Hi

Welcome to our unit.

It is great to have you on-board with us this term.

My name is Martin Turner and I am delighted to be your unit co-ordinator.

In ACCT11059 Accounting, Learning & Online Communication, we had our first taste (at university) of what accounting is. Quite a few people see accounting as a system of recording some of a firm’s economic and business activities, which it most certainly is. And that is also how people who know little or nothing about accounting would generally see accounting. Is there more to accounting than this?

In ACCT11059 last term, people developed a range of views about what accounting is, some seeing accounting as something more purposeful and important than a sort of ‘meaningless’ recording system. For example, one person last year in ACCT11059 saw accounting as:

“…I have discovered that accounting is much more than mere numerical values displayed in various reports … I now feel that accounting has more to do with the relationships between those within a firm and their interactions with the outside world, with financial figures just being one component of assisting firms to understand and expand their relationships.”

In this unit, we will have the opportunity to build on what we have learnt in ACCT11059, as we delve further into the (possibly) exciting world of accounting.

We will be taking further steps into the world of financial accounting. This is the world where firms produce general purpose financial reports. We saw in ACCT11059 that there are many rules and regulations firms need to follow if they produce general purpose financial reports. Now most businesses do not produce general purpose financial reports, and so do not need to follow all these rules and regulations. Most firms are sole traders, partnerships or private companies that do not produce accounts for the general public.

We will each be given a listed company. Our listed companies all produce general purpose financial reports and so need to conform to a wide range of rules and regulations, including the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS).

PeerWise is now open for our unit. Instructions on how to get started on PeerWise are in the PeerWise folder in the top central section of Moodle. As we found in ACCT11059, there is a great advantage in starting early on PeerWise. I have already posted a few interesting questions.

You will find the Weekly Schedule in the top centre section of Moodle. This contains the topics we will study each week, the readings each week, and the key learning tasks.

Workshops

We will have workshops at Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne.

Assessment

The assessment in our unit is:

PeerWise         5%

Assignment   45%

Exam                 50%

PeerWise supports you to read each week and develop your own personal understanding of the key concepts we are studying in our unit. As well as gaining a mark for PeerWise, this will help you in your Assignment and in your Exam.

The assignment is in 11 steps. These are due progressively during the term. Step 1 involves writing your key concepts and questions (KCQs) on the reading in Week 1. This is due by 11.00am Saturday 10 March (Week 1).

Contact details of our teaching staff are available by clicking on ‘Unit Contacts’ in the Information section on the left-hand side of Moodle.

The unit profile for our subject is also available. You can find it in Moodle, in the Information section on the top left hand side of Moodle.

If you have any trouble finding our Moodle site, please contact our ITD Helpdesk (TaSAC) and they will be only too happy to help you.*

Videos

Videos can be found in the Videos section on the left-hand side of Moodle. They can also be found here. There are 22 4-5 minute videos on a number of topics.

There are also video lectures each week. These are lectures given in T2, 2017. These lectures sometimes refer to a textbook, which was used in that term. We now have a Study Guide (and do not use a textbook).

It is great to have you in our unit this term.

I look forward to working with you this term.

Regards

Martin

19 February 2018

 

 

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