BUSINESS SCHOOL
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ACCT3031: International Corporate Governance
Semester 2, 2023
Group Assignment
The Group Assignment provides an opportunity to interact with other students to negotiate and create a shared
understanding. In completing the Group Assignment, students are expected to demonstrate their ability to
undertake joint research, critically evaluate information, use analytical skills, and apply knowledge from course
materials and other sources.
The group assignment is designed as a collaborative learning experience, where the research of one group
leads a discussion in class on the issues with, or advantages of corporate governance, that will benefit the
entire class.
The group assignment (weighted at 35% of your overall marks) consists of three components:
1. Report: 2500-word report due week 10 (11.59pm, Tuesday 10 October 2023)
2. Critical Analysis: 250-word critical analysis of reports by two (2) other groups due week 11 (11.59pm,
Tuesday 17 October 2023)
3. 10-minute presentation of your report in your allocated workshop in week 12 (a copy of the
presentation slides must be uploaded to Canvas by 9am, Wednesday 25 October 2023)
Groups
Membership: Students within a group must be allocated to the same workshop.
Size: 5-6 students. Students are to form a group and complete the group nomination in Canvas by
the end of week 5 (5pm, Friday 1 September 2023). A penalty of 5% will be applied to all
students who have not formed a group by the deadline.
Nomination: The group nomination requires one member of the group self-enrolling in the empty group on
Canvas (see the link in the Assessment page on Canvas) and the remainder of the group self-
enrolling into that group.
Number: The group number to be used for the assignment submission will be provided on Canvas and
will consist of your stream number and the self-sign-up group nomination. If you are in stream
1 and your group nomination is Group 7, your group number will be 107. The group number
must be shown in the header of your report and in the file name (see following).
Contribution: Each group member is expected to be involved in the preparation, drafting, proofing and
checking of all aspects of this group assignment including ensuring no breaches of academic
honesty. Members will be held jointly responsible for the entire submission and awarded the
same merit mark. In the event of a breach of academic honesty, the penalty may apply to all
group members irrespective of which member(s) caused the breach.
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Document Properties
Format: The report is to be prepared using 12-point font (Times New Roman, Arial or Cambria),
paragraphs formatted with 1.5-line spacing, and with margins not less than 2cm.
Header: Your group number and the SID of all group members is to be shown in the header of your
report on each page.
File name: The Report and Presentation files must be saved using Your Group Number, ACCT3031,
Semester 2, 2023; e.g. Group107ACCT3031s223.
The Critical Analysis files must be saved using Your Group Number, ACCT3031, Semester 2,
2023, Other Group Number; e.g. Group107ACCT3031s23Group103.
Failure to following the naming requirements will result in a 5% penalty.
Referencing: Students should follow the rules set out in the APA 7th referencing style. Please refer to the
library site for further information and expectations about consistent referencing:
https://libguides.library.usyd.edu.au/citation/apa7
Word length: A word length (of 2500 words) has been specified for the report in this assignment, you must
conform to the word length. Where a group exceeds the maximum word length, the group will
incur a penalty of 10% of the total available marks when the submission is 10% above the
maximum word length and an additional 10% for each 10% over-length thereafter.
Note, the maximum word length includes in-text referencing but excludes the reference list
and any appendices at the end of the assessment. See University Policies and Business
School Resolutions on Assessment: https://business.sydney.edu.au/students/policy
Company Nomination Requirements
Each group is required to nominate a company from the list provided on Canvas at the start of week 6 (9am,
Monday 4 September 2023). The nomination of the chosen company is to be made by placing a comment in
the appropriate Discussion Board thread in Canvas that includes your group number. A company can only be
chosen by one group in each workshop on a ‘first come-first served’ basis.
Your group must nominate the selected company by the end of week 7 (5pm, Friday 17 September 2023).
A penalty of 5% will apply to each group that nominates more than one company or does not provide a
nomination by the required date.
Assessment Details
1. Report (70 marks)
Your group is required to investigate the corporate governance failure or issue identified in the provided
article relating to your chosen company. As part of completing the report, your group will need to identify
and obtain:
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• the relevant corporate governance code or requirements of the local stock/security exchange in
the year the corporate governance failure or issue occurred. If the issue has occurred over more
than one (1) reporting period, obtain the code that existed at the end of the period. It should be
noted, some security/stock exchanges do not publish a corporate governance code but include
corporate governance requirements within the listing rules (e.g. NYSE); and
• the company’s corporate governance disclosures that were provided in the year the corporate
governance failure or issue occurred. If the issue has occurred over more than one (1) reporting
period, obtain the disclosures provided during the final year of the period.
N.B. Disclosures include, but are not limited to, financial reports, annual reports, governance reports,
sustainability reports, and the company website - do not rely solely on a single source document. As part
of the analysis, consider the appropriate theory or theories that can explain an observation, as well as
academic research, and industry reports. The use of media reports or news websites is strongly
discouraged.
Report Brief
Using a company’s corporate governance disclosures and the corporate governance code where the
company is listed, you will critique the usefulness of the company disclosures as a means of increasing
corporate transparency and accountability. This task will be completed via a two-step process:
1. Compare the level or extent of company compliance with the requirements of the corporate
governance code; and
2. Analyse the corporate disclosures to corporate practice.
In effect, you will be reading what the company was disclosing about their corporate governance practices
(in the corporate governance disclosures), with the knowledge of what was really happening within
company (based on the news article). Your group report is to include:
Executive summary (300 words)
An executive summary of the key findings and analysis. The executive summary must provide
sufficient detail for the reader to understand (albeit at a superficial level) the contents of your report.
Compliance with corporate governance code (500 words)
Comparison the level of corporate compliance to the relevant corporate governance code (or listing
rule, where appropriate) of the local stock/security exchange. It is suggested this information is
provided in a table with a brief explanation on the level of compliance/non-compliance.
Ex post analysis of reporting of disclosures (1 700 words)
Considering the corporate governance failure or issue identified in the article, provide an analysis
(what your group considers) of the most relevant corporate governance disclosures provided by the
company (4 would be sufficient) and respond to the following questions:
1. How useful are the disclosures for stakeholders to gauge the level of consideration to, and
compliance with, the corporate governance code; and
2. Are the disclosures an effective tool to reduce information asymmetry.
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2. Critical Analysis (250 words x 2) (10 marks)
Each group will be provided, via Canvas, with the Reports from two other groups. Your group is required
to undertake a critical analysis of each Report. Your group must decide how you will undertake the analysis
and report your findings, ideas, or suggestions. However, it is suggested consideration be given to areas
of strength or weakness, missing or incorrect information, agreement or disagreement with the Reports’
analysis, arguments, or findings. Do not comment on spelling or grammatical errors.
The Reports and subsequent Critical Analysis for all groups will be provided on Canvas. All information
identifying the group members will be removed.
3. Presentation (10 minutes + 2 minutes Q&A) (20 marks)
Taking into consideration feedback provided by other groups in the Critical Analysis, your group is to
present the Report in the workshop. The presentation is to cover a brief overview of the company, what
was being investigated, the analysis undertaken and the key findings.
As part of the marking, your group is required to ask questions of each group where you completed the
Critical Analysis.
Submission Instructions
1. Report
Anonymous marking will be used for this assignment. To enable your mark to be recorded you must ensure
your group number provided in Canvas is shown in the header of the file. The report must be submitted
electronically via Turnitin by the due date as either a .doc or .docx file. Only one submission is required
per group. Where more than one student per group submits the assignment, the earliest submission will
be marked.
2. Critical Analysis
The critical analysis of two group reports must be submitted electronically via Turnitin by the due date as
either a .doc or .docx file. Only one submission is required per group. Where more than one student per
group submits the assignment, the earliest submission will be marked.
3. Presentation
The presentation slides must be submitted electronically via Turnitin by the due date as either a .ppt
or .pptx file. Only one submission is required per group.
Late Submissions
A student or group that submits an assessment late (after the official due date), and is not covered by an
approved Special Consideration, or submits after the extension granted under a Special Consideration, the
penalty of 5% of the Total Available Marks per day or part thereof, until the close date will apply, after which
the student or group will receive 0 marks.
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Academic Honesty
You are not permitted to use automated writing tools when completing the assessments on this unit of study.
These tools include, but not limited to:
1. typing assistants, such as Grammarly
2. translation tools, such as Google Translate or Baidu Translate
3. automated writing tools, such as ChatGPT
As a student at the University, you are responsible for taking part in your education in an honest and authentic
manner. It is, therefore, expected that you take extra care to ensure that there are no breaches of academic
honesty. All assignments will be manually and electronically checked for plagiarism (copying). Any perceived
breaches of academic honesty will be referred to the Office of Educational Integrity for further investigation
and penalised if verified. You can read more information on what plagiarism is and how to avoid plagiarism
from the University link: http://sydney.edu.au/students/academic-dishonesty-and-plagiarism.html
Students are reminded all sources of support for the group assignment must be acknowledged and failure to
acknowledge such support may potentially breach the University’s academic honesty requirements.
Each group member is expected to be involved in the preparation, drafting, proofing, and checking of all
aspects of this group assignment including ensuring no breaches of academic honesty. Group members may
be held jointly responsible for the entire submission and awarded the same merit mark.
Note on recycling: Any submission for an assessment that shows evidence of recycling another assessment
submitted by the student to any unit of study at the University will be reported as a suspected breach of
academic honesty. Students are reminded all sources of support for the assignment must be acknowledged
and failure to acknowledge such support may potentially breach the University’s academic honesty
requirements.
Feedback
The report will be marked via a rubric in Turnitin. A marked-up copy of the report, available through Turnitin,
will provide feedback. Subsequent discussion of each report, and presentation in class, will provide additional
feedback.
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Marking Criteria
Activity/Criteria Does Not Meet Expectations Meets Expectations Exceeds Expectations
REPORT
Relevant Content Information generally not
relevant
Information included is
generally relevant
Information included is
always relevant
Accurate Content Little evidence of research
Poor or little understanding of
material in order to present
satisfactorily
Reasonable evidence of
research
Evidence of reasonable
understanding of material and
content in order to present
satisfactorily
Evidence of research
Evidence of clarity of
understanding of the material
and content in order to
present effectively
Appropriate word allocation Poor allocation of words
within the defined limits
Marginally appropriate
allocation of words within the
defined limits
Appropriate allocation of
words within the defined
limits
Makes effective use of tables
and figures
Data presentation aids not
used appropriately, not
integrated or inconsistent (e.g.
not related appropriately to
text, poor quality).
Data presentation aids used
reasonably well, reasonably
well integrated and
consistent.
Data presentation aids used
very well, developed
appropriately, well integrated
and consistent.
Clear and logically organised Information not clear
Disjointed or does not flow
well
Little apparent logical order
Key points are relatively clear
Most information presented in
a logical sequence
Sufficiently well organised
Generally satisfactory flow
Some ambiguities remain
Clearly stated and developed
content
Material flows well and is
well organised
No ambiguities left
unexplained
Uses appropriate grammar
(appropriate language, tone
and flow)
Grammar, tone, and flow
inappropriate
Grammar, tone, and flow
generally appropriate to
reader and situation.
Grammar, tone, and flow
appropriate to reader and
situation
Gains/holds reader attention Little effort/ability to gain or
hold reader attention
Gains and holds attention of
audience reader
Gains and holds attention of
reader well
Purpose The purpose and focus of the
writing are not clear to the
reader
The writer's decisions about
focus, organisation, style, and
content sometimes interferes
with the purpose of the
writing
The writer's decisions about
focus, organisation, style, and
content fully elucidate the
purpose and keep the purpose
at the centre of the piece
CRITICAL ANALYSIS No clear critical analysis or
reflection on the work of the
other groups
Satisfactory analysis and
reflection
Reasonable considerations to
the information provided in
the report
Substantial critical analysis
and reflection providing a
thoughtful consideration of
the work
PRESENTATION Presentation of information
only and read directly from
notes
Does not hold the audience
attention
Inaccurate information with
no regard to the feedback
provided by the group critical
analysis and report marking
Reasonable presentation of
report content and showing
some considerations to the
content presented
Presentation of information
with some expression and/or
engagement with the audience
Clear and succinct
presentation of information
providing a significant body
of knowledge to the students
Engaging presentation