1
HBC330N Accounting Theory
Semester 2 2013
Assignment Information Sheet
Fair Value Accounting and the GFC
Individual or Groups of 2
Assignment
According to Laux and Leuz (2009, p. 833) “accounting rules and changes in them are shaped by
political processes”.
Laux, C. & Leuz, C. 2009. The crisis of fair-value accounting: Making sense of the recent debate. Accounting,
Organizations and Society, 6-7, 826-834.
Required:
You have been commissioned by the Chair of the Australian Accounting Standards Board to
write a Report explaining the foregoing Laux and Leuz (2009) claim in the context of the
controversy surrounding whether or not fair-value accounting contributed to the global financial
crisis of 2008.
2
Additional requirement: you are to use no less than 6 high quality* scholarly journal articles in
the development of your report. The Library database Business Source Complete is a useful tool
for sourcing journal articles.
*The quality of journals can be assessed by reference to the Australian Council of Business
Deans (ABDC) 2010 journal rankings (A*, A, B, C in order of declining quality) available
(after scrolling down) at www. http://www.abdc.edu.au/3.43.0.0.1.0.htm.
Learning outcomes addressed by the assignment.
The assignment is designed to provide you with the opportunity to develop the following
learning outcomes:
1 with regard to your accounting theory knowledge, the assignment provides you with the
opportunity to develop your understanding of fair-value accounting and, in particular,
how the public and private interest theories of regulation apply to accounting standard
setting. The assignment can be commenced after the first lecture.
2. with respect to generic skills, the assignment provides you with the opportunity to
develop your ability to research and analyse complex issues, to formulate well-reasoned
and coherent arguments and to reach well considered conclusions, and to develop your
written communication skills, including the conventions of referencing at university.
You are to aspire to the highest standard of work with respect to both the content and
presentation of the Report. The Harvard referencing system is to be used. Marks will be deducted
where the Harvard system is not used appropriately. Please note that Wikipedia is not an
appropriate source to reference for an academic Report such as this. The Library holds sessions
on referencing technique and provides guidelines at
http://www.swinburne.edu.au/lib/researchhelp/harvard_style.html.
3
LODGEMENT: You must submit your assignment via the Turnitin facility available on
Blackboard and also in hardcopy by the due date in the allocated assignment box (location to be
advised) no later than 4.00pm 11
th
October, 2013. Students must also keep an electronic or
photocopied version of their assignment for evidentiary purposes. The file name should be
Surname1_Surname2 (in the case of a submission by two students). A Draft Safe Assign facility
is available for assessment of potential plagiarism before submission of the final version in Final
Safe Assign facility.
MAXIMUM MARKS: 20 Marks toward the final assessment. The assignment will be marked
out of 100. The rubric for marking is in the Unit Outline. Assignments will be marked to the
same standard regardless of whether one or two students are involved in the submission. When
working in pairs, students are expected to contribute equally. On this basis each student
responsible for a submission is provided the same mark. Where equal contributions are not
forthcoming and this cannot be resolved by the students, the Convenor should be informed in
writing.
WORD COUNT: the body of the Report should not exceed 1500 words (+/- 10 per cent)
(excluding title page, references and executive summary but including footnotes, endnotes and
appendices). Please provide a word count on the cover sheet.
FORMAT
A report format is required for this assignment. In a report, the Executive Summary should
provide an overview of the whole report, including any recommendations. This is a ‘thinking’
assignment and what is expected is the personal view of individual students’ based on research
4
and the evidence that has been sourced. Further, an assignment which presents more quotes than
constructive analysis and argument may be heavily penalised.
SUGGESTED REPORT STRUCTURE
1. Title Page
2. Contents Page
3. Executive Summary (which provides an overview of the whole report)
4. Introduction and Purpose
5. Responses to specific task using appropriate headings and sub-headings
6. Conclusion
7. References
This assignment is an important assessment component of this Unit and as such the assignment
must be properly researched and professionally presented. The assignment should also:
• Be all your own (individual submissions) or your group’s (pairs) work
• Be word-processed (printed), and have 1.5 spacing for clarity; a high standard of
presentation is expected, but a folder, binding etc. is not to be included. Please do
not staple, but use a bull dog clip or large paper clip because assignments may be
scanned to be returned with feedback.
• Have the cover sheet with all relevant details, including:
- student name, student number, tutorial time & tutor’s name
- Unit name and code
- date of submission
• Contain correct referencing, using the Harvard system.
• Include a list of references (alphabetical by first author’s surname) adequately referencing
your sources (in-text references should only refer to the surname of the author/authors and
the year of the publication).
Students are reminded to review the University policy on plagiarism.
The University uses the Turnitin tool. This is an effective tool to reduce plagiarism. Students should
self-check their assignments prior to final submission. Documentation on the use of this tool will be
posted on Blackboard. Please ensure that you use only the Draft option to check your work. This is a
matching and not a punitive tool. The default setting allows every student to check draft
submissions, but you should be aware that the closer to the deadline you use Turnitin, the longer it
may take to receive a report. Upon receiving feedback from Turnitin, you should amend your
assignment to ensure that it is -Plagiarism Safe- before submitting the final version.