Assessment Description
By completing this assessment the learner will gather evidence of the knowledge and skills required to:
- review corporate governance requirements, implement operating procedures and monitor policy
- research corporate governance reporting trends
- examine corporate governance standards and practices
- review compliance to develop and implement processes and procedures for meeting corporate governance obligations.
Instructions:
The Board of Ethical Trading Group is committed to excellence in its corporate governance standards and practices.
In order to ensure the best practice in its corporate governance activities, it has asked you (a key member of its financial management team) to research contemporary developments in corporate governance.
Once this broad review is completed, it has also requested that you respond to a number of issues arising from a recent report (and associated data) complied by the Internal Auditor.
In so doing, it has asked you to recommend how the standards and practices of Ethical Trading Group can incorporate these contemporary developments and correct the issues highlighted by the Internal Auditor.
The analysis and advice is to be formulated into a written report and is to be split into two parts (please see the ensuing pages).
Part 1: Report requirements (contemporary developments)
1. Provide a review of salient best practice points from the ASX Corporate Governance Council Guidelines 2014.
https://www.asx.com.au/documents/asx-compliance/cgc-principles-and-recommendations-3rd-edn.pdf
2. Research KPMG Changes in Corporate Reporting dated 3 March 2015 for recommendations on current best reporting practice
https://www.kpmg.com/AU/en/IssuesAndInsights/ArticlesPublications/accounting-reporting-webinar/Documents/changes-in-corporate-reporting-3-march-2015-slides.pdf
3. Compare ASX and KPMG documentation for assessing how well Ethical Trading Group is meeting its corporate governance obligations and performance
4. Recommend further enhancements in internal control process consistent with best practice in Corporate Governance.
To do so, please review the Ethical Trading Group Policies and Procedures manual in light of the ASX and KPMG documentation in Step 3 above.
5. As a result of your review, suggest a shortcoming that can be remedied in line with improved corporate governance requirements.
Part 2: Report requirements (governance response to internal audit report)
6. Based on this internal audit report in Attachment 1, assess current methodologies within the policies and procedures of ETG and recommend how these deviations can be corrected in the forthcoming trading period.
Specifically address each of the following four areas:
- Issuing Petty Cash and Reconciling Petty Cash
- Use of business credit cards
- Customer credit limit policy
- Customer debt collection policy
7. Based on the recommendations above, suggest changes in internal control procedures to ensure that non-compliance in each of the following four areas is mitigated in the future.
- Issuing Petty Cash and Reconciling Petty Cash
- Use of business credit cards
- Customer credit limit policy
- Customer debt collection policy
8. Refer to the further adjunct to the internal audit report for environmental policy in Attachment 2.
Re-write the environmental policy of ETG to ensure there are well defined Key Result Areas (KRAs) from which KPIs can be derived. To do this re-write, assume the KRAs are based on an overall improvement of 1% per annum for each of the environmental metrics included in the triple bottom line scorecard in the ETG case study data.
9. Refer to the performance of ETG on its triple bottom line scores for the use of recycled material and landfill waste from 2010 to 2014, as outlined in Attachment 3.
Now that you have re-written the environmental policy for ETG so that it includes KRAs, the next task is to set quarterly key performance indicators (KPIs) for 2015 for use of recycled material and landfill waste, based on an improvement of 1% p.a. In so doing, enter these quarterly targets in the Excel sheet in Attachment 3 for 2015.
Present these quarterly targets in a way that is visually engaging by including charts within the Excel file in Attachment 3.
10. Now refer to Attachment 4. This attachment provides actual data that was collected during 2015 for the performance of ETG on use of recycled material and landfill waste (after your quarterly KPI targets have been set).
Graph this actual data and highlight the shortfalls that have occurred on each of these 2 environmental performance metrics when compared to the quarterly KPIs you set for 2015.
Write a brief reporting plan outlining the following;
- What types of management processes and controls should be considered for correcting these shortfalls?
- Note who should be responsible for signing-off and authorising new processes and controls
- Note proposed timeframes for implementing new process and controls within a scheduled timeframe (for example, 1 week, 1 month, 3 months. The length of time can vary and will depend on the complexity of the proposed control and process changes).
11. The excerpt of the policy of the Ethical Trading Group in Attachment 5 in bold italics states "engage employees in the delivery of its environmental strategic agenda and support them in practical ways so they can reduce their own environmental footprints". The shortfall in the two environmental performance metrics (use of recycled material and landfill waste) indicates there is now a prima facie case that employees have not been supported in practical ways to reduce environmental footprints.
Suggest how you would monitor the communication (and regular updates) of the Ethical Trading Group strategic agenda to staff. Also how you would monitor practical ways that staff have been resourced to reduce their environmental footprint.
Attachment:- Attachments.rar