Unit Outline

BFA103

Accountability and Accounting

Semester 1, 2024 - ECA

Jason Ketchell

Tasmanian School of Business & Economics (TSBE)

College of Business and Economics

CRICOS Provider Code: 00586B

Contact Details

Unit Coordinator

Jason Ketchell

Email: Jason.Ketchell@utas.edu.au

Contents

What is the Unit About?................................................................................................................................ 3

Unit Description............................................................................................................................................ 3

Intended Learning Outcomes................................................................................................................... 3

Requisites...................................................................................................................................................... 3

How will I be Assessed?................................................................................................................................ 4

Assessment schedule................................................................................................................................ 4

Assessment details..................................................................................................................................... 4

How your final result is determined........................................................................................................ 8

Submission of assignments..................................................................................................................... 8

Requests for extensions............................................................................................................................ 8

Late penalties................................................................................................................................................ 8

Review of results and appeals................................................................................................................. 8

Required Resources....................................................................................................................................... 9

Required reading materials....................................................................................................................... 9

Recommended reading materials............................................................................................................ 9

Other required resources........................................................................................................................... 9

Unit schedule................................................................................................................................................. 10

AACSB Accreditation................................................................................................................................... 12

Sustainability.................................................................................................................................................. 12

What is the Unit About?

Unit Description

This unit will help you understand the role that accounting plays in providing accountability. We move beyond introductory accounting and explore the important role that accounting has in organisations, society and the environment.

After completing this unit, you will have fundamental management and financial accounting knowledge, tools for analysing organisations’ external reports and a comprehension of how accounting can be used to address social responsibility, ethical conduct and sustainability.

This unit allows you to begin the up skilling required by our professional accounting bodies, requiring us to move beyond orthodox/conventional accounting practices and understand our role in accountability.

Intended Learning Outcomes

As per the Assessment and Results Policy 1.3, your results will reflect your achievement against specified learning outcomes.

On completion of this unit, you will be able to:

1.	Analyse the role of accountability and accounting for all areas of organisational performance.
2.	Apply management accounting tools to make informed decisions about organisational performance.
3.	Apply financial accounting principles and techniques to make informed decisions about organisational performance.
4.	Produce written artefacts, individually and in team environments, using professional language and standards common to business professionals and peers.

Requisites

REQUISITE TYPE	REQUISITES
Anti-requisite (mutual excl)	XPD106, BFA113, ZAA133

How will I be Assessed?

For more detailed assessment information please see MyLO.

Assessment schedule

ASSESSMENT TASK #	ASSESSMENT TASK NAME	DATE DUE	WEIGHT	LINKS TO INTENDED LEARNING OUTCOMES
Assessment Task 1:	AT1 Part A: Written Artefact: Explaining accountability and accounting	Week 4	5 %	LO1, LO4
Assessment Task 2:	AT1 Part B: Essay: Applying the accountability model to social and environmental information	Week 7	20 %	LO1, LO4
Assessment Task 3:	Group Case Study: Applying management and financial accounting	Week 11	35 %	LO2, LO3, LO4
Assessment Task 4:	Take Home Examination	Exam Period	40 %	LO1, LO2, LO3

Assessment details

Assessment Task 1: AT1 Part A: Written Artefact: Explaining accountability and accounting

Task Description:

You will submit a small written artefact on the accountability model applied to external social and environmental accounting information.

A task sheet will be provided on MyLO.

Task Length:

300 words

Due Date:

Week 4

Weight:

5 %

CRITERION #

CRITERION

MEASURES INTENDED

LEARNING OUTCOME(S)

1	Explain accountability and accounting.	LO1
2	Produce a written artefact as an individual, using professional language and standards common to business professionals.	LO4

Assessment Task 2: AT1 Part B: Essay: Applying the accountability model to social and environmental information

Task Description:

Applying the accountability model for social and environmental information

Essay (Week 7)
You will write an essay explaining and analysing how a particular company has applied the accountability model in terms of social and environmental information.

Details will be provided on MyLO.

Task Length:

2000 words

Due Date:

Week 7

Weight:

20 %

CRITERION #

CRITERION

MEASURES INTENDED

LEARNING OUTCOME(S)

1	Explain accountability and accounting.	LO1
2	Explain organisational boundaries in the context of accountability and accounting.	LO1
3	Produce a written artefact as an individual, using professional language and standards common to business professionals.	LO4
4	Use the Harvard referencing system.	LO4
5	Explain and apply the accountability model to situations of corporate social responsibility, ethical conduct and/or sustainability.	LO1
6	Explain various reporting frameworks for sustainability reporting and use tools for analysing them.	LO1

Assessment Task 3: Group Case Study: Applying management and financial accounting

Task Description:

Applying management and financial accounting

In a group of three, you will complete a case study, which will require you to apply management and financial accounting.

More details will be provided on MyLO.

Task Length:

TBA

Due Date:

Week 11

Weight:

35 %

CRITERION #

CRITERION

MEASURES INTENDED

LEARNING OUTCOME(S)

1	Apply cost volume profit analysis to make informed decisions.	LO2
2	Apply budgeting techniques to make informed decisions.	LO2
3	Apply various performance evaluation techniques to make informed decisions.	LO2
4	Use simple Excel skills.	LO3
5	Record accounting transactions in worksheets.	LO3
6	Prepare simple financial statements.	LO3
7	Produce a written artefact within a team, using professional language and standards common to business professionals.	LO4
8	Use the Harvard referencing system.	LO4
9	Reflect on your performance as a team member in the group.	LO4

Assessment Task 4: Take Home Examination

Task Description:

The examination will enable you to demonstrate your breadth and depth of understanding across all the unit material. All topics are examinable.

An information sheet with details about the examination will be given to you in the last lecture of the semester and posted on MyLO at the end of that week.

Task Length:

24 hours

Due Date:

Exam Period

Weight:

40 %

CRITERION #

CRITERION

MEASURES INTENDED

LEARNING OUTCOME(S)

1	Explain accountability and accounting.	LO1
2	Explain organisational boundaries in the context of accountability and accounting.	LO1
3	Apply cost volume profit analysis to make informed decisions.	LO2
4	Apply budgeting techniques to make informed decisions.	LO2
5	Apply various performance evaluation techniques to make informed decisions.	LO2
6	Record accounting transactions in worksheets.	LO3
7	Prepare simple financial statements.	LO3
8	Explain and apply the accountability model to situations of corporate social responsibility, ethical conduct and/or sustainability.	LO1
9	Explain various reporting frameworks for sustainability reporting and use tools for analysing them.	LO1

How your final result is determined

To pass this unit, you need to demonstrate your attainment of each of the Intended Learning Outcomes, achieve a final unit grade of 50% or greater, and pass any hurdle tasks.

Submission of assignments

Where practicable, assignments should be submitted to an assignment submission folder in MYLO. You must submit assignments by the due date or receive a penalty (unless an extension of time has been approved by the Unit Coordinator). Students submitting any assignment in hard copy, or because of a practicum finalisation, must attach a student cover sheet and signed declaration for the submission to be accepted for marking.

Requests for extensions

If you are unable to submit an assessment task by the due date, you should apply for an extension.

A request for an extension should first be discussed with your Unit Coordinator or teaching support team where possible. A request for an extension must be submitted by the assessment due date, except where you can provide evidence it was not possible to do so. Typically, an application for an extension will be supported by documentary evidence: however, where it is not possible for you to provide evidence please contact your Unit Coordinator.

The Unit Coordinator must notify you of the outcome of an extension request within 3 working days of receiving the request.

Late penalties

Assignments submitted after the deadline will receive a late penalty of 5% of the original available mark for each calendar day (or part day) that the assignment is late. Late submissions will not be accepted more than 10 calendar days after the due date, or after assignments have been returned to other students on a scheduled date, whichever occurs first. Further information on Late Penalties can be found on the Assessments and Results Procedure.

Review of results and appeals

You are entitled to ask for a review of the marking and grading of your assessment task if there is an irregularity in the marking standards or an error in the process for determining the outcome of an assessment. Details on how to request a review of a mark for an assignment are outlined in the Review and Appeal of Academic Decisions Procedure.

Required Resources

Required reading materials

You will need the following electronic resource:

MindTap for Deegan's An Introduction to Accounting: Accountability in Organisations and Society (2020) Cengage, Melbourne.

Your unit coordinator will provide a unique code for this resource which will allow you to join this cohort’s space on MindTap specifically.

You can also use the UTAS10 to receive a 10% discount.

This electronic resource contains your eBook and the case study, which is necessary for all workshop activities. It also has other useful activities, which you can use to self-assess your knowledge.

Other required resources

Microsoft Excel

You also need access to a reliable computer with internet access

Unit schedule

Week	Date beginning	Topic/ Module/ Focus Area	Activities	Resources/ Readings/ Further Information
1	26 February	Accounting and accountability	Refer to MyLO	Deegan Ch 1
2	4 March	Organisations and their reporting boundaries Writing skills	Refer to MyLO	Deegan Ch 2
3	11 March	The external reporting of social and environmental information	Refer to MyLO	Deegan Ch 6 Deegan Ch 12 (pp. 671-679 only)
4	18 March	An introduction to management accounting	Refer to MyLO Assessment Task 1 Part A (5%) Due Friday 22 March 10pm ILO1, ILO4	Deegan Ch 3
5a	25 March	Budgeting	Refer to MyLO	Deegan Ch 4
Mid-Semester Break: Thursday 28 March – Wednesday 3 April 2024
5b	4 April	Budgeting	Refer to MyLO	Deegan Ch 4
6	8 April	Performance measurement and evaluation	Refer to MyLO	Deegan Ch 5
7	15 April	Part 1: An introduction to financial accounting	Refer to MyLO Assessment Task 1 Part B (20%) Due Friday 19 April 10pm ILO1, ILO4	Deegan Ch 7
8	22 April	Part 2: An introduction to financial accounting	Refer to MyLO	Deegan Ch 7
9	29 April	The balance sheet	Refer to MyLO	Deegan Ch 9
10	6 May	The income statement and the statement of changes in equity	Refer to MyLO	Deegan Ch 10
11	13 May	The statement of cashflows, and cash controls	Refer to MyLO Assessment Task 2 Group case study 35% Due Friday 17 May 10pm ILO2, ILO3, ILO4	Deegan Ch 11
12	20 May	The analysis of organisations’ external reports.	Refer to MyLO	Deegan Ch 12
13	27 May	Revision	Refer to MyLO
Study Period: 3 June to 7 June
Exam Period: 8 June to 25 June

AACSB Accreditation

The Tasmanian School of Business and Economics (TSBE) gained initial Business Accreditation from the AACSB International (AACSB) in July 2021 – the lead program for accrediting business schools globally. AACSB seeks to connect educators, students, and business to achieve a common goal – to create the next generation of business leaders.

AACSB is the most reputable standard in business education and TSBE is now one of an elite group of the world’s business schools. By being an AACSB accredited School, TSBE has joined a global alliance committed to improve the quality of business education around the world, and to share the latest innovations in business education.

Gaining Business Accreditation with AACSB means that we have satisfied a multi-year process involving TSBE demonstrating our performance against the 15 accreditation standards.

TSBE has joined a select community of accredited business schools, with only five percent of all business schools globally accredited with AACSB. This will further enhance the reputation of TSBE, as well as the global recognition of your qualifications. To find out more about AACSB click here.

Sustainability

The College of Business and Economics is now a PRME (Principles for Responsible Management Education) signatory. We are committed to the six PRME values of Purpose, Values, Method, Research, Partnership and Dialogue and you will see in various units how we embed sustainability values in our teaching and research and the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals. Across all sustainable development goals, our university is ranked at 25 overall globally, and for Sustainable Development Goal 13 – Climate Action – UTAS is the number one university. For more information about PRME, click here.