Late Assessment Submission Penalty (written assessments)  

Unless a Special Consideration request has been submitted and approved, a 5% penalty (of the total possible mark) will be applied each day a written assessment is not submitted, up until the 7th day (including weekends). After the 7th day, a grade of ‘0’ will be awarded even if the assessment is submitted. Submission time for all written assessments is set at 11.55pm. A 1-hour grace period is provided to students who experience a technical concern.    

For any late submissions of time-sensitive tasks, such as scheduled tests/exams, performance assessments/presentations, and/or scheduled practical assessments/labs, students need to submit an application for Special Consideration. 

This unit is structured as a participation subject as part of the PACE program and as Capstone unit. It integrates the materials that are covered in first and second year accounting and business law units, applying this material to an environment where accounting graduates become a professional in an environment that is contemporary, global and technologically driven. 

The objectives of the unit are to consolidate and investigate the factors and contextual issues that influence the competitive business environment for an accountant.  It addresses the role of an accounting professional in the application of governance structures, accountability regimes, professional development, skill enhancements, and a continuous awareness of self-positioning and self-renewal in terms of professional and personal competency. The unit is not only reflective and integrative, but also future-focused, offering opportunities for ‘real world’ preparatory experience in the accounting profession. The class is conducted through workshops and discussions where students learn to develop personal and professional skills in sustaining a professional profile in business and the profession. 

The unit provides opportunities for students to engage with the community through panels from professional accounting bodies, community groups, NGO’s, MQ alumni, public sector and commercial organisations, and others. The unit requires students to interact with the industry partners in order to complete a major research project under the supervision of a faculty member. The project includes topics that are valued by industry partners and are mutually beneficial to both Macquarie University students and industry partners. While the project attempts to bridge the gap between students and the accounting profession, it also provides an opportunity for students to clarify and refine their understanding of the accounting profession through discussion with industry partners and peers. Group work engages students in the challenges of interpersonal communication, task allocation, coordination and control. Cohesive and systematic presentations from a range of industry partners also provide students an opportunity to think critically about the accounting profession. Through these presentations students will gain an insight into organisations and be able to contextualise their graduate capabilities into the main project. By reflecting on industry partners’ presentations students will be able to identify what they have learned about the accounting profession and how they have learned. This will result in a greater sense of ownership which, in return, will help students to develop valuable career and leadership skills, improve their job prospects and make a difference to business and the community for which they work. Further, students are exposed to case studies which present realistic, complex, and contextually rich situations and involve dilemmas, conflicts, and/or problems accountants face in the profession, which will allow students to understand emergent issues for the accounting professionals.

The unit comprises 13 x 3-hour seminars that include lectures, presentations by industry partners, students’ presentations, discussions and a feedback session. The components of the unit are structured as follows:

Introduction/Orientation: One 3-hour seminar to provide students with strong orientation to the University expectations and academic requirements for this PACE unit and addresses pragmatic concerns (group formation, communication and other logistical requirements). The first seminar includes a master class on employability. The objective of this session is to make students rate themselves on a variety of key employability skills and also find evidence to support their ratings. (Skills include: Creativity and Innovation, Relationship Building, Problem Solving, Technology, Communication, Teamwork, Planning & Organising, Research).  In order to give this skills audit context within the framework of the course structure, each industry partner will discuss 3 to 5 skills they feel are essential for the accountants to possess. 

Assessment tasks: Knowledge and understanding are assessed by a mixture of assignments and presentations. The assessments include weekly individual reflective journals, essay and a group project report with an oral presentation. Oral presentations will take place in four 4-hour seminars judged by a panel comprising industry partners and academics.