ELECTRONIC ASSIGNMENT COVERSHEET

Student Information

(To be filled by the student prior submitting the assignment)

P1 Examine the purpose of the accounting function within an organization. 

M1 Evaluate the context and purpose of the accounting function in meeting organizational, stakeholder and societal needs and expectations. 

D1 Critically evaluate the role of accounting in informing decision- making to meet organizational, stakeholder and societal needs within complex operating environments.

D1 Achieved / Not Achieved

P3 Prepare financial statements from a given trial balance for sole traders, partnerships and 

not-for-profit organizations, to meet accounting principles, conventions and standards

D2 Critically evaluatefinancialstatements to assess organizational performance using a range of measures and benchmarks to make justified conclusions.

P4 Calculate and present financial ratios from a set of final accounts. 

P5 Compare the performance of an organization over time using financial ratios.

P6 Prepare a cash budget from given data for an organization using a spreadsheet. 

P7 Discuss the benefits and limitations of budgets and budgetary planning, and control for an organization

M4 Achieved / Not Achieved

PASS/MERIT/DISTINCTION/REDO

Date:  

Summative Feedback:

Overall Feedback on current work with emphasis on how the student can improve and achieve higher grades in future.

You have joined as a graduate trainee at an accounting firm, you work closely with sole proprietors and small businesses under the supervision of an account manager, providing assistance with various accounting tasks. Your responsibilities encompass assisting clients in preparing accounting statements, calculating, and analyzing accounting ratios, and assisting with budget preparation.

Your support as an accounting trainee plays a crucial role in helping sole proprietors and small businesses manage their accounting tasks effectively. Through preparing accurate statements, ratio analysis, and budget assistance, you contribute to their financial well-being and overall success. You are given the following four tasks by your accounts manager:

Task 1: Accounting Blog

You are asked to write a blog that will be used to market and promote its accounting firm’s services to new and existing clients. The working title you have been given for the blog is ‘The Role of Accounting in an Organisation’. It must be written in an engaging and practical way, covering relevant academic theory, and making use of, for example, headings, images, and illustrations. 

● You must examine and critically evaluate the context and purpose of the accounting function in decision making to meet the needs and expectations of all relevant stakeholders within complex operating environments. 

• You must assess the accounting function within your organization and discuss the regulatory and ethical constraints.

Task 2: Preparation of financial statements

Your supervisor has asked you to prepare the year-end financial statements for one of their clients who is a sole proprietor. From the Trial Balance given below, you must prepare and produce financial statements for the year ended December 2022, taking into consideration accounting principles, conventions, and standards and make adjustments as necessary.

Trial Balance of the sole proprietor for the year ending December 2022: (Amounts in $)

Task 3: Interpretation of financial statements

 Based on the financial statements prepared in task 2, you must

● Calculate the following relevant ratios of profitability, liquidity, asset usage/ turnover, and investment on the basis of financial statements prepared in task 2.

• Compare financial ratios for the year 2022 with the benchmark ratios of 2021 provided below: 

• Interpret the ratios and show the trend analysis (for 2021 and 2022) with reference to the relevant benchmarks.
• Critically evaluate the performance of the organisation by referring to the ratios, you have calculated in the task above and provide justified recommendations for improving the performance.

Task 4.

You now have been tasked by your accounts manager to work with a hospitality and catering start-up business that your firm has just taken on as a client. The business is particularly in need of support and guidance with budgeting and how it can be used to inform efficient resource allocation and support effective control and decision-making. The founder of the business is investing $ 150,000 of their own capital and has also secured a business loan of $50,000. 

(Amounts in $)

1. The company's sales are made on credit, with 50% of the amount collected in the month of sale and 50% in the month after the sale. Sales for December 2021 were 90,000.
2. The company plans to sell a piece of land in the month of June for $55,000, of which 50% was received in the same month and the remaining after two months.
3. Purchases are paid for 40% in the month of the purchase and the remaining after two months. Purchases for December 2021 were 40,000.
4. The insurance premium is to be paid on a quarterly basis starting from March $ 5000.
5. The opening balance of cash on 1st January 2022 was $25,000.

• You must prepare the cash budget for 12 months on the basis of the information given above. 

At the end of the year, the actual amounts for some of the variables were found to be different from the budgeted amounts due to economic causes as shown below:

• Identify the variances based on the information provided below and recommend corrective actions to the problems revealed by the differences in the cash budget. 
• The cost of raw materials (purchases) increases by 20% per month. 
• Due to demand in the market the sales revenue increased by 20% in October, November, and December.

• Discuss the benefits and limitations of budgets and budgetary planning and control on organisations.
• Justify a range of budgetary control solutions to support organizational decision-making and ensure efficient and effective deployment of resources.

Submission Format 

• Use a Spreadsheet or Excel sheet to show your calculation in tasks 2, 3, and 4. 
• For task 1 you need to justify your response using supporting evidence from a range of academic sources, including textbooks and journals. 
• The submission on the LMS is in the form of an individual written report. 
• This should be written in a concise, formal business style using single spacing and font size 12. 
• You are required to make use of headings, paragraphs, and subsections as appropriate, and all work must be supported with research and referenced using the Harvard Referencing System. 
• Please also provide a Reference List using the Harvard Referencing System.
• The recommended word limit is a minimum of 5000 words with a levy of 10%.

Suggested Reading Materials & Recommended Resources 

1. ATRILL, P. and McLANEY, E. (2018) Accounting and Finance for Non-Specialists.  11th Ed. Harlow: Pearson. 
2. DRURY, C. (2015) Management and Cost Accounting.9th Ed. Cengage Learning. 
3. SEAL, W. et al (2018) Management Accounting. 6th Ed. Maidenhead: McGraw-Hill.
4. Weetman, P. (2019). Financial and Management Accounting: An Introduction. Harlow: Pearson 

Websites 

www.accountingcoach.com-Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (Generalreference)

1. Accounting Coach: Online free courses (General reference)

www.accaglobal.com            - Chartered Institute of Management Accountants Tutor Resource Hub

www.cimaglobal.com           - Corporate Finance Institute Resources

Weblinks:  

• Accounting Coach courses. Available at: https://www.accountingcoach.com/accounting-basics/explanation 
• The Association of Chartered Certified Accountants ACCA). Available at: https://www. accaglobal.com/gb/en.html 
• Chartered Institute of Management Accountants. Available at: https://www.cimaglobal. com/ 
• Indeed Career Guide to Memo Writing. Available at: https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/career-development/memo-writing-guide