Question Assignment 1- Literature Review On Contemporary Accounting

Introduction : Assignment 1- Literature Review On Contemporary Accounting

Developed economies all have their own regulatory environment for accounting and financial reporting. This assignment allows you to explore two different regulatory environments of your choice, and to evaluate the theories of regulation that best describe those environments.

This assignment is in two parts, which you will combine into a single report. Each will involve a review of the relevant literature to establish the dominant views involved in each environment. Your conclusion at the end of the report will identify the most important findings for each review.

Question Assignment 1- Literature Review On Contemporary Accounting

Part A

Select any two of the following countries

  1. Australia
  2. United Kingdom
  3. India
  4. Singapore.

Undertake a literature review for each of these countries’ regulatory environment for financial reporting. For each regulatory environment, find commentary on:

  1. The perceived problems of each system
  2. How the environment works (who are the major decision makers, what legislation is needed etc.)
  3. What is that country’s progress towards the adoption of IFRS?

Part B

Analyse each of your selected environments through the lens of Regulatory Capture Theory. To do this, you will have to conduct a literature review that will explain:

  1. What Regulatory Capture Theory is and why is might be useful,
  2. What characteristics might indicate that a regulatory environment might be “captured”.

Conclusion

Use Regulatory Capture Theory to critique each of your selected environments and advise of the extent that these environments might be captured (and by whom), or indeed might not be. If you have detected evidence of some capture, is this a good thing or a bad thing? Support your argument with your observations in Parts A and B.

What to submit

You must submit your assessment in the form of a single report, in the following format:

Executive Summary

Use the executive summary to summarise your topic and the key points of what you found in the literature about your topic. This should be no more than two paragraphs. Professional writers usually write part after they have finished the report.

Introduction : Literature Review On Contemporary Accounting

This is not the same as a synopsis. An introduction should be a roadmap to your entire report: what the topic was, where you searched, what you found, what the key points are.

An introduction can take up to half a page. Write this after the literature review and conclusion sections, but before the synopsis.

Report (2,000 words in total – 20 marks)

  1. Part A: Comparison of two regulatory environments (1,000 words – 10 marks)
  2. Part B: Analysis of each environment using Capture Theory (1,000 words – 10 marks)

Conclusion (500 words on your findings from using Capture Theory – 4 marks)

This wraps up (summarises) the key points of the report. Use this section to conclusively and clearly respond to the requirements of the topic.

In this part you specifically summarise your findings using Regulatory Capture Theory as your guide.

Normally you would not receive marks for your literature review in this part of the assignment, but in this case you are using Capture Theory to make your summary. Therefore you get marks for your scholarship here, too.

Reference List

Place your references here. I expect quite a few. Each reference listed here must also have a citation within the text of your literature review. The reverse is also true: every citation of a source within your literature review must point to a reference here in your reference list.

The assessment criteria

As you can probably guess, there is no single “correct” answer for this assignment, although there can be many “incorrect” answers. You will be assessed on:

  • the quality of your scholarship (research, processing information, and finally the ability to present what your found out in a useful way) (80%)
  • the quality of your English expression (10%)
  • the quality (readability) of your presentation (10%).

You must use APA referencing style for this assignment and you must be consistent: you must reference all sources of your information. A failure to reference properly will attract penalties of up to 5 marks.

Plagiarism or academic misconduct (such as using someone else to write your assignment) will attract worse penalties.

Rubric

Key Criteria Exceeds expactations (HD) 85–100% Exceeds expectations (D) 75–84% Meets expectations (C) 65–74% Meets minimum expectations (P) 50–64% Below expectations (F) < 50%
Organisation/structure(3 marks) The ideas are arranged in an extremely logical, structured and coherent manner. The introduction and conclusion clearly set out what is covered in the report. The ideas are arranged in a fairly logical, structured and coherent manner. The introduction and conclusion indicate what is covered in the report but not in a clear and succinct manner. The ideas are arranged in a logical, some-what structured and coherent manner. The introduction and conclusion give a basic overview of what is in the report. The report follows a basic structure, but the reader has to work hard to understand it. There is little, if any, coherent structure to the document.
Content knowledge & literature review (24 marks) Demonstrates a balanced and very high level of detailed knowledge of core concepts by providing a very high level of analysis. Utilises current, appropriate and credible sources. Demonstrates a balanced and high level of knowledge of core concepts by providing a high level of analysis. Utilises mostly current, appropriate and credible sources. Demonstrates a good level of knowledge of some of the core concepts by providing some level of analysis. Utilises some current, appropriate and credible sources. Demonstrates limited knowledge of core concepts by providing a limited level of analysis. Utilises few current, appropriate and credible sources. Demonstrates little, if any, knowledge of the core concepts with extremely limited, if any, analysis. Utilises little, if any, current, appropriate and credible sources.
Quality of writing & presentation (3 marks) Quality of writing at a very high standard. Paragraphs are coherently connected to each other. Correct grammar, spelling and punctuation. Quality of writing is of a high standard. Paragraphs are mostly well structured. Few grammar, spelling and punctuation mistakes. Quality of writing is of a good standard. Few grammar, spelling and punctuation mistakes. Some problems with sentence structure and presentation Frequent grammar, punctuation and spelling mistakes. Use of inappropriate language. Quality of writing is at a very poor standard so barely understandable. Many spelling mistakes. Little or no evidence of proof reading.