates. If an assignment is submitted after its due date,
the following penalty will be imposed:

Submission within one week after the deadline: Your recorded mark will be subject to a
maximum mark of 40%.

Submission more that one week after deadline: Your submission will not be accepted and your
recorded mark is 0%.

ACC3014 Corporate Reporting: Theory and Practice

Assignment Learning Outcome:

This assignment is designed to meet the subject learning outcome (SLO3) for students to
discuss and evaluate current developments and reforms in corporate reporting in the context
of their practical application, feasibility, the underlying conceptual issues and potential
implications to users.
This assignment also aims to enhance students ability to produce research-based reports.
Students will develop critical thinking skills, learn the basic elements of structuring a research
report, and improve research writing and team work skills.
Assignment Question (25%)
In March 2010, The World Bank Group issued its 13 th policy brief on the 2007-2008 global
financial crisis. This is one out of a series of policy briefs issued that are used in assessing the
policy response, shedding light on financial reforms, and providing insights for emerging
market policy makers.
Crisis Respond
Public Policy For the Private Sector
The World Bank Group
Bank Governance
Lessons from the Financial Crisis
Principles of good governance have been a major component of international financial
standards and are seen as essential to the stability and integrity of financial systems. Over the
past 10 years much energy and attention have gone to improving the ability of company
boards, managers, and owners to prudently navigate rapidly changing and volatile market
conditions. So, how to explain the events of 2007-08? Many of the recent problems can be
traced to flawed implementation of good principles and to behavior prompted by increasingly
short-term performance horizon.
(Ard & Berg, 2010)

Required:
Referring to the statements above, you should identify a specific issue that you would like to
study. You should link this issue of study to corporate governance, financial crisis, risk
management or agency theory, and the change of accounting regulation. For example, how
would the issues of weak corporate governance in Financial Institutions, particularly the
failure in risk management and the regulation reforms in response to the financial crisis
influence corporate financial reporting? After identifying a research question, you should
review literature related to this issue, demonstrate your understanding of the literature and
apply relevant theories/ concepts into your discussions. You should also comment on other
literature, argue with evidence, and provide suggestions on what can be researched on from
corporate governance, regulatory and corporate reporting perspectives. You may contribute
towards what can be done to solve the problem identified/ mitigating the impact from the
financial crisis. You are expected to prepare a research report based on the format given
below.
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ACC3014 Corporate Reporting: Theory and Practice

Format and guidelines:

1) Introduction & Motivation Clearly state the research question (statement) to be
studied. You may focus on the issue of risk management in global financial
institutions, and link the financial crisis to weak corporate governance (in financial
institutions). How would this impact on corporate financial reporting? Is regulation
reform necessary?
2) Literature Review Review a minimum of five (5) prior studies, which include (at
least three) journal articles. These can be found by keying in keywords to Google
Scholar and searching from the librarys E-journals database. Some of the keywords
are given below. Proper referencing using Harvard Referencing Style is expected.

3)

4)

5)

6)

7)

Example for Keywords: Corporate governance, financial crisis, risk management,

financial reporting, financial instrument, fair value, regulation theory, agency theory,
regulation reforms, and etc.
Theoretical Framework & Research Objectives Relate theories that you have
learnt to the discussion issue. Link the theory to previous work performed; identify the
gap / question that has not been studied before. Set specific objectives on what can be
researched and / questioned.
Discussions on Findings and Suggestions Critically comment on the findings from
the literature and further suggest what can be done in future research. Referring to
your suggested idea(s), you may also want to consider the feasibility in carrying out
this research and what could be the limitations.
Conclusions and Contributions - Summarize from Introduction to Discussions on
Findings and Suggestions, to conclude on the overall findings and what has this
research contributed to the literature, industry and society.
Abstract Write a short summary on the research performed and place this abstract
to the front, right after the cover sheet and before the content page. The abstract should
be the last part written in this research report.
Reflection Students should reflect on their learning outcomes after working on this
research report. If there are three (3) students in a group, three (3) reflections with
signatures and date are to be attached to the end of the research report.

Note: Content page Prepare a content page and place it before the Introduction &
Motivation.
Cover Page You should state the Course code and Sunway University on the top of
the cover page; Next, at the middle of cover page, Create your own research topic
(word font: 14-18 with bold), Prepared by: all students name and students ID,
Supervised by: lecturers name and Date: the date you submit your report.
References- Follow Harvard referencing system.
Key References:
Ard, L. & Berg, A. (2010) Bank Governance- Lessons from the Financial Crisis. Crisis
Response, Note Number 13. The World Bank Group.
Kirkpatrik, G. (2009) The Corporate Governance Lessons from the Financial Crisis.
Financial Market Trends. Vol 2009/1.
Kirkpatrik, G. (2010) Corporate Governance and the Financial Crisis. Working Paper, OECD.
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ACC3014 Corporate Reporting: Theory and Practice

Malaysia Code on Corporate Governance (2012), Securities Commission Malaysia.

MARKING RUBRIC
The evaluation of an essay assignment is subjective but the following marking rubric will
provide a degree of consistency and clarity for both the examiner and students. In dealing
with the topic of interest, students are expected to demonstrate the interrelationship between
theory, practice and regulation. There is no one correct answer required. Students need to
show depth of understanding of the relevant issues, the ability to synthesise information from
diverse and credible sources to formulate sustained arguments towards arriving at an
appropriate conclusion related to the topic of interest. Therefore, extensive research beyond
lecture notes and prescribed textbooks is expected. The essay should provide evidence of
criticality and high level thinking as expected of a final-year undergraduate student. English
expression, sentence construction, grammar and spelling are also indicators of the quality of
the essay. The coherence and logical flow of ideas and arguments are also assessed. The
format and presentation of the essay should also be neat and professional. The essay is
marked out of 100 percent and then converted to 25 marks.
The marking rubric is presented in the table below to provide further guidance on how the
essay is evaluated.
MARKING RUBRIC
Criterion
1

ABSTRACT

Introduction
& Motivation
Literature
Review

Description

Max
(%)
Concisely state in summary form the motivation, problem 5
statement, key findings from literature, your comments,
suggestions and conclusions. (not more than 150 words)
Clear statement of what the essay intends to achieve with an 10
outline of what is to follow (around 500 words)
Comprehensive use of journal papers, texts, etc. with clear 25
demonstration of understanding and presentation of authors
arguments and synthesis of material. Selected references are
of high quality and relevance (NOT wiki answers, etc.).
(around 800-1000 words)
Excellent use of evidence from academic literature/ secondary
research detailed and well selected.

Theoretical
Framework &
Research
Objectives
Discussions
on Findings
and
Suggestions

Apply Financial Accounting theories and concepts and clearly 25

show the linkage between theories and problem statement.
(around 800 -1000 words)
High quality of arguments put forward with clear link to
evidence.

15

Full coverage and depth of analysis which explores fully the

implications of the arguments or evidence in a thoughtful and
insightful manner.
4

ACC3014 Corporate Reporting: Theory and Practice

Discusses clearly and eloquently the key issues providing the

reader with guidance as to the overall outline.
6

Conclusions
and
Contributions

Minimal use of descriptive passages. (around 800 words)

Final conclusion is coherent and well organized.

10

Clear connections to preceding body of the essay with evident

answers to the initial assignment question.
Lucid synthesizing and reframing of key points from the
essay.
Clear position on the outcomes. No new material introduced
in this section.

Presentation
of Report

Areas for further consideration /new perspectives or questions

may be suggested. (around 500 words)
Paper is coherently organized with apparent logical flow
5
Paragraphs are clearly connected and not disjointed
Each paragraph makes a clear point and paragraphs connect
persuasively and logically
Writing is precise and unambiguous with lucid sentence
structure
Formatting is evident
Spelling and grammar have been thoroughly checked
Proper use of the Harvard referencing system including in-text
referencing and quotations

Students
Reflection

Appropriate use of appendices

Students to reflect on their learning outcome after completing 5
this course work.
TOTAL
100

ACADEMIC MALPRACTICE
Plagiarism, whether inadvertent or deliberate, shall include the following:

attempting to pass off work as ones own, which is not ones own. It includes the
representation of work, written or otherwise, of any other person, including another
student, or any institution, as the candidates own. It may take the form of:
verbatim copying or insertion of another persons work (published or unpublished and
including material freely available in electronic form) without
appropriate
acknowledgement
the close paraphrasing of another persons work by simply changing a few words or
altering the order of presentation, without appropriate acknowledgement
unacknowledged quotation of phrases from another persons work
the deliberate and detailed presentation of another persons concept as ones own.

Collusion, whether inadvertent or deliberate, shall include the following:

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ACC3014 Corporate Reporting: Theory and Practice

knowingly submits as entirely his/her own, work done in collaboration with another
person; without official approval; or
collaborates with another student in the completion of work which he/she knows is
intended to be submitted as that other students own unaided work; or
knowingly permits another student to copy all or part of his/her own work and to submit it
as that students own unaided work.
Please refer to Student Handbook for Diploma and Undergraduate Programmes or
Blackboard for details about academic malpractice penalties.

Table of Evaluation Criteria for Written Assignment

Criteria Marks % Description
Excellent 70 100 Work fulfilling the above criteria to an outstanding degree, in
particular demonstrating excellence in sustained argument, critical
thought and synthesis of material from diverse sources.
Very
good

60 69

Work demonstrating extensive knowledge and understanding of major

content areas and issues; the ability to appropriately synthesize
material from a range of sources; a well-developed capacity for
critical analysis of key issues and concepts; the ability to present a
defensible personal perspective on issues; evidence of wide reading in
relevant areas of the discipline; high quality presentation

Good

50 59

Above average work demonstrating good knowledge and

understanding of major content areas and issues; demonstration of
some capacity for critical analysis; the ability to present a perspective
on issues; evidence of reading in relevant areas of the discipline; high
quality presentation.

Average

40 49

Work of average standard which demonstrates an average

comprehension both of basic concepts and some issues, based on
class work and some further reading in the area; some ability to
compare key concepts and theoretical perspectives; average
presentation, particularly in regard to structure, expression and
referencing.

Marginal

30 39

Work which shows a basic understanding of key elements of the

subject matter at a descriptive level, based mainly on attendance at
lectures; satisfactory presentation with some deficiencies in structure,
expression and referencing.

Poor

1 29

Work which shows little evidence of knowledge or understanding of

the subject matter and is unsatisfactorily presented, particularly in
regard to structure, expression and referencing.

Very
poor

Work which shows no evidence of knowledge or understanding of the

subject matter.
6