This document provides instructions for an accounting assessment. It outlines: 1) The task which is a critical analysis of an accounting question and cases. 2) Formatting requirements for submitting the assessment such as font size and page numbering. 3) Requirements around word count and acceptable sources to reference. 4) Warnings against plagiarism and instructions on submitting and retaining a copy of the assessment.

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S116 ACT301 Accounting Theory and Contemporary Issues:
ASSESSMENT 1
Due date:
Week 9, Friday Midnight CST (6 May 2016)
Length: As required in Part A and Part B.
1000-2000 words (10% tolerable rate, i.e. maximum word
count limit of 2,200 words)
Value: 15% of the Total Unit Assessment
Task
Critical analysis of a given accounting questions and cases.
Preparation Study Topics 1-6 through following the study guide
and
readings. Additional research in accounting literature.
Presentation Format

2. and Submission
Submit via CDU Learnline in ‘WORD DOC OR PDF’
ONLY.
Assessment Font Style and Size: Times New Roman, Size 11
Student number to be indicated on the bottom left hand
corner on each page, Times New Roman, Size 9
Page numbering on the bottom right hand corner, Times
New Roman, Size 9
Text alignment and line spacing: Left Text Alignment, 1.5
Line Spacing
Total Assessment Words: min of 1000, max of 2200 words
You are expected to use sources from the academic
accounting literature. Examples of these sources are given
below. DO NOT reference Wikipedia.
Much of the literature that will be useful to you was published
in the 1990’s and the first few years of the 21
st
century.
Some suitable academic journals to browse for this purpose

3. include:
The Accounting Review
Accounting and Business Research
International Journal of Accounting Education and Research
International Journal of Accounting
Asia Pacific Journal of Management
The British Accounting Review
European Accounting Review
Journal of Applied Accounting Research
Accounting Research Journal, etc.
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S116 ACT301 Accounting Theory and Contemporary Issues:
ASSESSMENT 1
Do NOT share files with other students— submission of
identical work constitutes

4. plagiarism, and you are liable for charges of misconduct
regardless of whether you copied
the work or provided the original work to others.
Note that plagiarism also includes presenting the ideas of others
as if they were your own.
It does not only refer to the absence of inverted commas or
using the exact words of others.
Referencing of sources is expected in Part A and B of this
assignment. You have a bonus
from doing this correctly since that referencing also provides
authoritative support for the
statements you make.
Be aware that any evidence of plagiarism will be investigated
and
disciplinary action taken.
See the sections on plagiarism on CDU Learnline.
DO NOT LODGE BY FAX nor EMAIL nor at LECTURER'S
OFFICE
KEEP A COPY
Oral Test or Viva Voce

5. Lecturers may, at their discretion, ask students to verbally
present their assignment submissions or rewrite some
selected part/s of their answer in a controlled setting. Lecturers
may exercise this discretion where they feel that
the assignment was not the student’s own work.
University Plagiarism policy
Plagiarism is the unacknowledged use of material written or
produced by others or a rework of your own material.
All sources of information and ideas used in assignments must
be referenced. This applies whether the
information is from a book, journal article, the internet, or a
previous essay you wrote or the assignment of a
friend. Plagiarism policy is available at:
http://www.cdu.edu.au/governance/policies/pol-001.pdf and
Student Breach of Academic Integrity
Procedures http://www.cdu.edu.au/governance/procedures/pro-
092.pdf
Extensions and Late Lodgements
LATE ASSIGNMENTS WILL GENERALLY NOT BE
ACCEPTED UNLESS AN EXTENSION TO THE
DUE DATE HAS BEEN GRANTED BY THE HEAD OF
SCHOOL.

6. Exceptions will only be made where assignments are late due to
special circumstances that are supported by
documentary evidence, and may be subject to a penalty of 5% of
assignment marks per day. Partially completed
assignments will be accepted with appropriate loss of marks for
the incomplete portion.
Should students foresee potential difficulties with submission of
assessment items, they should contact the lecturer
immediately the difficulties come to notice, to discuss suitable
arrangements etc. for the submission of those
assessment times. An Application for Assignment Extension or
Special Consideration should be completed and
provided to the Head of School, School of Law and Business.
This application form, explanation and instructions is available
on the ACT301 CDU Learnline course site or
direct from
http://learnline.cdu.edu.au/units/lb_school_templates/deployed/
assignment_extension.docx
Please note that it is now Faculty policy that all extension
requests must be approved by the Head of School. The
lecturer is no longer able to personally approve extension
requests.

7. Leaving a request for an extension, special assessment or
special consideration until the last moment, based on
grounds that students could have reasonably been able to
foresee, may result in the application being rejected.
Ensure that you maintain suitable backup copies of your
assignment during preparation, before completion and
after lodgement. Loss of data/assignment due to failure to
maintain a suitable backup will not constitute grounds
for an extension.
http://www.cdu.edu.au/governance/policies/pol-001.pdf
http://www.cdu.edu.au/governance/procedures/pro-092.pdf
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Part A
The government of the Republic of the Philippines (RP) has
become concerned that
existing disclosure regulation tends to fixate on the financial
performance of
organisation but fails to address other aspects of corporate
performance, including

8. failure to provide information about corporate social and
environmental impacts as
well as about various initiatives and investments an
organisation has undertaken to
improve its social and environmental performance. As such, RP
has decided to
introduce legislation that will require business corporations to
provide information
about the social and environmental impacts of their operations,
as well as the social
and environmental initiatives undertaken by the corporations.
Required:
You are required to do the following:
(a) Explain from a ‘public interest theory perspective’ the
rationale for RP
introducing the legislation and how RP will ultimately assess
whether any
proposed legislation should actually be introduced.
(b) Predict from a ‘capture theory perspective’ the types of
constituents that will
benefit in the long run from any social and environmental

9. disclosure
legislation.
(c) Predict from an ‘economic interest group perspective’
whether any potential
legislation to be introduced will lead to an increase in the
accountability of
corporations in relation to their social and environmental
performance despite
any implications that this increased corporate accountability
might have for
the financial success of large but heavily polluting
organisations.
(d) That it is argued that the process of the regulation of
financial accounting is
‘political’ in nature? Do you agree or disagree? Explain your
answer.
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Part B

10. The website of FASB (www.fasb.org) has a section entitled
‘Facts about FASB’, in
which there is information about how accounting standards are
developed (as
accessed in November 2015). In part, it states:
Since 1973, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB)
has been the designated
organization in the private sector for establishing standards of
financial accounting that
govern the preparation of financial reports by nongovernmental
entities. Those standards are
officially recognized as authoritative by the Securities and
Exchange Commission (SEC)
(Financial Reporting Release No. 1, Section 101, and reaffirmed
in its April 2003 Policy
Statement) and the American Institute of Certified Public
Accountants (Rule 203, Rules of
Professional Conduct, as amended May 1973 and May 1979).
Such standards are important
to the efficient functioning of the economy because decisions
about the allocation of
resources rely heavily on credible, concise, and understandable
financial information.
The SEC has statutory authority to establish financial
accounting and reporting standards for
publicly held companies under the Securities Exchange Act of
1934. Throughout its history,
however, the Commission’s policy has been to rely on the
private sector for this function to
the extent that the private sector demonstrates ability to fulfil

11. the responsibility in the public
interest.
Mission
The mission of the FASB is to establish and improve standards
of financial accounting and
reporting that foster financial reporting by nongovernmental
entities that provides decision-
useful information to investors and other users of financial
reports.
That mission is accomplished through a comprehensive and
independent process that
encourages broad participation, objectively considers all
stakeholder views, and is subject to
oversight by the Financial Accounting Foundation’s Board of
Trustees.
The FASB accomplishes its mission through a comprehensive
and independent process that
encourages broad participation, objectively considers all
stakeholder views, and is subject to
oversight by the Financial Accounting Foundation’s Board of
Trustees.
The Rules of Procedure describe the FASB’s operating
procedures, including the due process
activities that are to be open to public participation or
observation to provide transparency into
the standards-setting process. In particular, the Rules of
Procedure describe:

12. related principles that
guide the Board’s standards-setting activities
responsibilities of the Chairman,
the composition of the FASB technical staff, the role of
advisory groups, the Emerging
Issues Task Force, and public forums in our due process
content of Accounting
Standards Updates, Exposure Drafts, and Concepts Statements
s
information made broadly
available to the public.
http://www.fasb.org/
http://www.fasb.org/cs/ContentServer?c=Document_C&pagena
me=FASB%2FDocument_C%2FDocumentPage&cid=117616239
1050
http://www.fasb.org/cs/ContentServer?c=Page&pagename=FAS
B%2FPage%2FSectionPage&cid=1176154526495#mission
http://www.fasb.org/cs/ContentServer?c=Page&pagename=FAS
B%2FPage%2FSectionPage&cid=1218220087017
http://www.fasb.org/cs/ContentServer?c=Page&pagename=FAS
B%2FPage%2FSectionPage&cid=1218220087158
http://www.fasb.org/cs/ContentServer?c=Page&pagename=FAS
B%2FPage%2FSectionPage&cid=1218220087158
http://www.fasb.org/cs/ContentServer?c=Page&pagename=FAS
B%2FPage%2FSectionPage&cid=1176156316498
http://www.fasb.org/cs/ContentServer?c=Page&pagename=FAS
B%2FPage%2FSectionPage&cid=1176156316498

13. 5 of 5
A key principle guiding the Board's work is to issue standards
when the expected benefits of a
change justify the perceived costs of that change. The FASB has
developed a plain-language
Cost-Benefit Analysis summary that explains how the
consideration of benefits and costs is
integrated throughout the FASB’s standards-setting process. It
explains how the FASB
gathers information about potential costs and benefits of
standards, as well as how the cost-
benefit analysis differs from an analysis of economic
consequences.
A high-level overview of the standards-setting process as
established by the Rules of
Procedure follows. The nature and extent of the Board's specific
research and outreach
activities will vary from project to project, depending on the
nature and scope of the reporting
issues involved.
1. The Board identifies financial reporting issues based on
requests/recommendations
from stakeholders or through other means.
2. The FASB decides whether to add a project to the technical
agenda based on a staff-
prepared analysis of the issues.
3. The Board deliberates at one or more public meetings the
various reporting issues

14. identified and analyzed by the staff.
4. The Board issues an Exposure Draft to solicit broad
stakeholder input. (In some
projects, the Board may issue a Discussion Paper to obtain input
in the early stages
of a project.)
5. The Board holds a public roundtable meeting on the Exposure
Draft, if necessary.
6. The staff analyzes comment letters, public roundtable
discussion, and all other
information obtained through due process activities. The Board
redeliberates the
proposed provisions, carefully considering the stakeholder input
received, at one or
more public meetings.
7. The Board issues an Accounting Standards Update describing
amendments to the
Accounting Standards Codification.
Required:
(a) Given the process involved in developing standards – which
involves asking
constituents to make submissions on exposure drafts – do you
think that
accounting standards developed within the United States of
America would be

15. the same as accounting standards developed in another country?
Explain and
support your view.
(b) Is it appropriate for accounting standard-setting bodies to
consider ‘culture’
and ‘religion’ when devising accounting regulations,
particularly given that
the output of financial reporting is expected to be objective and
unbiased?
Explain and support your view.
http://www.fasb.org/cs/ContentServer?c=Page&pagename=FAS
B%2FPage%2FSectionPage&cid=1351027336339
(
Week 8
Practical Activity
)
In week 5 you worked on question 1 and 2 of this document and
in week 6 you worked on questions 3 and 4. The week 6
solution is provided on pages 4-6. In week 7 you worked on
questions 5 and 6.

16. Solution
to week 7 activity is provided on pages 6-7. The week 8
practical activity includes completing question 7 and 8.
The following diagram shows the control flow among the
functions to solve your project. Each rounded rectangle
represents a function and the text in the rectangle denotes the
function name. The arrows indicate which function(s) can be
invoked from a parent function. The control flow starts at level
1 with the menu function. The menu function does not have a
parent function; rather it is invoked by the Python interpreter
when you click the run button on PyCharm. The menu function
in turn invokes enterAllMkarksOfAStudentToStorage and
displayAllReports. Similarly the searchStudentMarks function
gets invoked by enterAllMkarksOfAStudentToStorage.
Similarly the order of invocation of all other function is shown.
It is important to remember that the control flow diagram does
not indicate the order of execution at a specific level. For
example the figure does not indicate whether
enterAllMkarksOfAStudentToStorage or displayAllReports get
executed first at level 2 even though
enterAllMkarksOfAStudentToStorage appears to the before
displayAllReports at level 2

17. (
Level 1
Level 2
Level 3
Level 3
Level 3
Level 3
Level 3
Level 4
)
(
menu
)
(
displayAllReports
)
(
enterAllMkarksOfAStudentToStorage
)
(
getBelowAvgDFReportMarksReport

18. ) (
searchStudentMarks
)
(
getBelowAvgProjectMarksReport
)
(
getBelowAvgFinalExamMarksReport
)
(
getBelowAvgOverallMarksReport
)
(
displaySelectedStudentsMarks
)
(
displayAStudentsDetail
)

19. Using PyCharm create a python project called
ISYS217ProjectWeek5Version. Note you will have a newer
version of this code each week. So do not lose the solution
Question 1: Write the definition of a menu function such that
when it executes it prompts the user to enter 1 or 2 or 3. Further
if the user enters 1 it invokes the
enterAllMkarksOfAStudentToStorage function and if the user
enters 2 it invokes the displayAllReports function and if the
user enter 3 it exits the program. At this stage do not bother
about the finer details of enterAllMkarksOfAStudentToStorage
and displayAllReports. That is assume the ad-hoc function
definition of enterAllMkarksOfAStudentToStorage is specified
as follows:def
enterAllMkarksOfAStudentToStorage():print(“The
enterAllMkarksOfAStudentToStorage function got
invokedn”)Similarly assume the ad-hoc function definition of
displayAllReports is specified as follows:def displayAllReports
():print(“The displayAllReports function got invokedn”)
Question 2:
Using similar reasoning re-write the displayAllReports function
definition. That is when displayAllReports gets invoked it
should prompt the user to enter:
1 for the invocation of getBelowAvgDFReportMarksReport
2 for the invocation of getBelowAvgProjectMarksReport

20. 3 for the invocation of getBelowAvgFinalExamMarksReport
4 for the invocation of getBelowAvgOverallMarksReport
5 for the invocation of displaySelectedStudentsMarks
6 to return to the menu function
Note: As you have done for question 1 user similarly ad-hoc
function definitions for each of the above mentioned function
definitions.
Question 3:
Since you have learnt while loops in week 6, you will have to
change the function definitions of the menu function such that
the program exits only if the user enters 3. Remember in week 5
your program was exiting even if you did not enter 3. This can
be done using a while loop.
Question 4:
Similarly you have to change the function definition of
enterAllMkarksOfAStudentToStorage such that the user may
enter valid marks for DF Report, Project and Final exam for a
student. This would also mean entering the name of the student.
You may recall that the valid mark for a DF Report is between 0
and 20. Similarly a valid mark for Project is between 0 and 30
and that for the final exam is between 0 and 50. Use the while
loop to ensure that the program repeatedly asks the user to enter
the valid marks if a wrong entry is made for any of the 3
assessments.

21. Observe from the figure given on page 1 that the
enterAllMkarksOfAStudentToStorage function invokes the
searchStudentMarks function to find if a new student’s name (or
similar uniquely identifiable detail) already exists in the
storage. We will not want to get distracted by this detail at the
moment. Hence write a dummy function definition for
searchStudentMarks as follows:def searchStudentMarks
(keyToSearch):print(“The searchStudentMarks function got
invokedn”)
The enterAllMkarksOfAStudentToStorage functions should add
the students detail preferably as a tuple or as a list in a
dictionary data-structure that is supplied as a parameter to the
function. You may use the student name or student id as the key
in the dictionary. Assume the tuple (or list) details are
organized as follows:
First item contains df report marks
Second item contains project marks
Third item contains final exam marks
Finally enterAllMkarksOfAStudentToStorage function should
return the dictionary object.
#-----------------------Week 6