Question 1: Internal Control
See Reading 5 (Horngren C.T. Harrison W.T. & Oliver M.S., 2012, Internal control and cash. Accounting 9th ed, ch 7, pp 355-403. Pearson) in the learning materials within Interact2 or in CSU library resources.
- Define internal control. Outline 4 purposes of internal control from the reading. Give your own examples of each.
Question 2: Bank Reconciliation
A. How can the bank reconciliation be used as a control device?
B. Create a spreadsheet model to show a bank reconciliation statement. Use the Baylor Associates example in Reading 5 (Horngren C.T. Harrison W.T. & Oliver M.S., 2012, Internal control and cash. Accounting 9th ed, ch 7, Pearson) (page 369) as a template for inspiration but change/create your own original data. Implement all the usual spreadsheet requirements.
Question 3: Introduction to management accounting
A. The emphasis of financial accounting and management accounting differ. Explain, giving examples.
B. Why is integrity so important to accountants?
C. "The problem with accounting is that accountants never get to become top managers such as CEOs." Do you agree? Explain. Illustrate your explanation with examples. Use the internet as a resource.
Question 4: Ethical Issues
Discuss and give detailed examples of two ethical dilemmas which may be faced by management accountants (about 200 words).
Question 5: Qantas Annual Report
Learning Objectives: The subject you are studying is vocational. It is designed with the workplace in mind. Work integrated assessment provides opportunities for students to link theory and skills learned in a subject to a real work context. Students can use these opportunities to develop and practice the professional and academic skills they learn about in a subject or through the online environment and then be assessed on their capabilities in these simulated authentic environments. Work integrated assessment allows students to simulate and situate their learning in an authentic workplace that encourages them to explore their knowledge and apply it to practice.
Integrating real world, authentic assessment tasks allows students to learn about the particular environments and culture of their chosen professions, while at the same time absorbing and practicing the skills they need to succeed. Doing these tasks can help students develop skills that can help their employability.
Find the Qantas 2016 Annual Report on the web.
Your friend Raymond is studying architecture at another University and knows very little about accounting and annual reports. His uncle gave him $50,000 recently to invest. Raymond knows you have begun studying accounting and is considering buying Qantas shares. He looks to you for advice.
Present your response concisely in a business report format.
1. Identify and explain some of the metrics that Qantas uses to show its performance.
2. Examine and comment on the Statement of Comprehensive Income.
3. What expertise does Todd Sampson bring to the Board of Directors?
4. Explain Revenue Seat Factor, EBIT, Revenue received in advance and Retained Earnings.
5. Calculate and comment on the Working Capital ratio for the two most recent years.
6. Create two charts in Excel from any data in the Qantas report showing 3D columns and a 3D pie chart. Paste the spreadsheet charts in your assignment. Also, paste the chart data area.
7. Summarise your advice to Raymond re the investment decision.
Question 6: Costing
A. The relevant range pertains to fixed costs not variable costs. Do you agree? Explain, giving examples.
B. Why is breakeven analysis a misnomer?
Question 7: Decision making
Use this page for your survey
Suppose you're on a TV game show, and you're given the choice of three doors. Behind one door is a brand new car, behind the others, nothing. You pick a door. The TV host, who knows what's behind the doors, chooses another door and opens it to show you that it has nothing. Should you change your decision?
Please be frank and creative in answering the following questions.
A. (i) Suppose you're on a TV game show, and you're given the choice of three doors. Behind one door is a brand new car, behind the others, nothing. You pick a door. The TV host, who knows what's behind the doors, chooses another door and opens it to show you that it has nothing. Should you change your decision?
Don't think about this too deeply just yet. Do you feel (intuit?) that you should change your choice? Answer initially without researching the question. What is the thinking behind your answer? Conduct a survey of ten of your friends/colleagues to give their opinion. You may wish to provide them with a copy of the problem.
Include in your answer a table setting out the results of your survey. Also create a simple chart with Excel to present the results of your survey.
A (ii) After you answer the first part of this question, search the Internet for the Monty Hall problem. Provide your own explanation of the correct solution. Why do so many get the wrong answer? Did you?
B. A man goes to see his medical doctor to find out whether or not he has a deadly disease. The test is positive. The test is 95% accurate and one in one thousand men of his age has this disease. What is the probability he has the disease? He decides to seek a second opinion but the results are exactly the same. When this question was put to a group of student doctors, 80% of them answered "95%". He now plans to sell up all his assets, tell his boss what he really thinks of her, quit his job on the spot and live in Bora Bora in the time he has left. Is this a rational decision? Explain.
C. Suppose an urn contains 100 marbles, 65 red and 35 black. A marble is drawn at random from the urn and you are asked to guess what colour you believe the marble to be. The marble is then shown,
replaced, and the urn's contents again randomised. The aim is to maximise the number of correct guesses. Before reading any further, what strategy would you employ? What would you guess?
Assume 4 red come out in a row. What would your next guess be? Why? Include a brief discussion of the gambler's fallacy (Monte Carlo fallacy).
D. Creatively discuss the rationality of human decision making using these and other examples. Use the Internet as a source (about 300 words for this section).
Question 8: Variance analysis
Spreadsheet the following to calculate materials and labour variances. Follow all spreadsheet requirements. Use the IF function to determine if variances are favourable or unfavourable or no variance.
Use this template to answer the problem.
Question 9: Business Report
Write a business report to senior management on the significance of two of the following to the function of management accounting. About 300-400 words each report. Use the Internet as a resource. Give examples to illustrate your report. Use screen shots, images or cartoons to enhance your submission. Refer to the earlier section 'Assessment Information' for essay/report writing skill resources. The Internet can also be searched for advice on business report structures.
A. History of management accounting
B. Black Swans (Taleb)
C. Balanced scorecard
D. Sustainability and the role of the accountant.