HBC330N Accounting Theory

HBC330N Accounting Theory

Semester 2 2013

Assignment Information Sheet

Fair Value Accounting and the GFC

Individual or Groups of 2

Assignment

According to Laux and Leuz (2009, p. 833) “accounting rules and changes in them are shaped by

political processes”.

Laux, C. & Leuz, C. 2009. The crisis of fair-value accounting: Making sense of the recent debate. Accounting,

Organizations and Society, 6-7, 826-834.

Required:

You have been commissioned by the Chair of the Australian Accounting Standards Board to write a Report explaining the foregoing Laux and Leuz (2009) claim
in the context of the controversy surrounding whether or not fair-value accounting contributed to the global financial crisis of 2008.

Additional requirement: you are to use no less than 6 high quality* scholarly journal articles in the development of your report. The Library database
Business Source Complete is a useful tool for sourcing journal articles.

Learning outcomes addressed by the assignment.

The assignment is designed to provide you with the opportunity to develop the following learning outcomes:

1 with regard to your accounting theory knowledge, the assignment provides you with the opportunity to develop your understanding of fair-value accounting
and, in particular, how the public and private interest theories of regulation apply to accounting standard setting. The assignment can be commenced after
the first lecture.

2. with respect to generic skills, the assignment provides you with the opportunity to develop your ability to research and analyse complex issues, to
formulate well-reasoned and coherent arguments and to reach well considered conclusions, and to develop your written communication skills, including the
conventions of referencing at university.

You are to aspire to the highest standard of work with respect to both the content and presentation of the Report. The Harvard referencing system is to be
used. Marks will be deducted where the Harvard system is not used appropriately. Please note that Wikipedia is not an appropriate source to reference for
an academic Report such as this. The Library holds sessions on referencing technique and provides guidelines at

3

LODGEMENT: You must submit your assignment via the Turnitin facility available on

Blackboard and also in hardcopy by the due date in the allocated assignment box (location to be advised) no later than 4.00pm 11 the October, 2013.
Students must also keep an electronic or photocopied version of their assignment for evidentiary purposes. The file name should be Surname1_Surname2 (in
the case of a submission by two students). A Draft Safe Assign facility is available for assessment of potential plagiarism before submission of the final
version in Final Safe Assign facility.

out of 100. The rubric for marking is in the Unit Outline. Assignments will be marked to the same standard regardless of whether one or two students are
involved in the submission. When working in pairs, students are expected to contribute equally. On this basis each student responsible for a submission is
provided the same mark. Where equal contributions are not forthcoming and this cannot be resolved by the students, the Convenor should be informed in
writing.

WORD COUNT: the body of the Report should not exceed 1500 words (+/- 10 per cent)

(excluding title page, references and executive summary but including footnotes, endnotes and appendices). Please provide a word count on the cover sheet.

FORMAT

A report format is required for this assignment. In a report, the Executive Summary should provide an overview of the whole report, including any
recommendations. This is a ‘thinking’ assignment and what is expected is the personal view of individual students’ based on research 4 and the evidence
that has been sourced. Further, an assignment which presents more quotes than constructive analysis and argument may be heavily penalised.

SUGGESTED REPORT STRUCTURE

1. Title Page

2. Contents Page

3. Executive Summary (which provides an overview of the whole report)

4. Introduction and Purpose

5. Responses to specific task using appropriate headings and sub-headings

6. Conclusion

7. References

This assignment is an important assessment component of this Unit and as such the assignment must be properly researched and professionally presented. The
assignment should also:

• Be all your own (individual submissions) or your group’s (pairs) work

• Be word-processed (printed), and have 1.5 spacing for clarity; a high standard of presentation is expected, but a folder, binding etc. is not to be
included. Please do not staple, but use a bull dog clip or large paper clip because assignments may be scanned to be returned with feedback.

• Have the cover sheet with all relevant details, including:

– student name, student number, tutorial time & tutor’s name

– Unit name and code

– date of submission

• Contain correct referencing, using the Harvard system.

• Include a list of references (alphabetical by first author’s surname) adequately referencing your sources (in-text references should only refer to the
surname of the author/authors and the year of the publication).

Students are reminded to review the University policy on plagiarism.

The University uses the Turnitin tool. This is an effective tool to reduce plagiarism. Students should self-check their assignments prior to final
submission. Documentation on the use of this tool will be posted on Blackboard. Please ensure that you use only the Draft option to check your work. This
is a matching and not a punitive tool. The default setting allows every student to check draft submissions, but you should be aware that the closer to the
deadline you use Turnitin, the longer it may take to receive a report. Upon receiving feedback from Turnitin, you should amend your assignment to ensure
that it is -Plagiarism Safe- before submitting the final version.

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