ACCT1077 Financial Accounting Theory, Semester 2
WIL Report A
The following assessments involve Work Integrated Learning (WIL) activities. The focus of RMIT’s WIL policy is for you to ‘learn by doing in context and with feedback’ in realistic contexts. This assessed WIL experience makes a significant contribution to development of your work-readiness capabilities by deepening your knowledge of, and skills at, core accountancy practices concerning the practical application of contemporary financial accounting regulation in the workplace.
Background Information and Reporting Task
You have been elected to the recently established Remuneration Committee of XXX Ltd. The Committee’s immediate task is to establish an executive compensation plan for XXX Ltd’s senior executives.
Applying Agency Theory and Watts and Zimmerman’s Positive Accounting Theory, prepare a report outlining the Committee’s recommendations to the Board of Directors for a compensation plan that will assist XXX Ltd to attract, motivate and retain the executives needed to achieve its objective of building an industry-leading company in terms of operational performance and the creation and protection of shareholder value.
Your report should identify the components of your proposed compensation plan as well as a justification for the inclusion in the plan of each component.
Report Requirements:
Report Format: Your report must conform to ‘Basic Report’ structure – see ‘Business Report Handout’ on Blackboard. You should keep in mind that your report is intended to be submitted to the Board of Directors of XXX Ltd.
Referencing: Your report must be fully referenced in-text and also include a list of references. The ‘RMIT Business’ version of Harvard referencing is required. For details of this referencing system go to https://www.dlsweb.rmit.edu.au/bus/public/referencing/index.html.
Word Limit: 1,000 words (not including reference list).
Weighting: 25%
Submission: Your report must be lodged electronically via the course Blackboard site (includes automatic submission to Turnitin). Note that your report must be submitted as a Word document. Ensure you obtain a Turnitin receipt and note its number. In rare instances, problems can occur during the electronic submission process. In the event of a dispute over whether your report was lodged correctly or on time, your Turnitin receipt can provide evidence of this. Without a receipt, you have no evidence!! (Hard copy submissions are not required.)
Marking: You should refer to the marking rubric, on page 4 of this document, which indicates the criteria upon which your report will be marked. All reports will be marked electronically, and marks and comments made available to you electronically upon completion of the marking process.
Due Date: Week 9, by midnight on Sunday 27 September 2015.
Additional Guidance:
You are required to design a compensation plan for a fictitious company XXX Ltd. You may wish to look at some real companies' compensation plans to give you some ideas; however, this is not strictly necessary as you should be able to design a plan based on the material in your textbook and seminar materials, together with some additional research. (Note: Do not copy and paste material from the remuneration section of a company annual report into your assignment. You are required to DESIGN a plan yourself, and justify each component of your plan!)
In order to ‘justify each component’, you must explain why you have included that component (e.g. base salary, bonus based on achieving profit target, etc.). That is, you must explain how each component is expected to motivate management to achieve the firm's goals (Agency Theory). You must also remember that your plan must ensure that the interests of the firm's shareholders are protected (which is where Watts & Zimmerman's Positive Accounting Theory (PAT) should be considered).
HINT: Agency Theory explains the problems that arise in an agency relationship and how they can be overcome through contracting (e.g. compensation plans that reward managers for acting in the best interests of shareholders). PAT predicts that managers will exploit those contracts given the opportunity (e.g. flexibility in accounting methods). You must design a compensation plan that motivates, and can't be exploited.
Extensions and Late Submissions:
If you wish to apply for an extension of time (7 days or less) for submission of a WIL assignment report you must email the course coordinator BEFORE the due date. You must include in your email a completed Application for Extension of Time for Submission of Assessable Work form, and supporting documentation. If you are seeking an extension of more than 7 days, then you must apply for Special Consideration via the formal online process (NOT to the course coordinator).
Further information can be found at the following web address: http://www1.rmit.edu.au/students/assessment/extension.
All WIL assignment reports will be marked as if submitted on time, then the mark awarded will be reduced by 10% for each day (or part of a day) that the report is late. For example, if an assignment is worth 25 marks and is submitted 2 days late then you will be penalised 2 x 10% of 25 marks, which is 5 marks. These 5 marks will be subtracted from the assessed mark.
WIL assignment reports that are late by 7 days or more will not be marked and will be awarded zero.
Please note that extensions are normally only granted in cases of exceptional and genuine hardship. This does not include inconvenience, poor planning, pressure from work or work commitments.
Report Marking Rubric
Scoring level Depth and quality of research undertaken Application of research to the task
Ability to apply appropriate accounting theories to the context of the taskAbility to synthesise information into a coherent and engaging report
Ability to correctly acknowledge sources using the RMIT Business Harvard Referencing systemScore
6 marks6 marks6 marks4 marks3 marks
Accomplished
(High Distinction) • Materials referred to are relevant and
• References are drawn from a wide variety sources and
• References support the arguments presented and
• Research is current and from a reliable source
5-6 marks • The report discussion clearly addresses the issues raised in the task and
• The report is highly relevant to the needs of the client and
• The report clearly outlines the major findings of the investigation and the impact of these findings on the client
5-6 marks • Your report makes clear links between your research and current accounting theories and
• Your report explains these links with clarity and applies these links to the task
5-6 marks • The report is professionally presented and
• All grammar and punctuation is correct and
• The report is written in a style appropriate for the client and
• The report is highly engaging and easy to read and
• All sections of the report have been included and correctly constructed
4 marks • The RMIT Business Harvard referencing system has been used to clearly and accurately record all cited sources in the report and
• A list of references has been provided which is correctly formatted in the RMIT Business Harvard style
3 marks
Highly Competent
(Distinction/
Credit) • Most of the materials referred to are relevant
• References are drawn from a good range of sources
• References generally support the arguments presented
• Research is mostly current and from a reliable source
4 marks • The report discussion addresses most of the issues raised in the task
• The report is mostly relevant to the needs of the client
• The report outlines the major findings of the investigation and the impact of these findings on the client
4 marks • Your report makes links between your research and current accounting theories but at times these links lack clarity
• Your report mostly manages to explain these links and apply these links to the task
4 marks • The report is professionally presented
• The majority of the grammar and punctuation is correct
• The report is written in a style appropriate for the client
• The report is engaging and fairly easy to read
• All sections of the report have been included and correctly constructed
3 marks • The RMIT Business Harvard referencing system has been used to clearly and accurately record all cited sources in the report
• A list of references has been provided which is correctly formatted but
• Some minor errors in the citations and/or list of references
2 marks
Satisfactory
(Credit/Pass) • Some of the materials referred to are relevant
• References are drawn from a limited range of sources
• There is a lack of cohesion between the references cited and the topic being discussed
• Research is mostly current and from a reliable source
3 marks • The discussion addresses most of the issues raised in the task but lacks some clarity
• The report at times lacks relevance and/or some of the conclusions drawn are erroneous
• The report outlines the major findings but lacks clarity in linking these findings to the client’s needs
3 marks • While some attempts have been made to link accounting theories to your discussion these links lack clarity
• Your report does not manage to explain these links clearly and apply these links to the task
3 marks • Improvement is needed in the report presentation
• There are some errors in grammar and punctuation
• The report is mostly written in a style appropriate for the client
• The report is not engaging and/or is not easy to read
• All sections of the report are included but there are some errors in these sections
2 marks • The RMIT Business Harvard referencing system has been used to record cited sources in the report but there are some major errors in these citations and/or
• A list of references has been provided but there are errors in the construction of this list (not all sources are cited)
1 mark
Unsatisfactory • There is a lack of evidence of relevant research
• The research presented is too narrow
• The research presented does not support the topic
0-2 marks • The report discussion fails to address most of the issues raised in the task and the discussion lacks clarity
• The report discussion lacks relevance and/or most of the conclusions drawn are erroneous
• The report does not outline the major findings
0-2 marks • Little or no attempt has been made to link accounting theories to the discussion and /or the links made are incorrect
• Your report does not manage to explain these links and apply these links to the task
0-2 marks • Major improvements in the presentation of the report are needed
• There are many errors in grammar and punctuation which need correction
• The report is written in a style that is inappropriate, the report is not engaging and/or is not easy to read
• Not all sections of the report have been included
0-1 marks • The RMIT Business Harvard system has not been used to record cited sources in the report and/or
• No List of references or serious errors in the construction of this list
0 marks
Total /25