UNIVERSITI TUNKU ABDUL RAHMAN

FACULTY OF ACCOUNTANCY AND MANAGEMENT

ACADEMIC YEAR 2021/2022
BACHELOR OF ACCOUNTING (HONOURS)
UKAF4023 ACCOUNTING THEORY AND PRACTICE
OCTOBER 2021 ASSIGNMENT (20%)

OBJECTIVES
The objectives of the assignment are as follow:
▪ To test the students’ understanding on the emerging issues and practices of accounting
as well as corporate reporting;
▪ To familiarise students with the development and issues in accounting standard setting
and conceptual framework;
▪ To apply student-centred learning approach;
▪ To enable students to enhance their interpersonal, written, analytical and critical thinking
skills by providing an avenue to seek and evaluate information for essay and research
report writing; and
▪ To develop and instil teamwork among the students in completing the assigned tasks.

INSTRUCTIONS AND REQUIREMENTS

Formation of groups
Students are required to form their own groups of a maximum SIX (6) members. All
members in each group are expected to contribute in producing the group assignment. Please
fill up the group assignment list name in WBLE. The selection of the group members must be
from within the SAME tutorial group.
Format
1. The assignment consists of a group report (20%).
2. The length of the CONTENT should NOT be more than 20 pages. All written reports must
be typed and based on Times New Roman style, 1.15 spacing and font size 12 with 1”
margin all around and fully justified on A4 size layout.
3. All pages in the report should be numbered except for the cover page and table of contents.
Page number should be at the bottom right of the page.
4. Table of contents is NOT required.
5. Any references used, shall follow the American Psychological Association (APA) style of
referencing.
6. Please arrange your report accordingly and correctly and make sure pages are not rotated.
UKAF4023 ACCOUNTING THEORY AND PRACTICE OCTOBER 2021

REPORT CONTENT
Report should be arranged as follows:

1. Cover Page (Appendix I)

2. Marking Sheet (Appendix II)
3. Content:
▪ Part I: (a), (b), (c) and (d)
▪ Part II,
▪ Part III: (a) and (b)
4. References
5. Appendices and attachments (if any)

SUBMISSION
1. All assignment must be submitted by Week 4, Monday 8th November 2021.
2. Submission of answers are through WBLE.
3. The assignment should be submitted in 1 PDF file (ensure that your file size does not
exceed 30MB).
4. The assignment report should be labelled as follows:

[UKAF4023_ Tutorial Group No _ Group Leader Name]

E.g. Tutorial Group 1 and name of Group Leader is Samantha Lee, your group assignment
report should be renamed as follows:

UKAF4023_T1_Samantha Lee

Plagiarism
Plagiarism is defined as the submission or presentation of work, in any form, which is not one's
own, without acknowledgement of the sources. If a student obtains information or ideas from
an outside source, that source must be acknowledged. Another rule to follow is that any direct
quotation must be placed in quotation marks, and the source immediately cited. However,
excessive use of direct quotes is not acceptable.
All assignment will be uploaded to TURNITIN for similarity check. Please ensure that report
are written Students are required to submit the similarity report (only the summary page).
Overall similarity index should not exceed 20%.

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UKAF4023 ACCOUNTING THEORY AND PRACTICE OCTOBER 2021

LATE SUBMISSION PENALTY CLAUSE

Deadline for submission of assessment item(s) is to be strictly adhered to.
No extension of time will be allowed except in extenuating circumstances, e.g. medical
reasons. Students who wish to apply for extension of time for submission of assessment item(s)
after the due date shall put in writing the request together with validated documentary evidence
to support the application to his/her class tutor. The lead lecturer may consider and grant such
extension of due date for the assessment.
Any assessment item required by the Coursework Assessment which is submitted after the due
date, without an approved extension, will be penalised. A penalty of 10% reduction of marks
will be levied for each day of late submission. Weekends and Public Holidays are counted as
one (1) day late. Assessment item(s) submitted more than seven (7) days after the due date will
be awarded with zero (0) marks.
Penalty on marks may be imposed in any cases of non-compliance with the assignment
requirements.

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UKAF4023 ACCOUNTING THEORY AND PRACTICE OCTOBER 2021

ASSIGNMENT TASKS:

The assignment is divided into several tasks:

PART I – CREATIVE ACCOUNTING

Group Essay.
Creative accounting is a type of accounting practice that deviates from the accounting rules in
order to benefit a specific group of individuals. It can be defined as a behaviour with the explicit
goal of interfering with the financial reporting process in order to make reported income appear
normal while providing no real economic benefits to relevant parties such as shareholders. You
are required to choose ONE (1) real life case of a company which was involved in creative
accounting and to prepare a written report about your findings. Support your answers with
relevant journals, articles and official websites.
Your report should include the following:
(a) The impact of creative accounting towards the company that you have chosen.
(b) To explain any FOUR (4) factors that motivates the company top-level management to
participate in creative accounting.
(c) Discuss whether the practice of creative accounting can assist a company during a downturn
or will lead to its bankruptcy.
(d) Explain any TWO (2) possible role of governance in creative accounting.

PART II – ENVIRONMENTAL, SOCIAL, AND GOVERNANCE

Environmental, social, and governance (ESG) criteria are a set of standards for a company’s
operations that socially conscious investors use to screen potential investments. Environmental
criteria consider how a company performs as a steward of nature. Social criteria examine how
it manages relationships with employees, suppliers, customers, and the communities where it
operates. Governance deals with a company’s leadership, executive pay, audits, internal
controls, and shareholder rights.

With reference to journals and articles, you are required to analyse and explain how ESG
information will aid in investors’ decisions?

PART III – EFFECT OF MCO AND CMCO ON COMPANIES’ FINANCIAL

PERFORMANCE
Companies are still being affected by the COVID-19 outbreak in various ways. While some
governments are moving away from MCO to CMCO prohibitions, many experts believe
COVID-19 will become an endemic disease. COVID-19 becoming endemic essentially means
that the pandemic will not end with the virus disappearing; rather, the optimistic view is that
enough people will gain immune protection from vaccination and natural infection that there
will be less transmission and much less COVID-19-related hospitalisation and death, even if
the virus continues to circulate. During the MCO and CMCO, we can see that many businesses

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UKAF4023 ACCOUNTING THEORY AND PRACTICE OCTOBER 2021

affected and some are not. On 18 March 2020, Malaysia began the implementation of the
movement control order. Thus, financial reporting period of 2020 may offer a better or worse
picture than the last annual financial statements, depending on the industry and economic
situation in which a company trade. COVID-19 continues to have an impact on how assets,
liabilities, income, and expenses are recognised and measured in most businesses. Furthermore,
many businesses may face going concern issues as a result of prolonged liquidity challenges.
In measuring firm performance, there are several methods namely; (i) Return on Equity (ROE),
(ii) Return on Asset (ROA), and (iii) Tobin’s Q. You are required to choose ONE (1) company
listed in Bursa Malaysia and measure the firm performance in year 2019 and 2020 to see any
differences using any of the three-method mentioned above. Refer to any recent journal
publications to discuss more about COVID-19's impact on firm performance in general, as well
as the performance of the company you chose.

The calculation for ROE, ROA and Tobin’s Q are:

(i) ROEit = NIit / SEit

Where:

ROEit = return on equity for the period and

NIit = net income for the period
SEit = shareholder’s equity of the firm for the period.

(ii) ROAit = (NIit / TAit)

Where:

ROAit = return on asset for the period;

NIit = net income for the current period;
TAit = total asset for the prior period;

(iii) Tobin’s Qit = (MVCEit + BVTAit - BVCEit) / BVTAit

Where;

Tobin’s Qit = measurement for firm performance

MVCEit = market value of common equity for the period
BVTAit = book value of total asset for the period
BVCEit = book value of common equity for the period

# Student can extract the financial data from Annual Report in Bursa Malaysia or using the
Bloomberg database.

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 Appendix I

UNIVERSITI TUNKU ABDUL RAHMAN

FACULTY OF ACCOUNTANCY AND MANAGEMENT
ACADEMIC YEAR 2021/2022
BACHELOR OF ACCOUNTING (HONOURS)
UKAF4023 ACCOUNTING THEORY AND PRACTICE
OCTOBER 2021 ASSIGNMENT

Course Details

Faculty: Faculty of Accountancy and Management

Programme Bachelor of Accountancy (Hons)

Tutorial Group & Tutor’s Name:

Assignment Details

Group No. :

Due date : Monday, 8 November 2021

Student Details

Name
No. ID Number Group Report (15%)
(in alphabetical order)

1.

2.

3.

4.

Lecturer/Tutor
Comment and
Acknowledgement:
 Appendix III (Page 2 of 2)

UKAF4023 ACCOUNTING THEORY AND PRACTICE

OCTOBER 2021 ASSIGNMENT: GROUP MARKING SCHEME

Information High quality,

Inaccurate Correct and useful
presented was correct and useful
information and/or information
mostly correct and information MARKS
ASSESSMENT CRITERIA not relevant, ideas presented in clear
useful, but not presented in a clear AWARDED
difficult to follow and concise form
presented clearly and succinct form
(F) (B)
(C) (A)

PART I (40 Marks)

(a) Impact of creative accounting <1 2-5 6-7 8 - 10

(b) Motivations for creative

<1 2-5 6-7 8 - 10
accounting

(c) Outcomes of creative accounting <1 2-5 6-7 8 - 10

(d) Role of governance <1 2-5 6-7 8 - 10

PART II (20 Marks) < 10 11 – 12 13 – 14 15 - 20

PART III (25 Marks)

 Appendix III (Page 2 of 2)

(a) Firm Performance calculation <1 2-5 6-7 8 - 10

(b) Covid-19 impact on firm

1-4 5-9 10 - 12 13 - 15
performance

QUALITY & CREATIVITY

(15 Marks)
Essay structure, grammar and <6 7–8 9 – 10 11 - 15
language, layout, references,
plagiarism, flow of discussion.

TOTAL MARKS (100 Marks)

COURSEWORK MARK (20%)