ACCT3600 Accounting and Auditing in Practice
Semester 1, 2023
Group Written Report [25 marks]
The research case study report is due for lodgement via the TURNITIN link on canvas by 23:59
Monday 15 May 2023 (Week 12).
Required:
(i) Find a media article about a company listed on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX)
that discusses certain “business risks” the company may be exposed to, which may suggest that
the auditor could face potential “audit risks” when completing the audit for this company.
Note: The media article must have a publication date on or after 15 November 2022. A copy
of the article will need to be submitted with the completed assignment (Part 2) as an appendix.
Failure to attach the selected article with the assignment SHALL incur a 10% penalty of
the total marks awarded for the assignment.
(ii) Based on the information in your selected article as well as other relevant information about
this company, prepare a report addressing the following questions:
Q1: Demonstrate your understanding of the selected company by providing a detailed
description of its business operations. You must include a description of its revenue streams,
products and services, business processes, competitive environment and regulatory
environment.
Refer ASA 315 Identifying and Assessing the Risks of Material Misstatement (including the
appendix) to help guide your response.
Your answer to this part should be reflective of your in-depth understanding of the company’s
operations, not merely a summary of information from the annual report.
[5 marks]
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Q2: Calculate the following ratios for your selected company based on the most recent audited
financial report (year t) and include the table in your report:
Financial Ratios Year t Year t-1
Current ratio
Quick asset ratio
Operating cash flow ratio
Receivables turnover ratio
Inventory turnover ratio
Return on assets
Return on equity
Gross profit ratio
Net profit ratio
Debt / Equity
Times interest earned
Comment on the company’s liquidity, activity, profitability, and solvency based on the ratios
above and explain how your analysis may influence the audit process.
Refer to ASA 520 Analytical Procedures and ASA 570 Going Concern for guidance.
[3 marks]
Q3: Based on your analyses in Q1 and Q2, explain why the information in the selected article
presents a “business risk” or “business risks” to the company and how the risk(s) would affect
the audit process?
[2 marks]
Q4: Based on the information contained in the article and any additional research, identify two
key accounts related to the event in the article that would warrant a key audit matter (KAM)
paragraph in your audit report.
Explain why these two key accounts warrant key audit matter paragraphs in your audit report.
[4 marks]
For each of the key account, identify one prime assertion (two assertions in total) that the
auditor might select to prioritise in their audit plan.
[2 marks]
For each of the two assertions identified, detail two audit procedures/substantive tests (4
audit procedures in total) to address how your audit addresses the key audit matters?
[6 marks]
Refer to ASA 701 Communicating Key Audit Matters in the Independent Auditor’s Report for
guidance on KAM.
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Q5: Discuss how information in the selected article may impact on your audit report and the
audit opinion you form?
[1.5 marks]
Q7: Your assignment should be submitted in a format as if it were to be presented to a meeting
of senior auditors at your accounting firm and designed to impart your key messages. It should
be succinct, and use of tables and graphs is encouraged. The report should also be coherent and
so consistency is expected throughout (e.g., formatting, language style, and linkages between
the questions). Note that groups who split up the tasks and work independently are likely to
have more difficulty accomplishing this objective compared to groups who work on each of
the parts collaboratively. Note, merely complying with the presentation guidelines will receive
low marks for presentation. To gain full marks, student will need to present their assignment
in a highly professional manner.
[1.5 marks]
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Other requirements:
Business risks:
Please refer to ASA315 Identifying and Assessing the Risks of Material Misstatement
(including the appendix) for examples of business risks in guiding you to select your articles.
Some examples might include:
1. financial distress,
2. material fraud,
3. material misstatements in the financial statements.
The media article:
a) The library database “Factiva” is recommended which provides access to newspapers,
media journals, web sites and radio and television broadcasts. Tip: You can narrow
down your search results by specifying “date”, “source” and “subject” in addition to
your search terms.
b) The media article can deal with any event that has occurred before, still in progress or
only recently came to the media’s attention.
c) The media article must have been published within the 6 months prior to the assignment
due date.
Key Audit Matters:
Please refer to ASA 701 Communicating Key Audit Matters in the Independent Auditor’s
Report for useful information around KAM.
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Presentation/Formatting
Note that as this is a research assignment, appropriate reference citations throughout the report
are expected.
The assignment shall be presented in the following format. Failure to comply with any of the
following requirements SHALL incur a 10% penalty of the marks awarded for the
assignment.
• A cover page, which needs to be downloaded from Canvas and must contain the
required information.
• All Student SIDs MUST appear on each page as part of the page footer.
• The body of the assignment - This is not to exceed 12 pages, single-sided and is to use
Times New Roman size 12 font, 1½ line spacing and margins on all sides at 2.5 cm
minimum. Use of headings, graphs, tables and bulleted lists is encouraged. However,
the assignment should still be largely based on text in paragraphs and build a narrative.
• Please keep a copy of your Turnitin assignment receipt.
• Page numbers must be included at the bottom of each page.
• Appendices:
o Part 1: A Bibliography is required and is not counted towards the 12 pages
limit. Referencing must conform to the Business School Referencing Guide
(BSRG). For the purposes of in-text referencing of Accounting and Auditing
Standards, you may use: (ASA 701 para. 12). For the purpose of in-text
referencing of companies’ Annual Reports you may use: (XXX AR 2015 p.12).
All other references and the reference list must conform to the BSRG.
o Part 2: A copy of the selected article must be attached.
o Other appendices are acceptable but will not be marked and are not to be used
to circumvent the restrictions on the length of the assignment. The appendices
are not counted towards the 12 pages limit.
• All assignments must be typed. Footnotes should be reserved for points of clarification.
Marks may be deducted for inappropriate use of footnotes and appendices.
Submission details:
a) The assignment can ONLY be lodged via the TURNITIN link in the canvas site
b) The assignment is due at 23:59 Monday 15 May 2023 (week 12), submission date
and time will be determined by the TURNITIN system.
c) The submission of the peer assessment of groupwork performance (see Canvas)
is optional. However, if you decide to submit one, it must be submitted individually
as a separate document electronically via Canvas, by the same due date of 23:59
Monday 15 May 2023 (week 12). No late submissions will be accepted. All late
submissions as well as non-submissions will be treated as if you have rated each
and every one of your group members (including yourself) an average effort score
of 3 for all the questions, hence a total score of 30 (details see the marking scheme
of the peer assessment of groupwork performance on Canvas).
d) The penalty for assignments submitted late is 5% per calendar day or part thereof
for each group member. No assignments will be accepted after the closing date of
25 May 2023 and submissions beyond this date will receive a mark of zero for each
group member.
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e) 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 (before any peer evaluation-based
adjustments). In the event of a breach of academic honesty the penalty will apply to
all members irrespective of which member(s) caused the breach.
The marking criteria are provided at the end.
Any other questions, please post it to the discussion board.
Good Luck!
The ACCT3600 Team
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The group written research report marking grid
0-34% 35-65% 65-100% 85-100%
Does not satisfactorily
address the
question/requirement
Demonstrates limited
research undertaken
Little
reference/material has
been identified/used
Provides a limited
discussion of the
material/reference
with little or no
critical evaluation
Presents arguments
often lacking in
cohesion and
substantive evidence
Address the
question/requirement
with acceptable
coverage of key
concepts
Demonstrates a
reasonable amount of
research undertaken
Identifies key
references/materials
relevant to the project
Provides a discussion
of the
material/reference
with limited critical
evaluation
Presents cohesive
arguments sometimes
lacking in substantive
evidence
Thoroughly addresses
key aspects of the
question/requirement
Demonstrates a
comprehensive
research undertaken
Identifies key
references/materials
relevant to the project
Provides a sound
discussion of the
material/reference
with critical
evaluation
Presents cohesive,
scholarly arguments
supported by
substantive evidence
Thoroughly addresses
all aspects of the
question/requirement
Demonstrates a
comprehensive and
original research
undertaken
Identifies and
integrates key
references/materials
relevant to the project
Provides an extensive
and informed critical
evaluation of the
materials
Presents cohesive,
scholarly arguments
supported by
substantive evidence