ACCT 5019 Contemporary Accounting Issues
Case Study and Marking Guide Semester 1, 2022
A. General information
• This case study is an individual assignment.
• The length of this assignment is limited to 2,000 words or around 5 pages (1.5- spaced, Time New Roman, font size 12), excluding the cover page, reference list, and appendices.
B. Your tasks
The designated topic for the case study is tone management in financial reporting, which relates to Chapter 6 the production of financial reporting. You are required to complete the following tasks.
1. Read Chapters 6 and retrieve the following journal article from Curtin Library website to understand the background of this case study and gain the knowledge of tone management.
Huang X., Teoh S. H., Zhang Y. 2014. Tone Management. The Accounting
Review, No. 89, Vol. 3, pp.1083-1113
You are also encouraged to read other relevant journal articles to complete this case study. You are required to answer the following questions after you have done the reading.
1) What is tone management in the financial report context?
2) What are the motivations for engaging in tone management by companies?
3) How is tone management measured in the selected journal articles?
4) What are the impacts of tone management on the capital market?
5) Do you believe tone management is unethical and why?
2. Select an annual report of an Australian listed company and evaluate the narrative voluntary disclosures (e.g., director’s report or chair’s review or/and management commentary etc.) in the annual report then answering the following questions.
1) A brief introduction of your selected company.
2) Is there any evidence of tone management in the director’s report and why?
3) What are the common positive and negative sentimental words used in the narrative voluntary disclosures?
3. Write your case study in report format after you have done the study on the topic.
Your case study report should consist of the following sections.
Introduction (200 words)
1) Introduce the topic, and
2) State the objective of your report.
Discussion (answer the required questions) (1000 words)
• Refer to Section B (1)
Evaluate the tone of the narrative voluntary disclosures of your selected company (600 words)
• Refer to Section B (2)
Conclusion (200 words)
o Summarise the main issues and conclude your report.
Other requirements
o Meet other requirements in the marking guide, including additional research
(Refer to Appendix I)
References list
Provide a list of the publication details of all materials referred to in the case study report. More information on the Chicago referencing style can be obtained from the Curtin library website
C. Submission requirements
• You need to include your name and student id on the cover sheet
• In compliance with Curtin University’s policy on plagiarism, your assignment must be submitted via Turnitin. You are also required to submit your work electronically via Blackboard by the due date.
• How to submit your assignment
a. First you need to submit your Assessment through the Part 1 link – Assessment Submission (Originality Report) link via Blackboard, this will generate an Originality Report (i.e., Turnitin report or Similarity report). You can revise your assignment and resubmit it if the similarity percentage is too high.
o Second, submit your Assessment through the Part 2 link – Assessment Submission link via Blackboard. Please ensure that you submit the correct version of your assignment by the due date. Please be advised that
a) you have one attempt for submitting your assignment, and
b) we will not be able to mark your assignment if you didn’t submit your work through the Part 2 link.
D. Marking criteria
• The assignment will be assessed based on the content, completeness of information, appropriateness of format, grammar, and spelling and other additional information deemed relevant in relation to the designated topic. Refer to the marking guide in Appendix I below for the breakdown of marks. Please make sure your report covers all requirements in the marking guide.
Appendix I
Case Study Marking Guide
ACCT 5019 Contemporary Accounting Issues
Semester 1, 2022
Marking scale Total marks
Criteria Mark allocation
0 1 2 3 4 5
Formatting and referencing
Title of the report, overall formatting, grammar, spelling, words limit 1
In-text citation, references, and evidence of additional research 1
Introduction
Introduce the topic 2
State the objective of your report 1
Discussion
What is tone management in the financial report context? 3
What are the motivations for engaging in tone management by a company? 3
How is tone management measured in the selected journal articles? 3
What are the impacts of tone management on the capital market? 3
Do you believe tone management is unethical and why? 3
Evaluate the tone of the narrative voluntary disclosures of your selected company
A brief introduction of your selected company. 2
Is there any evidence of tone management in the director’s report and why? 3
What are the common positive and negative sentiment words used in the narrative voluntary disclosures? 3
Appropriateness of conclusion 2
Total Marks (13 Items) 30
* Scale of 0 to 5 for each criterion where 0 – Completely inadequate/incorrect/incomplete;
1 – Inadequate/incorrect/incomplete; 2 – Partly adequate/correct/complete; 3 – Almost adequate/correct/complete
4 – Adequate/correct/complete; 5 – Completely adequate/correct/complete
