Year No. Offer Mode Description Cred. Pts 00 51405 S1 D ACCOUNTING HONOURS D 1.00
This unit explores a number of issues associated with social and environmental accounting and accountability. The unit stresses that organisational performance can be considered from a number of perspectives and that the success of an organisation should not be considered solely in terms of its financial performance but also in terms of other factors such as its social and environmental performance. Evidence will be presented to show that many Australian corporations are now providing social and environmental performance information within their annual reports and within stand-alone documents. Further, the practice is increasing across time. The unit explores, from various theoretical perspectives issues such as: what motivates organisations to disclose social and environmental performance information; how and why social and environmental performance information is utilised; the alternative social and environmental reporting frameworks; and international differences in social and environmental reporting practices. Issues associated with the accountability of business (to whom and for what); user demands for, and market responses to the disclosure of social and environmental performance information; the limitations of conventional financial accounting (specifically, its failure to acknowledge social costs); the possibilities of incorporating sustainability within accounting; and the practice of ethical investment will also be considered.
The objectives of this unit are to understand, from various
theoretical perspectives:
Description Weighting(%)
- What is social and environmental accounting? An introduction and overview of the unit
- The accountability of business - to whom and for what - a review of various theoretical perspectives
- Alternative theoretical perspectives to explain an Organisation's choice to publicly disclose environmental Performance information - a consideration of positive Accounting theory, and legitimacy theory and their Respective application to social and environmental Reporting decisions
- User demands for, and market responses to the disclosure of environmental performance information
- Sustainability and the role of triple bottom line reporting
- Limitations of conventional financial accounting - the failure to acknowledge externalities. The role of full- cost accounting and other forms of 'accounting' in reflecting social and environmental performance
- Social accounting and social auditing
- A review of recent government, industry and professional initiatives relating to social and environmental reporting
TBA
No *F/S Marks Due Description Wtg(%) LBL WWW 1 S 05/05/00 ASSIGNMENT 1 25.00 N N 2 S 24/05/00 ASSIGNMENT 2 30.00 N N 3 S T.B.A. IN-CLASS PRESENTATION OF ASSIGNMENT 2 15.00 N N 4 S END S1 3 HOUR FINAL EXAM 25.00 N N
1 TO GAIN A PASSING GRADE IN THE UNIT A STUDENT MUST: a) obtain a
passing mark in aggregate for the unit's assessment items, AND b)
obtain a passing mark in the formal exam, AND c) submit genuine
attempts for the MANDATORY items of assessment:
Assignment 1
Assignment 2
In-class presentation of Assignment 2.
2 Students must retain a copy of all pieces of assessment which
must be produced if/when required by the lecturer.
3 LATE ASSIGNMENTS
3.1 All assessments submitted after the due date (and not approved
for extension) in accordance with university policy will be
penalised 20% per working day.
3.2 If students submit assignments after the due date and wish to
claim extenuating circumstances then they shall provide validated
documentary evidence with the assignment, explaining the
circumstances.
3.3 The unit examiner shall consider the statement accompanying a
late assignment and decide on the outcome.
4 DISHONEST ACTIONS
4.1 Any student who is alleged to having performed a dishonest action
relating to any assessment in the unit will have a course of
action taken against him/her as outlined in the Academic
Regulations.
4.2 Pieces of assessment should be the work of individual students
unless otherwise indicated in the assessment details. In other
circumstances, joint pieces of assessment are not permitted
unless written approval has been obtained from the unit leader.
4.3 Dishonest action in relation to assessment includes: - copying or
attempting to copy the work of others; - use of or attempting to
use information prohibited from use in that form of assessment. -
submitting the work of another as your own; - consciously
committing acts of plagiarism, ie: taking and using another's
thoughts or writings as one's own with intent to deceive, which
occurs when: . paragraphs, sentences, a single sentence or
significant parts of a sentence which are copied directly, are
not enclosed in quotation marks and appropriately footnoted or
referenced in the text; . direct quotations are not used, but
text is paraphrased or summarised, and the source of the material
is not acknowledged by footnoting or other reference in the text.
5 DEFERRED EXAMINATIONS
5.1 Deferred examinations will be granted at the Dean's discretion in
the case of medical or compassionate circumstances having regard
to item 1. If a deferred examination has been granted students
shall normally sit the deferred examination in the semester in
which the unit is offered, BUT NO LATER THAN THE NEXT SEMESTER 3
EXAMINATION PERIOD. If, for whatever reason, this deferred
examination is not taken then the student will be graded `F'.
5.2 Medical evidence on the appropriate University of Southern
Queensland medical certificate or doctor's certificate must be
received by the Faculty Administrator no later than twenty-one
(21) days after examination date. A medical certificate must be
dated with the same date as the period of illness for which the
absence from examination is being sought and clearly indicate the
student's name and, if possible, student number. (Retrospective
medical certificates will not be accepted for either assignment
work or examinations.)
5.3 A student's medical condition must be stated clearly (IN
ENGLISH). (Certificates stating a student has a `Medical
Condition' may not be sufficient grounds for deferment of
examination). Medical evidence must cover the student for the
day(s) of the missed examination(s).
5.4 Requests must be in writing to the Faculty Administrator clearly
stating the student name and number, unit number of the
examination missed due to illness and current address. Deferral
of an examination CANNOT be granted on an existing deferral in
that unit.
5.5 Requests on grounds other than medical MUST BE supported by
documentation.
5.6 Students who have a medical condition (or have genuine
compassionate or work related problems) on the day of the
examination are advised to obtain documentary evidence and NOT
attempt the examination. If a student makes an attempt at the
examination, the assessment item will be marked and a grade
awarded. In these cases, a student cannot, after receiving a
`Fail' grade, request a deferred examination or special
consideration.
5.7 Students who have been granted deferred examinations will not be
granted a waiver of prerequisites, without the permission of the
Director of the Honours Course, in subsequent semesters (if they
do not have a passing grade).
6 Unit weightings of topics should not be interpreted as applying
to the number of marks allocated to questions testing those
topics in an examination paper. The examination may test material
already tested in assignments.
7 Mechanised erasers, mobile telephones and other electronic media
are not permitted in exam venues.
8 The examination will be part open/part closed book. Dictionaries
are NOT to be used in the examination
9 Students should also refer to the Faculty of Commerce `Guide to
Policies and Procedures' section of the University Handbook for
further information on the above matters.