Assessment 1 Information – Semester 1 2020

Subject Code: BUSN104

Marks / Weighting:25 %

Word Count Maximum 1000 Words (excluding graphs, tables or references)

Learning Objectives:1, 2, 4 & 6

Assignment Description:

This assessment requires students to research, analyse and discuss accounting for corporate social responsibility and sustainability accounting. The purpose of the assessment is to develop a student’s understanding of how firms can be viewed within a social good context.

This assignment is designed to get you to locate the Annual Report for a non-bank/non-financial company that is listed on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) and become familiar with its contents, particularly the financial statements and the notes to the financial statements.

(Because we used Woolworths in Week 1 Woolworths is also excluded, for fairness).

While we have looked at very basic formats of the financial statements, the financial statements for a company contain much more detailed information much of which you have not been introduced to yet.

You will need to pay attention to the written information (including the CEO’s report) provided in the Annual Report (including notes to the financial statements) as you will find a lot of useful information in them that may help with some of the assignment questions.

In order to assist you in your assessment, you need to find the 2019 annual report for a company listed on the ASX.

Go to https://www.asx.com.au/asx/research/listedCompanies.do to find the complete list of companies. Once you have chosen a company that you are interested in, go to that company’s website to locate their 2019 Full annual report and download it. Take a quick look at the financial reports and check that they also have the 2018 financial results

Formative Section:

Complete a template the identifies key data from your company’s annual report or following chart

Table: Example data template for Assessment 1

Company Name:

Submit this template in the Formative Assessment link (under Assessment 1) on LEO and also attach the Statement of Financial Performance and Statement of Financial Position from your chosen company’s annual report.

Source: Annual reports and sustainability reports

Remember to note all your references in the Harvard method.

Final submission:

Overall question:

On the basis of your template and Annual Report, write a brief report that introduces your firm, its principal activities and discuss how your company has performed (financially and in a socially responsible manner) in the two years.

Format:

Cover Page Contents Page Executive summary

The executive summary should be approximately 10% of total word count. It acts as a summary of your what the reader will find in your report.

Company Background:

This commentary should report on the company you have chosen including, interesting aspects of the company. Explain how the auditor can support ethical practices.

Financial Results:

This section should identify and discuss any significant changes in the financial results and (using research data) explain the in-business or external activities in 2019 that led to changes.

Sustainability:

Critically discuss the company’s sustainable business activities and the financial implications of these activities.

Using wider research, explain why companies undertake the Corporate Social Responsibility activities and identify whether these have been verified by the auditor and provide an opinion as to whether the CSR is important for firms.

Conclusion:

This is a brief summary of your findings.