Convincing Features
Assignment Type
Subject
Uploaded by Malaysia Assignment Help
Date
MO4 Analyzing financial information from financial statements using various analytical tools and critical thinking
MO5 Critically analysis financial accounting information for making strategic business decision
Detecting Earnings Management and Evaluating Corporate Governance in a Publicly Listed Malaysian Company
Objective:
This assignment is designed to develop students’ ability to critically analyze financial statements and disclosures, interpret accounting ratios, assess corporate governance mechanisms, and identify potential earnings management practices using real-world data.
Select a public company listed on Bursa Malaysia (ensure each student selects a different company; first come, first served). Using the latest three years of audited financial statements and corporate disclosures:
| Criteria | Marks | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Financial Ratio Analysis (30 marks) | 30 | – Accurate calculation and interpretation of 12 ratios across three years (e.g., profitability, liquidity, efficiency, solvency, market ratios). – Identification of unusual trends or anomalies suggesting earnings management. – Application of Beneish M-Score or other relevant frameworks (e.g., Altman Z-Score) to detect financial manipulation. |
| 2. Corporate Governance Evaluation (25 marks) | 25 | – In-depth evaluation of the company’s corporate governance structure, including board size, independence, and committees. – Critical assessment of MCCG compliance and agency theory in limiting earnings management. – Clear link between governance mechanisms and financial reporting quality. |
| 3. Discussion on Earnings Management (20 marks) | 20 | – Clear explanation of at least 5 earnings management techniques (e.g., revenue recognition, big bath, expense deferral). – Demonstrates understanding of motivations behind each technique and identifies relevant scenarios where earnings management may occur. – Use of real-world examples or academic references to support the discussion. |
| 4. Strategic Assessment & Conclusion (15 marks) | 15 | – Critical assessment of financial statement reliability based on findings. – Well-structured conclusion and recommendations for improving governance or financial disclosures. – Application of real-world implications for stakeholders, e.g., investors, auditors, and regulators. |
| 5. Presentation, Structure & Referencing (10 marks) | 10 | – Report is well-organized, logically structured with clear headings and subheadings. – Harvard referencing is followed accurately, with a minimum of 10 academic sources. – Professional presentation: use of tables, figures, and appendices where necessary. |
NOTE: The guidance offered below is linked to the five generic assessment criteria overleaf.
Your work must be informed and supported by scholarly material that is relevant to and focused on the task(s) set; you should make use of scholarly reviews and primary sources, where appropriate (for example, refereed research articles and/or original materials appropriate to the discipline). You should provide evidence that you have accessed a wide range of sources, which may be academic, governmental and industrial; these sources may include academic journal articles, textbooks, current news articles, organisational documents, and websites. You should consider the credibility of your sources; academic journals are normally highly credible sources while websites require careful consideration/selection and should be used sparingly. Any sources you use should be current and up-to-date, mostly published within the last five years or so, though seminal/important works in the field may be older. You must provide evidence of your research/own reading throughout your work, using a suitable referencing system, including in-text citations in the main body of your work and a reference list at the end of your work.
Guidance specific to this assessment: The work requires engagement with academic literature/theory therefore you should show a wide level of reading, a minimum of 10 academic references, from sources such as textbooks, academic journals and academic-based websites.
At level 6, you should be able to demonstrate coherent and detailed knowledge and a systematic understanding of the subject area, at least some of which is informed by the latest research and/or advanced scholarship within the discipline. You should be aware of the uncertainty, ambiguity and limits of knowledge. Your work must demonstrate the growing extent of your knowledge and systematic understanding of concepts and underlying principles associated with the subject area. Knowledge relates to the facts, information and skills you have acquired through your learning. You demonstrate your understanding by interpreting the meaning of the facts and information (knowledge). This means that you need to select and include in your work the concepts, techniques, models, theories, etc. appropriate to the task(s) set. You should be able to explain the theories, concepts, etc. meaningfully to show your understanding. Your mark/grade will also depend upon the extent to which you demonstrate your knowledge and understanding; ideally each should be complete and detailed, with comprehensive coverage.
Guidance specific to this assessment: You should demonstrate a systematic understanding of key aspects of accounting theory concepts, including acquisition of coherent and detailed knowledge, at least some of which is at, or informed by, the forefront of corporate governance and sustainability reporting academic research and practice. This involves the selection of the most appropriate and/or suitable concepts and frameworks relevant to creating or increasing awareness within the context of your chosen organisation, innovation/idea, product or service
You should be able to: critically evaluate evidence, arguments, assumptions, abstract concepts and data some of which are at the forefront of a discipline (and that may be incomplete) to devise and sustain arguments, to make judgements and/or solve problems; describe and comment upon particular aspects of current research, or equivalent advanced scholarship, in the discipline Your work must contain evidence of logical, analytical thinking, evaluation and synthesis. For example, to examine and break information down into parts, make inferences, compile, compare and contrast information. This means not just describing what! But also justifying: Why? How? When? Who? Where? At what cost? At all times, you must provide justification for your arguments and judgements. Evidence that you have reflected upon the ideas of others within the subject area is crucial to you providing a reasoned and informed debate within your work. Furthermore, you should provide evidence that you are able to make sound judgements and convincing arguments using data and concepts. Sound, valid conclusions are necessary and must be derived from the content of your work. Where relevant, alternative solutions and recommendations may be proposed.
Guidance specific to this assessment: You should devise and sustain arguments, and/or solve practical real-world problems, using ideas and techniques, some of which are at the forefront of the corporate governance and sustainability reporting. Recommendations/proposals should be convincing, persuasive, possibly challenging and derived from evaluation of the evidence.
At level 6, you should be able to apply the methods and techniques that you have learned to review, consolidate, extend and apply your knowledge and understanding, and to initiate and carry out projects. You will deploy accurately established techniques of analysis and enquiry relevant to the discipline, and apply them in complex and unpredictable contexts, to devise and sustain arguments and/or to solve problems. You should be able to frame appropriate questions to achieve a solution – or identify a range of solutions. You should be able to demonstrate how the subject-related concepts and ideas relate to real world situations and/or a particular context. How do they work in practice? You will deploy models, methods, techniques, and/or theories, in that context or circumstances, to assess current situations, perhaps to formulate plans or solutions to solve problems, or to create artefacts, some of which may be innovative and creative. This is likely to involve, for instance, the use of real world artefacts, examples and cases, the application of a model within an organisation and/or benchmarking one theory or organisation against others based on stated criteria. You should show awareness of the limitations of concepts and theories when applied in particular contexts.
Guidance specific to this assessment: You should deploy your chosen techniques, models and/or theories, to the organization chosen, to identify which strategies they could use and the challenges they are facing, giving real-life examples corporate governance and sustainability reporting to illustrate the points you make. Where possible you should show awareness of the limitations of the model used when applied to the organization.
Your work must provide evidence of the qualities and transferable skills necessary for graduate-level employment requiring the exercise of initiative and personal responsibility and decision-making in complex and unpredictable circumstances. This includes demonstrating: the learning ability for professional development to advance existing skills and acquire new competences of a professional nature that will enable you to assume significant responsibility within organisations; that you can initiate and complete tasks and procedures, whether individually and/or collaboratively; that you can use appropriate media to effectively communicate information, arguments and analysis in a variety of forms to specialist and non-specialist audiences; fluency of expression; clarity and effectiveness in presentation and organisation. Work should be coherent and well-structured in presentation and organisation.
Guidance specific to this assessment: You should use a report of a recognized format. It should include an executive summary, introduction, main findings and conclusions. Recommendations are also required. All writing should be academic in style, formal, focused, concise and subject specific. It should use a font of Times New Roman 12. All graphs, charts and figures in the main body must be clearly referenced beside or beneath.
