Financial Accounting Theory

This document is provided to give you some additional guidance on assessment item 1 and should be considered in conjunction with that provided in your course profile.
Part (a)
• Try databases such as Proquest, Infotrac and Emerald to source your articles.
• Some authors in this area include Craig Deegan, Gary O’Donovan, Den Patten, Carol Adams, Rob Gray.
• Some journals which contain articles in this area include Accounting, Organization & Society, and Accounting, Auditing & Accountability. 
• HINT:  if you find a good article, use the reference list to source other articles in the area.  You may even wish to start with the reference list in your set text!
• You may supplement your discussion with materials from additional sources including your set text.  Use of the set text should, however, be kept to a minimum.
• Make sure your discussion gives the reader a good overview of legitimacy theory.
Part (b)
• Introduce each of your companies briefly in this section.  For example, their name, industry and what they do in general.
• Voluntary environmental disclosures (VED) are those not appearing in the director’s report of the annual report.  In general, disclosures in the director’s report are mandated via the Corporations Act and/or the ASX Listing Rules etc.
• Remember you need to discuss and compare the disclosures.
• Companies commonly provide their VED under headings such as: the environment; health, safety and the environment; sustainability; social responsibility or similar although some companies may discuss in other areas.
• HINT:  choose an environmentally sensitive industry as these are more likely to voluntarily discuss environmental issues in the annual report and will give you better material for your assignment.
• Connect4 gives you the option to download your annual reports in full or to download sections of the report.  It also gives you the option to download in Excel, Work of PDF.  You may find it easier to download your companies’ annual reports or section/s in Word format.  You can then use the word count function in Word to help calculate the amount of disclosures and it makes it easier to copy and paste your examples into the appendix.
• When discussing the amount of disclosures you can refer to either the number of words, number of paragraphs or the number of pages.
• When discussing the level of detail consider issues such as:  are the disclosures just general (qualitative) discussions; do they include facts and figures; are there tables included and what is in them?
• When discussing the nature of the disclosures consider whether the company is portraying its environmental performance in a predominantly positive or negative way.  Do the disclosures portray the company as a good or bad environmental performer overall?  You may even want to give an approximate proportion eg. Approximately 90 per cent were positive with only a small percentage being negative.#p#分頁標題#e#
Part (c)
In part (c) you need to use legitimacy theory to explain why your companies voluntarily disclose the information in part (b).  Remembering that the disclosures in part (b) are “voluntary”, why did they make them and why did they choose the “environment” as an area they should include?  Consider the underlying assumptions and arguments of legitimacy theory which you discussed in part (a) to help explain this phenomenon.  Also discuss why the companies may have provided the quantity, level of detail and nature of the disclosures in this section with reference to any differences in these areas between your two companies.
Presentation:
• The assignment should be prepared in a general essay style.  Within the business/accounting disciplines it is commonly accepted (and often recommended) to use headings throughout.  I recommend the following headings for this assignment:  Introduction; Part (a) – legitimacy theory; Part (b) OR you may prefer to discuss and compare under the three areas that need to be examined; part (c); conclusion.  These should be followed by your reference list and appendix or appendices.  You are not required to include a table of contents.
• Refer to the Guide for students for information on correct referencing style.
General hints:
• Use the resources available at the CQUniversity library website.
• Use the CLC or Learning Network for assistance in writing and referencing this assignment.
• Refer to the assessment criteria in the Course Profile.
• Always keep a copy of your assignment, preferably in electronic format.
• If you have any questions, seek assistance.