Week

Activities

Week commencing

01

Seminar 1

Introduction, program learning outcomes, unit learning outcomes and reflective practice.

Allocation into groups.

Learning contract.

Reflective practice exercises completed in the seminar.

Alumni students present on their career journey.

Week 1 

02

Seminar 2

Conceptual Framework of Accounting

This seminar will revisit the conceptual framework of accounting, objectives of financial reporting, and the qualitative characteristics of accounting information. 

Week 2 

03

Seminar 3

Role of Financial Accounting and Managerial Accounting

This seminar will involve a discussion around why financial accounting and managerial accounting are important to managers and other decision makers. You will also understand the necessary components of financial accounting and managerial accounting for managers will also be explored. 

Week 3 

04

Information Systems Planning and Development

No seminar -  Complete this week's assignment. 

Please refer to week 4 on ilearn for a number of initial readings and materials to introduce you to the discussion about the information systems planning and development. In addition, students are required to research recent articles on the implementation of a new accounting information system in a business environment and forecasts for changes in the future.

Required

Based on the materials reviewed, explain how new and developing information systems have impacted and will likely impact business accounting practices including the necessary skills and knowledge that will be essential for accountants to use those information systems effectively. Upload this assignment in Week 4 on ilearn. Word limit 300 words. 

Completion of this week's task constitutes 15% of assignment in this unit. 

Week 4 

05

Seminar 4

The future of the accounting profession

Please refer to week 5 on ilearn for a number of initial readings and materials to introduce you to the discussion around the future of the professional accountant. In addition students are required to research recent articles and professional commentary on the role of professional accountants today and forecasts for changes in the future. 

In this seminar we discuss the initial readings and recent articles and subsequently, you are required to complete the Career Planning Assessment task detailed below. Please submit the Career Planning Assessment in accordance with the instructions on page 5.

Required 

1. Assess where you are: To figure out where you're going, you must first look at where you've been. Please reflect on your attributes and achievements to date. (5 marks)
2. Articulate your goal: What does it look like? Formulating a career goal requires thinking about your interests, skills, and education and learning about different careers and employment trends. Please describe your ideal job and how this job follows the employment trends we mentioned in previous seminars. (5 marks)
3. Make a plan: Review a number of Linkedin pages and identify three "good" Linkedin profiles that provide information (i.e., skill, education, experience) related to your goal. Then, based on these Linkedin profiles, please identify the specific steps and strategies you need to take in order to achieve your goal.(10 marks)
4. Identify 3 skills that you want to further develop and how they may improve your employment outcomes. In identifying the skills refer to the document THE FUTURE OF WORK:HOW CAN WE ADAPT TO SURVIVE AND THRIVE? available in Week 5 materials on iLearn. (10 marks)

Completion of this week's tasks constitutes 30% of assessment in this unit. 

Week 5 

06

Seminar 5

Capitalism: the problem or the solution

This seminar will introduce the central issues in the history of business and of capitalism and explain the problems caused by what critics regard as capitalism’s failure.  

Week 6

Leadership skills - the qualities of effective business leaders 

No seminar -  Complete this week's quiz

All successful organisations and businesses need effective leaders. The leadership of effective and well trained leaders is paramount to an organisation's business success. Leaders are invaluable when it comes to formulating and communicating new strategic directions, as well as communicating with and motivating employees to increase dedication to organisational goals. 

Required

Review the personal stories of effective business leaders presented in videos, as well as readings relating to the key skills identified as relevant to leadership success, provided in Week 7 on iLearn.

Based on the materials reviewed complete the quiz in Week 7 on iLearn

Completion of this week's task consitutes 15% of the assessment in this unit. 

Week 7

16  Sep to 29 Sep

08

Seminar 6

Ethics and the Accounting Profession

Professional accountants face ethical challenges in making decisions and providing advice that draw on ethical views or frameworks. Different ethical frameworks are used in making decisions and providing advice. This seminar will provide an overview of some of the most influential ethics frameworks people use when making ethics decisions in both business and personal life. Some readings on types of ethical frameworks are also provided on ilearn.

Professional accountants in Australia are also required to comply with the Professional Code of Ethics as set out in APES110 and if registered as a Tax Agent, the Tax Agent Code of Professional Conduct. The seminar will introduce the main elements of these ethics codes, with examples of how they are applied and enforced.  Both APES110 and the Tax Agent Code of Professional Conduct, as well as published guidelines on their application, are also provided in Week 8 materials on ilearn.

Week 8

09

Seminar 7

Critical Thinking

Critical thinking is the ability to think clearly and rationally about what to do or what to believe. It includes the ability to engage in reflective and independent thinking. The ability to think critically is a core skill required in a professional accountant.

This seminar will introduce some key principles of critical thinking in business and accounting contexts, including practical critical thinking exercises.

Week 9  

10

Seminar 8

Research methods - qualitative methodology and theory

Qualitative accounting research involves in-depth analysis of people’s experiences or views on accounting systems or practices. This seminar will look at examples of qualitative studies in accounting to assess and develop skills in interpreting and analysing people’s perspectives on accounting systems, and in carefully assessing what conclusions can be drawn from these studies. Skills in interpreting and analysing the content and implications of people’s perspectives on accounting are critical not only to formal academic accounting research, but also in the workplace. 

The seminar will include close study of two exemplars of qualitative research, and analysis of their research and practical implications. 

Week 10 

11

Seminar 9

Sustainability Reporting and the GRI

The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) was established to provide global guidelines for the reporting of social and environmental information, and to ensure consistent reporting. The Sustainability Reporting Framework provides guidance for organisations to use as the basis for disclosure about their sustainability performance, and also provides stakeholders a universally-applicable, comparable framework in which to understand disclosed information.

Although GRI reporting in Australia is voluntary, a number of Australian companies do apply the G4 guidelines, or the more recent Global Reporting Standards, in preparing a published sustainability report. Concerns have been raised that, as GRI reporting is not compulsory or necessarily audited, a company could misrepresent its level of compliance with the G4 guidelines or the Gloal Reporting Standards in publishing sustainability reports. The current lack of consequences for companies who, deliberately or unintentionally, publish misleading and inaccurate sustainability information is a contributor to this situation.

Despite the lack of enforceability in sustainability reporting the ASX Corporate Governance Principles and Recommendations require a listed entity to disclosure ‘whether it has any material exposure to economic, environmental and social sustainability risks, and if it does, how it manages or intends to manage that risk’. This change reflects increasing calls globally for the business community to address matters of economic, environmental and social sustainability and the increasing demand from investors, especially institutional investors, for greater transparency on these matters so that they can properly assess investment risk.

Required 

Over Weeks 11 to 13, you are required to meet as a group to choose two Australian companies that participate in either Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) or Integrated Reporting (IR). Specifically, as a group, students identify the two companies, their sustainability or integrated reports for the same year and collect any further published information on the company's approach to sustainability or non-financial reporting.

Using the companies identified by the group, students are required to individually complete the assignment in two parts.

1. Based on your two chosen companies, you should compare and contrast in a Report on their GRI or Integrated Reporting Output and Objectives and make a judgement on whether the companies' sustainability reports reflect the principles of the GRI/IR. (word limit 1,000 words)
2. Choose one of the companies identified by the group and explain why you think the chosen company is ethical or not, based on either utilitarian or deontological/duty-based ethics theories covered in Week 6. Your answer should consider both actions your chosen company reports that might be viewed as ethical, and actions your chosen company reports that might be viewed as unethical. (word limit 1,000 words)

Completion of the tasks constitute 30% of assessment in this unit. 

Week 11  

12

Seminar 10

Integrated Reporting

Integrated Reporting is a new initiative that aims to combine both financial and non-financial reporting into a single, succinct reporting document. In 2013, the International Integrated Reporting Council (IIRC) released its first Integrated Reporting (IR) Framework, which has now been adopted by companies all over the world, including in Australia, South Africa, The United Kingdom and Japan, among many others. Where GRI aims to report to stakeholders on how companies impact society and the environment, IR aims to improve corporate reporting to investors, by showing how both financial and non-financial capitals can impact financial returns and business sustainability over the longer term. At the centre of IR is the notion that business must manage and report on six capitals - financial, manufactured, intellectual, human, social and environmental and natural - to prosper over the long term. 

This seminar will introduce the philosophy of IR and the main elements of the IR Framework. The seminar will include practical examples of integrated reports and integrated reporting resources, as well as the latest research on IR's evolution, effectiveness and its impact on both companies and other stakeholders.

Week 12  

13

No Seminar 

Current business and regulatory environment.

Business environment is the sum total of all external and internal factors that influence a business. External factors (i.e. factors external to the firm which have relevance to it) and internal factors (i.e. factors internal to the firm) can influence each other and work together to affect a business. Gaining a deeper understanding of the current business and regulatory environment will enable you to evaluate the impact of changing business and regulatory environment on your career. 

Week 13