Auditing, Assurance and Compliance - Australia Assignments

Group Assessment
Cover Page

Unit Details	Name	Auditing, Assurance and Compliance
Code	HI6026
Year, Trimester	2023, Trimester 1

Assessment Details	Name	Group Assignment
Due Date and Week	24 / 05 / 2023, Week 10

Group
Student
Details

Student ID

First Name

Family Name

Work Contribution

Group Submission Declaration	Integrity Declaration	Student ID	Full Name	Submission Date
We have read and understand academic integrity policies and practices and our assessment does not violate these.

Instructions

Academic Integrity Information	Holmes Institute is committed to ensuring and upholding academic integrity. All assessment must comply with academic integrity guidelines. Important academic integrity breaches include plagiarism, collusion, copying, impersonation, contract cheating, data fabrication and falsification. Please learn about academic integrity and consult your teachers with any questions. Violating academic integrity is serious and punishable by penalties that range from deduction of marks, failure of the assessment task or unit involved, suspension of course enrolment, or cancellation of course enrolment.
Format Instructions	• Most assessments must be in MS Word format with no spacing, 12-pt Arial font and at least 2cm margins on all four sides with appropriate section headings and page numbers. • You must name your file with the Unit Code and Group Number (e.g., “HI6026 Group1”). • Check that you submit the correct document as special consideration is not granted if you make a mistake. • Student IDs need to be indicated on the cover page. Non-contributing students do not receive marks. ● Group Formation: Please form the group by self-enrolling in Blackboard. There should be maximum of 4 members in a group. Email [email protected] for any issues with self-enrolling into groups
Penalties	• All work must be submitted on Blackboard by the due date and time along with a completed Assessment Cover Page. Late penalties apply. • Reference sources must be cited in the text of the report, and listed appropriately at the end in a reference list using Holmes Institute Adapted Harvard Referencing. Penalties are associated with incorrect citation and referencing. The following guidelines apply: 1. Reference sources in assignments are limited to sources which provide full text access to the source’s content for lecturers andmarkers. 2. The Reference list should be located on a separate page at the end of the essay and titled: References. 3. It should include the details of all the in-text citations, arranged alphabetically A-Z by author surname. In addition, it MUSTinclude a hyperlink to the full text of the cited reference source. For example: P Hawking, B McCarthy, A Stein (2004), Second Wave ERP Education, Journal of Information Systems Education, Fall, http://jise.org/Volume15/n3/JISEv15n3p327.pdf 4. Allassignmentswillrequireadditionalin-textreferencedetailswhichwill consist of the surname of the author/authors or name of the authoring body, year of publication, page number of contents, paragraph where the content can be found. For example: “The company decided to implement an enterprise wide data warehouse business intelligence strategy (Hawking et al, 2004, p3(4)).”

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HI6026 Audit, Assurance and Compliance

5. Non-Adherence to Referencing Guidelines
Where students do not follow the above guidelines:
1) Students who submit assignments which do not comply withthe
referencing guidelines will receive a 10% penalty.
2) Students who submit assignments in which the citations are “fake”
will be reported for academic misconduct.

Assignment Details

Assignment Type	Group Assignment
Assignment Title	Auditing, Assurance and Compliance
Purpose of the assessment (with ULO Mapping)	Students are required to apply knowledge learned in class and perform independent research of the key topics. Learning Outcomes: ▪ Evaluate the economic and legal basis for auditing and the applicable auditing standards and reporting requirements ▪ Analyse and communicate knowledge of the auditor’s professional judgement, legal and ethical responsibilities to their clients and third parties ▪ Assess audit strategies including the evaluation of business risk and internal controls ▪ Apply audit concepts and processes to gather evidence and formulate judgments with respect to the underlying information
40% of the total assessments value
Total Marks	40 marks
Word limit	3000 words ± 500 words
Due Date	11:59pm Wednesday 24th May 2023, Week 10

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HI6026 Audit, Assurance and Compliance
Assignment Specifications
Purpose
This assignment aims to enhance students’ critical thinking skills and higher order application abilities through
research and analyses of business risks including: analytical procedure, assessment of audit risk, revised audit
standards relevant to the audit quality, and audit committee role and governance practices.
Students are required to research relevant academic literature, including related organization websites and
write in- text citations in this assignment. Additionally, they are required to demonstrate understanding and
critical evaluation of the Australian conceptual framework for financial reporting and corporate governance
mechanism including regulatory framework, and recommend future directions to Australian financial reporting
regulators in relation to corporate governance principles and best practices including the newly revised audit
standards.
Assignment Requirements – Questions
Each group has been allocated a subject company for completing this assignment. In the excel file “Find Your
Company” which is located under “Assessments” on Blackboard, you will find the listed company that you
have been allocated for completing this assignment.
• As a group your assignment should be based on the company allocated to your group (Refer the
information given above). Your assignment will not be marked if you use a different company to the
one that you have been allocated, or you will be asked to resubmit your assignment using the correct
company. Students are not allowed to complete the assignment using the same company as used by
another group.
• Go to the website of your allocated company. Then go to the Investor Relations section of the
website. This section may be called: “Investors”, “Shareholder Information” or similar titles. In this
section, find the company’s annual report and other related reports. Download the firm’s latest
annual report and other related information and reports and save it to your computer. For
example, these reports may be dated 30 June 2020 or 30 June 2021.
Questions
As a group, assume that you have been appointed as the external auditor for your allocated company for the
financial year ending June 2020 or 2021, prepare a report to adequately address questions one, (1) to three
(3) below.

1-	Examine and assess the ASA315 with a focus on the risk associated with information technology and
the auditor’s obligation to utilize automated tools and methods	(15 marks)

2- In this section you are required to: (10 Marks)

(a)	Describe the characteristics and operating strategy of your designated company, its field, and the surrounding market conditions; Recognize significant business threats and risks and their impact on your designated company; Conduct a thorough analysis of the potential for material misstatement in the financial report of your designated company.
(b)
(c)

Note: Consider the elements that influence both inherent risk and control risk.
3- Examine the composition of the audit committee in your designated company in a critical manner
and assess its effectiveness. Provide your personal perspective regarding the advantages, if any,
that the audit committee brings to the company’s overall corporate governance mechanism.
(10 marks)
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HI6026 Audit, Assurance and Compliance
The assignment structure must be as follows:
1. Holmes Institute Assignment Cover Sheet – Full Name, Student No., Contribution.
2. Executive Summary
• The Executive summary should be concise and not involve too much detail.
• It should make commentary on the main points only and follow the sequence of the report.
• Write the Executive Summary after the report is completed, and once you have an overview of thewhole
text.
• The Executive Summary appears on the first page of the report.
3. Contents Page – This needs to show a logical listing of all the sub-headings of the report’s contents. Note
this is excluded from the total word count.
4. Introduction – A short paragraph which includes background, scope and the main points raised in order of
importance. There should be a brief conclusion statement at the end of the Introduction.
5. Main Body Paragraphs with numbered subheadings – Detailed information which elaborates on the main
points raised in the Introduction. Each paragraph should begin with a clear topic sentence, then supporting
sentences with facts and evidence obtained from research and finish with a concluding sentence at the end.
6. Conclusion – A logical and coherent evaluation based on a thorough and an objective assessment of the
research performed.
7. Appendices – Include any additional explanatory information which is supplementary and/or graphical to
help communicate the main ideas made in the report. Refer to the appendices in the main body paragraphs,as
and where appropriate. (Note this is excluded from the total word count.
Group Formation and Group Assignment
To ensure that All students MUST participate equitably in the group assignment and are responsible for the
academic integrity of all components of the assignment. You need to complete the following Group Assignment
Task Allocation table, relevant evidence (authenticity of your assignment) which identifies the section(s) of
responsibility for each student(s).

Assignment Section

Student/Students

This table needs to be completed and submitted with the assignment as it is a compulsory component
requiredbefore any grading is undertaken. Students that are registered in a solo group are not required to
fill this table.
Both assessment items must be submitted on Blackboard. The written assignment must be in a report
formatand submitted through safe-assign prior to final submission. The originality percentage should
be as low as possible. The written submission must be double-checked, edited and rephrased if the
originality percentage and plagiarism risk is noted as high, as per safe-assign.
Marking Criteria

Group Assignment Marking Criteria	Weighting
Total Weight	40%

• Executive Summary	• 2%
• Introduction and Main Body of the Report	• 35%
• Overall Presentation (Report presentation, Correct referencing, consistency)	• 3%

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HI6026 Audit, Assurance and Compliance
Academic Integrity
Holmes Institute is committed to ensuring and upholding Academic Integrity, as Academic Integrity is integral to
maintaining academic quality and the reputation of Holmes’ graduates. Accordingly, all assessment tasks need to
comply with academic integrity guidelines. Table 1 identifies the six categories of Academic Integrity breaches. If
you have any questions about Academic Integrity issues related to your assessment tasks, please consult your lecturer
or tutor for relevant referencing guidelines and support resources. Many of these resources can also be found through
the Study Sills link on Blackboard.
Academic Integrity breaches are a serious offence punishable by penalties that may range from deduction of
marks, failure of the assessment task or unit involved, suspension of course enrolment, or cancellation of course
enrolment.
Table 1: Six categories of Academic Integrity breaches

Plagiarism	Reproducing the work of someone else without attribution.When a student submits their own work on multiple occasionsthis is known as self-plagiarism.
Collusion	Working with one or more other individuals to complete an assignment, in a way that is not authorized.
Copying	Reproducing and submitting the work of another student, with or without their knowledge. If a student fails to take reasonable precautions to prevent their own original work from being copied, this may also be considered an offence.
Impersonation	Falsely presenting oneself, or engaging someone else to presentas oneself, in an in-person examination.
Contract cheating	Contracting a third party to complete an assessment task, generally in exchange for money or other manner of payment.
Data fabrication and falsification	Manipulating or inventing data with the intent of supportingfalse conclusions, including manipulating images.

Source: INQAAHE, 2020
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HI6026 Audit, Assurance and Compliance
Marking
Rubric

Excellent HD	Very Good D	Good C	Satisfactory P	Unsatisfactory F
Executive Summary (2 marks)	Very effectively written synopsis with clear communication ofthe main points ina concise paragraph.	Competently composed a strong synopsis. The main points are communicated well.	Synopsis is wellwritten with allthe expected points raised.	Synopsis is clearly written, but it is brief or has some errors.	Synopsis is deficient and poorly written. Too brief.
Main Body	Excellent. Well	There are valid	There are valid	Some	Poorly organized;
Including	organised. Main	points raised with	points raised,	organization;	no logical
Introduction	points are logically	a good argument	paragraphing is	main points	progression;
(35 marks)	ordered; sharp	/ thesis	noted, and the	are there but	beginning and
sense of	statement,	points in the	they are	ending are vague.
structuring and	paragraphing is	introduction are	disjointed;	No structure.
arrangement of key	noted, and the	explained in	Minor	Lacks substance.
information.	points in the	more detail	structuring	No research
Supporting details	introduction are	with supporting	issues.	noted.
are specific to the	explained in more	evidence.
main points and	detail with
adequate facts and	supporting
other evidence is	evidence.
provided and well
articulated.
Referencing and Citation (3 marks)	References are consistently correct using Adapted Harvard style. No missing citations.A strong reference list with relevant andcredible sources used. Evidence of extensive research.	References are consistently correct using Harvard style. No missing citations. References used are good, but not extensive.	Generally correct referencing using Harvard style. More references required.	Some References are used, but not used consistently. Not enough research done.	References are missing or do not comply with correct referencing style.