ACCT 10001

Accounting Reports and Analysis

SUBJECT GUIDE

Semester 1, 2017

Prepared by
Noel Boys

Department of Accounting
Faculty of Business and Economics
Contents
Subject Outline 1
Introduction 1
Subject Aim 1
Prescribed Text 1
Learning Outcomes 2
Academic Staff Contact Details 2
Subject Coordinator & Tutor-in-Charge 2
Email Policy 2
Learning Management System (LMS) 3
Lectures 3
Lecture Participation Requirements 3
Code of Conduct 3
Lecture Schedule 4
Lecture Materials 5
Echo360 Lecture Capture 5
Tutorials 5
Tutorial Attendance 5
Tutorial Preparation and Participation 6
Tutorial Topic Outline 6
Assessment 7
Summary 7
Tutorial Assessment 7
Assignments 8
Assignment Submission 9
Turnitin Submission 9
Penalties for Late Submission and Exceeding Word Limits 9
End-of-Semester Examination 9
Exam Policy 10
Special Consideration 10
Plagiarism and Collusion 10
Further Assistance 10
Online Tutor (OLT) 10
Student Consultations 11
Revision Materials 11
Study Skills 11
General Student Enquiries - Stop 1 11
Subject Outline
Introduction
Welcome to Accounting Reports and Analysis. This subject introduces students to the nature of
accounting and its role in both financial markets and within organisations.
Accounting Reports and Analysis looks at how accounting information is used by external
stakeholders for making economic decisions. It considers the judgments, estimates and policy
choices made by preparers of financial statements and the effect these have on the accounting
information provided. Accounting Reports and Analysis also considers how accounting
information is used to assist internal decision making by managers.
This subject is designed for students of all disciplines and assumes no prior accounting study or
knowledge.

Subject Aim
The overall aim of this subject is to prepare students to be informed users of accounting
information.

Prescribed Text
The prescribed text for this subject is:
Birt, J., Chalmers, K ., M a l o n e y , S., Brooks, A., & Oliver, J. (2017).
Accounting: Business Reporting for Decision Making (6th Edition), John Wiley and Sons
Australia.
It is recommended that all students have access to a copy as weekly readings will be taken
from the text. In some instances the referred material may not be specifically covered in
lectures yet may be examinable. The text will also be the source of prescribed questions
linked to the tutorial program and revision questions to be used at your discretion.
The current edition is only available as a digital e-text and is available from the University Co-
Op Bookshop or directly from the publisher (be aware that prices can vary). Refer to the
following link:
http://www.wileydirect.com.au/buy/accounting-business-reporting-decision-making-6th-edition/
Wiley Direct offers two purchase options. The distinction relates to having lifetime access to
the text and the ability to access the text offline. This choice is entirely up to you.
Students who choose to use previous editions of the text do so on the understanding that they
assume responsibility to ensure compatibility with the current edition, including the
synchronization of references such as learning objectives.
The text should be used to complement your learning and understanding of the concepts that
will be discussed in lectures and tutorials. It is an expectation that weekly readings will be
undertaken prior to classes. Lectures and tutorials will then expand upon, and apply these
concepts.

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Learning Outcomes
To view the learning goals, generic skills and graduate attributes for your degree, please locate
the University Handbook entry for your degree at: http://handbook.unimelb.edu.au/
To view the subject objectives and the generic skills you will develop through successful
completion of this subject, please refer to the University Handbook at the following link:
https://handbook.unimelb.edu.au/view/2017/ACCT10001

Academic Staff Contact Details

Subject Coordinator / Lecturer
Mr Noel Boys
Email: nboys@unimelb.edu.au

Tutor-in-Charge
Ms Sarah Taylor
Email: sarah.taylor@unimelb.edu.au

Email Policy
Please note that we are only able to respond to student emails coming from a University email
address. Please do not use personal email addresses such as Yahoo, Hotmail or even
business email addresses. Emails from non-University email addresses may be intercepted by
the Universitys spam filter and not reach its intended recipient. All correspondence relating to
this subject will only be sent to your University email address.
Note that you must first activate your University email address before you can send or receive
emails at that address. You can activate your email account at this link:
http://accounts.unimelb.edu.au/.
As staff often teach across more than one subject, students are requested to include the
heading ARA followed by their student number in the subject pane of all emails.

Students are expected to use common business protocols when emailing academic
staff.
While academic staff endeavour to address queries received via email, it is more appropriate
to resolve substantive questions during lectures and tutorials and during normal consultation
hours. With this in mind, we expect students to attend all lectures and tutorials and to
familiarise themselves with the consultation hours offered by the lecturers and tutors in this
subject. Further, questions regarding clarification of content should, in the first instance, be
posted to the Online Tutor (refer to page 10).

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Learning Management System (LMS)
The University's Learning Management System (LMS) is used to disseminate information and
learning materials relating to this subject. The LMS can be accessed at:
http://www.lms.unimelb.edu.au/
To access the LMS you will need your University of Melbourne e-mail account user name and
password. It is every students responsibility to regularly check the LMS and their University
email accounts for course information, announcements and updates.

Students should note that the LMS Subject Page for Accounting Reports and Analysis
will not be available from the date of the end-of-semester examination.

Lectures
Lecture Participation Requirements
Lectures in this subject will be delivered on the assumption that students have undertaken all
prescribed prior reading. Some lectures may be interactive through the use of questions,
discussions and/or in-lecture case studies and exercises that provide opportunities to apply the
concepts presented.

Code of Conduct
The following has been adapted from Student Code of Conduct Lectures (2005)
[source: http://fbe.unimelb.edu.au/celt/tools/faculty_guidelines]
When in lectures students are expected to adhere to the following:
Be attentive to the lecturer attendance is not the same as attentiveness. While attendance
is recommended, it is not compulsory. If you think that you are not going to be attentive then
perhaps you should not attend. Your inattentiveness can be unproductive to you and
disruptive to others.
Do not talk lecture theatres are designed with very effective acoustics. Even if you sit in the
back row and whisper your conversation is likely to be detected as noise by the lecturer and
others.
Arrive on time and stay for the full lecture lectures commence 5 minutes after the
published start time. If you find yourself arriving late or needing to leave early then sit at the
end of an aisle towards an exit.
Turn off mobile phones and other recording devices it is a common courtesy to have
mobile phones turned off to prevent disruption to others as well as avoiding the temptation to
send and receive text messages. Students are reminded that it is illegal to make any
unauthorised recordings of any part of a lecture without the express permission of the lecturer.
The Universitys lecture capture system will be used in this subject.

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Lecture Schedule

e-Text references
Week Week
Topic (LO = learning
No. beginning
objective)
Regulatory Framework / Conceptual Ch 1 LO 1 to 9
1 February 27
Framework Ch 3 LO 1 to 8, 11 to 12
Transaction Analysis & Financial Ch 4 LO 1 to 5
2 March 6
Statements Ch 5 LO 9, Ch 6 LO 8

3 March 13 The Balance Sheet Assets Ch 5 LO 1 to 4, 7, 10

Ch 5 LO 5 to 6, 11
4 March 20 The Balance Sheet Liabilities & Equity Ch 12 LO 1 & 4
Ch 13 LO 5 to 8
The Statement of Comprehensive Income
5 March 27 Ch 6 all
& Statement of Changes in Equity

6 April 3 The Cash Flow Statement Ch 7 LO 1, 2 & 4

7 April 10 Financial Statement Analysis Ch 8 all

April 14 23: Non-Teaching period (Easter break)

Case studies to be
8 April 24 Financial Statement Analysis
provided

9 May 1 Budgeting Ch 9 all

10 May 8 Cost-Volume-Profit Analysis Ch 10 LO

11 May 15 Interpretation and Decision Making To be advised via LMS

Accounting: An Integrated View To be advised via LMS

12 May 22 Course Review / Exam and Swotvac
details

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Lecture Materials

Lecture materials will be available from the LMS prior to each lecture (located in the navigation
menu of the subject page). These materials may take the form of lecture slides, exercises, case
studies, readings from research, professional or general press, accounting reports etc.
Additional material used during lectures may be made available. Please note due to copyright
law and the interactive nature of some lectures, not all materials may be available beyond the
lecture. Completed lecture slides, where applicable, will be available from the LMS after the
lecture.

Echo360 Lecture Capture

Recordings of lectures delivered in this subject will be made available for review by the end of
each lecture. Recordings allow students to revise lectures during the semester, or to review
lectures in preparation for the end-of-semester exam.

Students can access recorded lectures by clicking on the Lecture Recordings menu item on the
LMS page for this subject.

Please note that Lecture Capture recordings are not a substitute for attendance; rather they
are specifically designed for revision purposes. On rare occasions the Lecture Capture
system can fail to record the lecture due to technical problems. In such cases, the lecture
recording will not be available.

Lecturers may stop recording at certain times due to copyright issues or while class discussions
occur. It should also be noted that in some lectures the use of dual screens displaying different
information may result in some materials not being recorded.

Tutorials

Tutorial Attendance
Students are expected to attend their designated tutorial each week. To do otherwise would
disadvantage others. Attendance at tutorials is an expectation. It is the students responsibility
to make appropriate arrangements with their tutor if they are unable to attend. If a student
misses their enrolled tutorial they may attend an alternative time (seeking permission from that
tutor to attend and obtaining a slip confirming their attendance, and then submit this slip to
their regular tutor the following week). It is the students responsibility to ensure that the tutor
has recorded their attendance.
Students must ensure they know the correct name of their tutor. As well as being a
courtesy to your tutor, this is particularly important when it comes to completing details on
Assignment Coversheets. Please note that it is not the role of the subject coordinator to
inform you of your tutors name.

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Tutorial Preparation and Participation
Tutors will assume students have completed all prescribed readings, that they have attended
the previous weeks lecture and that they have attempted that weeks online test (see under
Assessment for details regarding these tests). Tutors also expect students will attend
tutorials ready to engage in formal class activities and that they are in a position to make a
meaningful attempt to complete tutorial exercises or make meaningful contributions to any formal
discussions. Rather than review prepared answers to prescribed questions, tutorials will
introduce new exercises and / or discussion topics.
Tutorial preparation and participation forms part of each students grade in this subject (see
Assessment below).

Tutorial Topic Outline

Tute Week
Topic
No. beginning
February 27 There are no tutorials in this week
1 March 6 Regulatory Framework / Conceptual Framework
2 March 13 Transaction Analysis & Financial Statements

3 March 20 The Balance Sheet Assets

4 March 27 The Balance Sheet Liabilities & Equity

The Statement of Comprehensive Income / Statement of

5 April 3
Changes in Equity
6 April 10 The Cash Flow Statement

April 17 Non-teaching period (Easter break) no tutorials

7 April 24 Financial Statement Analysis

8 May 1 Financial Statement Analysis

9 May 8 Budgeting

10 May 15 Cost-Volume-Profit Analysis

11 May 22 Accounting: Context and Concepts

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 Assessment
Summary

Individual or
Task Due date Weighting
Group
Continuous throughout
Tutorial Assessment Individual 10%
semester
4pm Friday, March 31
Assignment One Individual 10%
(provisional)
Part A: 4pm Friday, May 12
Assignment Two Group 10%
Part B: 4pm Friday, May 19
During Exam Period (June 6 to
End-of-semester exam Individual 70%
23) on date TBA
NOTE: There is a hurdle requirement on the examination to pass this subject.

Tutorial Assessment
Your 10% tutorial mark will be ascertained by aggregating the following components:

Preparation and participation (5%)

Tutors will assess each students preparation for and participation in tutorials. This will require
tutors to make a judgment about each student taking into account:

Tutorial attendance while attendance does not necessarily ensure participation, non-
attendance ensures non-participation

Tutorial participation during tutorials students should conduct themselves in such a

way as to demonstrate engagement with classroom activities, including any group work
and formal discussions, while showing support and respect for their classmates

Tutorial preparation weekly online tests will be available via the LMS throughout the
semester, each covering the designated tutorial topics. The purpose of these tests is to
help students gain a fundamental understanding of each topic which will then assist them
to participate meaningfully in tutorials. Scores from these tests WILL NOT contribute to
the overall tutorial assessment. Accordingly, students may attempt these tests as many
times as they wish but are expected to have made at least ONE attempt PRIOR to 8am
on the day of their tutorial. Students with no record of completion before this time may
be deemed to have not adequately prepared for that weeks tutorial. Solutions will be
available upon completion of the test. As a study and feedback mechanism it is in the
best interests of all students that the tests be attempted unassisted.

Assessable Online Tests (5%)

Students will be required to complete 5 online tests which will be administered using Wileys
online assessment system. Scores from these tests WILL contribute towards 5% of your

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tutorial assessment. The conditions for each test are as follows:

Each test will be available over a 48-hour period on the dates nominated below

Once started, the test must be completed within a prescribed time limit (which will be
nominated for each test). Note that you must also allow enough time to complete
the test before the designated deadline.

Only one attempt per question is permitted.

No solutions will be provided during the test. Your score and answers may be reviewed
against the solution after the test closes.

The schedule for these tests is as follows:

Test
Test Opens Test Closes Topic coverage
No.
1 4pm Friday, March 17 4pm Sunday, March 17 Tutorials 1 & 2

2 4pm Friday, March 31 4pm Sunday, April 2 Tutorials 3 & 4

3 4pm Thursday, April 13 4pm Saturday, April 15 Tutorials 5 & 6

4 4pm Friday, May 5 4pm Sunday, May 7 Tutorials 7 & 8

5 4pm Friday, May 19 4pm Sunday, May 21 Tutorials 9 & 10

The non-assessable tests completed as part of your weekly tutorial preparation will provide an
indication of the style and standard of questions that will appear in the assessable test.

Assignments

Assignment One
This assignment requires students to work individually. From a given set of transaction data
students will be required to complete a transaction worksheet and prepare an appropriately
formatted and classified income statement and balance sheet. The assignment will be
available for download from the LMS and is to be completed using spreadsheet software.
Further details regarding Assignment One will be provided on the LMS.

Assignment Two
This assignment requires students to work in groups of three or four.
Part A will require the calculation of ratios from financial statement data.
Part B will require a brief written analysis (maximum 1,200 words using memo-style) of critical
aspects identified by the group taking into account financial statement data, ratios and any

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other relevant information.
Further details regarding Assignment Two will be provided on the LMS later in the Semester.
Writing and Style Guides prepared by Academic Skills will become available via the LMS to
assist students with completing Part B.

Assignment Submission
All assignments will be submitted electronically, specific details of which will be provided with
each assignment. Electronic submission allows you to submit the assignments online from
home or from any of the student labs on campus. Assignment Submission links will be created
via the navigation menu of the LMS subject page.
In each case, you should ensure that you have proof-read your assignment before uploading.
As part of this, you should also ensure that the assignments format and pagination remains
intact, especially in cases of conversion into a PDF document.
Please note that in the case of group assignments, each group is required to submit only ONE
copy of the assignment. You should ensure you keep a copy of any assignment submission
for future reference. In the case of group submissions, each group member should keep their
own copy of the assignment submitted on behalf of the group.

Turnitin Submission
Where an assignment is to be submitted electronically via Turnitin, a Turnitin Submission link
will be created via the navigation menu of the LMS subject page.
Turnitin allows you to submit your assignment and have it marked with feedback provided
online. A series of student guides on how to use Turnitin is available at the following link:
https://lms.unimelb.edu.au/teaching/guides/#studguide

Penalties for Late Submission and Exceeding Word Limits

In order to ensure equality for all students, assignments must be submitted by specified
deadlines. Late submissions will attract a marking penalty unless approval for late submission
has been granted. Assignments that exceed word limits may also attract a marking penalty in
line with University policy.
For Assignment Two Part A no late assignments will be accepted.
For Assignments One and Two Part B, late submissions will attract a penalty of up to 10% per
day. Any assignment submitted later than 5 working days after the due date will receive a mark
of zero.

End-of Semester Examination

The final assessment will be a three-hour closed-book examination held during the
examination period. Further details regarding its style and content will be provided in the final
lecture. Students should note there is a hurdle requirement on the examination to pass this
subject. Students who do not satisfy this hurdle requirement will receive a final result of 49
NH. This result does not mean that you were one mark short of passing the subject or
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necessarily one mark short of the examination hurdle; rather it means that you have failed to
satisfy the examination hurdle.

Exam Policy
The Faculty requires that you are available for the entire examination period, the dates for
which are June 6 to 23. The faculty does not offer Supplementary Exams. Special Exams
may be provided to students who are absent from an exam, or whose performance during the
exam is adversely affected, due to serious illness or other circumstances (see Special
Consideration below).

Special Consideration
Any student significantly affected by illness or other serious circumstances during the
semester, including the examination period, may be eligible for Special Consideration. Note
that Special Consideration applications should be directed to the University Student
Centre NOT to academic staff.
The following website contains detailed information relating to the Special Consideration
process including how to make an application: http://students.unimelb.edu.au/admin/special
The Special exam period runs from July 13 to 19.

Plagiarism and Collusion

Presenting material from other sources without full acknowledgement (referred to as
plagiarism) is heavily penalised. Penalties for plagiarism can include a mark of zero for the
piece of assessment or a fail grade for the subject.
Plagiarism is the presentation by a student of an assignment identified as his or her own work
even though it has been copied in whole or in part from another students work, or from any
other source (e.g. published books, web-based materials or periodicals), without due
acknowledgement in the text.
Collusion is the presentation by a student of an assignment as his or her own work when it is,
in fact, the result (in whole or in part) of unauthorised collaboration with another person or
persons. Both the student presenting the assignment and the student(s) willingly supplying
unauthorised material are considered participants in the act of academic misconduct.
See http://academichonesty.unimelb.edu.au/ for more information.

Further Assistance
Online Tutor (OLT)
The OLT allows you to direct questions via the LMS. It can be accessed 24 hours a day, 7
days a week. Every effort will be made to answer your question within two business days of
posting.

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Your questions and the OLTs responses can (usually) be accessed by all students in the
subject, allowing everyone to benefit from the question and answer. Importantly, your identity
will not be revealed to other students. Even if you do not have a question, you can view
existing questions and answers.

Students should make every effort to seek their own answers before posting questions to the
OLT. Simple questions that can be answered by referring to lecture materials or prescribed
readings will typically receive a response to that effect. Students should review previous posts
to ensure their question has not already been asked and responded to. Series of questions
or questions of a complex nature requiring a detailed response should be directed to
your tutor or at a consultation session rather than posted to the OLT.
Questions posted after 4pm on the last business day prior to any test, examination or
assessment deadline are not guaranteed a response prior to that test, examination or
assessment deadline.
You can access the OLT via the link located in the navigation menu of the subjects LMS page.

Student Consultations
Student consultations form an integral part of this subject. The way that lectures and tutorials
will be delivered will assume a significant amount of reading and self-study. The student
consultations are there to support students with these readings and self-study by giving an
opportunity to seek one-to-one help. It is up to students to take advantage of these.
Consultation sessions will commence in Week 3 of the semester. Details of session times and
venues will be published on the LMS.

Revision Materials
The LMS will be used to provide revision materials. These may include additional questions,
practice / past exam questions, and answers to selected text book questions.

Study Skills
The following links provide access to a range of study skills help-sheets:
http://library.unimelb.edu.au/libraries/bee
http://services.unimelb.edu.au/academicskills/all_resources

General Student Enquiries Stop 1

Stop 1 is the University Student Centre responsible for all student enquiries including
enrolment, course planning, special consideration and academic skills. It is located at 757
Swanston Street. For more information refer to the following website:
http://students.unimelb.edu.au/stop1

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