Cost Management Systems 22321

Major Assignment 2018 Autumn

Assessment weighting

This assignment contributes to 25% of the total subject mark.

Assessment objectives

This assignment provides students with a number of learning opportunities.

1. Students learn to collaborate with others to achieve a collective goal. Being able to work in a team is an important skill as management accountants increasingly work as part of integrated teams in practice.
2. Students are required to apply cost accounting concepts and techniques to solve a practice-based problem. This encourages students to learn about how cost accounting is applied in a real-world setting, and further develop critical thinking and problem solving skills.
3. Students need to develop an understanding of how to tailor cost accounting techniques to a specific organisational setting. This promotes the development of research skills and critical evaluation.
4. Students will need to make estimates of costs to demonstrate their cost accounting solution. A fundamental aspect of management accounting is preparing information based on estimates and making decisions with limited information. This furthers the development of logical reasoning and analytical skills.

Cost Management Systems 22321

Group size and composition:

• The assignment is to be completed in groups of 3 or 4 students.
• All students in a group must be enrolled in the same tutorial.
• Students are not permitted to complete the assignment individually and will not be allocated to a group by CMS teaching staff. It is your responsibility to find team members in time for final registration.
• Assignment groups will be formed in Tutorial 2 (29^th March 2018). If you are unable to attend this tutorial, you must email your tutor beforehand.
• You are required to register your group with your tutor. This must be finalised by Tutorial 3 (5^th April 2018). Failure to register in a team on time will incur a penalty.

Cost Management Systems 22321 Assessment details

The assignment is to be presented as a professional consulting report. The report must follow the formatting requirements outlined in the UTS Guide to Writing Assignments. The writing guide can be downloaded here:

http://www.uts.edu.au/sites/default/files/business-writing-guide-2014.pdf

Only publicly available information may be used. For example, the Internet, annual reports, newspaper and journal articles, databases, and books. You are not to contact individuals within the firm to ask questions or request information. All sources of information must be referenced in the report using the Harvard referencing method. Details on this method can be found in the writing guide. Further information can be found here: http://www.uts.edu.au/current-students/business/study-and-assessment-resources/uts-harvard-referencing

The report is to be a maximum of 15 A4 pages and not more than 3,500 words. The page limit includes the title page, table of contents, executive summary, conclusion, as well as main tables and diagrams that are included in the body of the report. The word and page limit excludes the reference list and appendices (e.g. these may contain supporting assumptions and calculations). Any material in the appendices must be referenced in the main report.

Cost Management Systems 22321

The assignment must be based on one of the following organisations. Tutors will randomly allocate each group an organisation.

The focus of the assignment is a product division of the organisation. If the organisation has multiple product divisions, you can choose one product category to focus on. For example, if your organisation is Unilever, you could focus on ice creams, deodorants, or another product category (as long as the category contains multiple products). Please seek advice from your tutor if you are unsure of what would be an appropriate focus.

Cost Management Systems 22321

Assignment submission

There are three points of submission for this assignment.

1. First submission (assessable): Part 1 of the assignment is to be submitted in-class to tutors on the 19^th April 2018. Four marks will be awarded for meeting all of the following requirements below. Failure to meet any one of these requirements will result in a mark of zero. Tutors will provide feedback for you to improve your analysis before the final submission of the assignment.
   1. A diagram of the value chain for the selected product category of the assigned organisation.
   2. An analysis of the value chain with a focus on the operations component. As a guide, you should aim for the analysis to be around 600-800 words in length, excluding tables and diagrams (Size 11 font; Times New Roman or Calibri; 1.5 line spacing, 2.5cm page margins).
   3. Formatting must follow the UTS Guide to Writing Assignments.
   4. A reference list with a minimum of five referenced sources. References must follow the Harvard referencing style.

2. Second submission (non-assessable): Part 2 of the assignment will be reviewed in class on the 10^th May 2018. This is an opportunity to get feedback from tutors on your assignment. No marks are awarded.

Cost Management Systems 22321

3. Final submission (assessable): The completed assignment is to be submitted both to TurnItIn AND emailed to your tutor by 11:59am Monday 28^th May 2018. Late assignments will incur a deduction in marks of 20% per day or part thereof. Assignments are to be submitted in softcopy as a single file in either Microsoft Word Document (.doc or .docx) or Adobe PDF (.pdf) format. The single file must include a scanned copy of the group report cover sheet and the original authorship statement signed by all members of the assignment group. Failure to include this sheet will result in a zero grade for the group. A peer review sheet signed by all members of the group is also to be included and may be used to adjust the final mark of group members. If all members cannot agree on the allocation of grades on peer review sheet, individual members of the group may email a separate peer review sheet to their tutor along with an explanation of why they believe the grade allocations should be different for different members. In summary:
4. TurnItIn (one submission per group): A single file that includes the full assignment, group report cover sheet, original authorship statement and peer review sheet is to be submitted to TurnItIn (plagiarism detection software) by one team member. This is accessible on UTS Online. Failure to submit to TurnItIn will result in a zero grade for the group.
5. Email (one submission per group): A single file that includes the full assignment, group report cover sheet, original authorship statement and peer review sheet is to be emailed to your tutor by one team member. Tutor email addresses are listed on UTS Online under Staff Information.
6. Email (one submission per group member): Only required if the group cannot agree on the allocation of grades then each individual can email their peer review sheet to their tutor along with an explanation of why they believe the grade allocations should be different for different members.

Cost Management Systems 22321

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