Objectives of the Assignment
This assignment develops your capabilities to analyse, reason logically and conceptualise financial, social and environmental issues; and is aligned with the Course Learning Outcomes of identifying, understanding and interpreting accounting concepts. The use of Sustainability and/or Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Report enables you to apply your accounting knowledge to a real world context.
The assignment is aligned with the following course learning objectives:
- Understand the ethics of business, corporate governance, and corporate social responsibility (CSR)
- Reflect on financial information use in a business context
- Interpret business reports and accounting information to support business decision-making processes
At the completion of the assignment you are also expected to achieve the following Program Learning Outcome (PLO):
- Apply a broad theoretical and technical knowledge of business practice in diverse contexts.
- Apply reasoned judgements to solve problems in a variety of business contexts with reference to ethical, regulatory and global perspectives.
Overview of assignment requirements
Assume you are preparing the report for a friend who wishes to invest in a business which conducts itself in a socially and environmentally responsible way. In your report, you are required to advise your friend on the economical/financial, social and environmental performance of the business. You should choose and analyse the financial and Sustainability/CSR reports of one of the specified below organisations (Please note that a marking rubric/guide will be available on RMIT Blackboard); and advise your friend whether or not to invest in the business in the report conclusion. You should demonstrate that you have undertaken research, and cite the sources you have used through appropriate in-text referencing and bibliography.
We highly suggest you go through the sustainability chapter in the text book before you commence writing the assignment. Then go through the annual reports of your chosen company as well as other online resources which provide extra support for financial, social and environmental performance of your chosen company. It is important that you follow the assignment template to write your report.
You are required to prepare a report on one of the following specific organisations below:
The assignment's template is as follows:
- Title Page
- Table of contents
- Introduction
- Financial/Economic performance
- Social performance
- Environmental performance
- Conclusion
- Reference List
- Appendix (optional)
With the financial/Economic performance section of your assignment, the minimum requirement is to locate and summarise the company's basic financial information as outlined below. Then, most importantly you should discuss the financial performance (particularly profitability) of the company using the management reports, online resources, financial and sustainability reports. It's highly recommended to provide some comparison analysis with company's previous financial years (up to 2 years) and/or competitors or industry averages to support your report analysis.
Company name: xxx
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General financial information
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Financial year xxx
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(A)
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Total Assets
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Total Liabilities
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Total Owners Equity
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(B)
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(Basic) Profit earned- per share (EPS)
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(C)
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Total Ordinary Shares issued
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(D)
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Profit received by Shareholders- per share (DPS)
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(E)
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Net Cash flows from Operating Activities
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(F)
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Net Cash flows from Investing Activities
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As a result of reading your chosen company's CSR and/or Sustainability Report, you should discuss matters relating to the company's sustainability practices and reporting in your report including but not limited to the following issues:
- Aspects of company's environmental performance -related to natural capital- including but not limited to environmental protection, energy and carbon emission concerns, and waste production concerns.
- Aspects of company's social performance -related to human capital and society wealth creation potential- including but not limited to the employee health, human rights protection, contributions to the community, customer involvement, and product responsibility.
Other appropriate issues in completing this assignment:
- A report format should be used for your written submission. Please ensure you use headings and sub-headings to structure your report. Please ensure that your report is typed with the following formatting style recommended: 1.5 line spacing, 11 point font, minimum 3 cm margin on left-hand side of paper.
- Your assignment must be appropriately referenced using the Harvard Style referencing system. Both in-text citations, as well as a reference list at the end of your assignment, are required. You should refer to the referencing guidelines provided at: https://www.dlsweb.rmit.edu.au/bus/public/referencing/index.html
o Note that when citing an annual report, either by paraphrasing or using direct quotes, you must reference the annual report (in your reference list) according to the following format: Name of company. (Year of publication) Title of annual report (in italics). Place of publication: Publisher.
(To cite an annual report in-text, you will generally have to use the organisation's name, as an author name is usually not present.)
Penalties for inadequate or incorrect referencing will apply.
- This assignment is to be completed as an individual assignment. All electronically submitted assignments will be automatically forwarded to Turnitin and subjected to an assessment of authenticity/originality, so please ensure your submission is your own individual work - severe penalties will apply for work that is not original/individual. You are allowed to submit your work prior to the due date to obtain an originality report. If the report requires revision you are allowed to adjust your assignment and resubmit. Please note: Any resubmissions into Turnitin takes 48 hrs to obtain a new Originality Report. Late submissions due to this process will incur late penalties. Please aim to submit your assignment a week prior to assessment due date.
- Please refer to the Academic Integrity presentation available at ‘Assessment' on the course Blackboard site.
o Do not include the wording of the assignment instructions in your submission
o A hard copy submission is not required.