Posted: May 17th, 2015

accounting for sustainable management

Assignment Three Content requirements
Assuming Bobster is satisfied with both of your reports (Assignment One and Two), you are now required to suggest Bobster a Sustainability Balanced Scorecard (SBSC) to explicitly translate its strategy into a set of financial and non-financial measures, covering a range of perspectives. After a careful reading of the case study, you are asked to present and discuss a suitable SBSC, using a business report format. In completing your business report, please address the following questions:
1. What is the strategic map of Bobster? Explicitly identify the strategic objectives of Bobster and their main connections. Please put a specific focus on its sustainability objectives and motivate your objectives’ formulation with reference to the case study prompts.
2. From the strategic map, you should be able to provide a Sustainable Balanced Scorecard to Bobster:
a. Choose one of the three approaches to the development of a Sustainable Balanced Scorecard (Topic 9) and explain your choice with reference to Bobster’s case.
b. Once you have chosen the approach to the development of a SBSC (point a), show your classification of the strategic objectives (point 1) into the perspectives of your suggested SBSC. Please justify your classification with specific reference to the sustainability objectives.
c. For each sustainability objective (b) identify one or more suitable/reasonable indicators through which you would advise to measure the fulfilment of the objective. Justify your choice of indicator/s.
3. Identify and explain the eventual impact/s of the indicator/s you have chosen with reference to the sustainability objectives of your suggested SBSC onto the organisation’s decision making.
Within the report you should provide at least the following figures: strategic map of Bobster and the scheme of the chosen SBSC.
Accounting for Sustainable Management – Assignment 2015 S1 11
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Accounting for Sustainable Management – Assignment 2015 S1
Submission requirements
Submitted:
Individually (this is an individual assignment)
Due Date:
By 11.59 pm, Sunday 31 May 2015 (late submission attracts 3 marks per day deduction of available marks; late submissions after five days will not be accepted)
Word Limit:
Maximum 2,500 words (not including executive summary, table of contents, references and appendices). Every 100 words above the word limit attracts 0.5 marks deduction of available marks
Font size
12 for body text; 12 and/or above for headings; choose ‘justify’ to apply to the whole document margins
Weighting:
40%
Submission:
Electronic copy, via Blackboard with in-built Turnitin report.
Your submission should include:
a. Cover sheet includes the course name, assignment name, your name, student number, lecturer’s name, and word count (excluding executive summary, table of contents, references and appendices)
b. Executive Summary
c. Table of contents
d. Introduction (including purpose, scope, limitations and assumptions)
e. Discussion (addressing Mr Bobster Master’s requirements)
f. Conclusion
g. List of References
Name protocol of your electronic copy:
Before submission, rename your file name follow naming protocol:
• your last name;
• your first name; and
• your student number.
For example: Butler Amy 1234567
Suggestions and expectations from the Course Coordinator: Assignment Three
Assignment Three has a focus on a strategic tool of management accounting: Sustainable Balanced Scorecard (SBSC). To successfully complete this assignment, your readings should start with, but not limited to, the Component Three materials (Topics 7, 8, and 9) of the course. You also need to search for materials that are outside of prescribed texts.
Your recommendations about the organisation’s Sustainable Balanced Scorecard are expected to be direct by one approach that you have learnt from Topic 9. To justify your approach, you are suggested to outline the three approaches and emphasise (with an articulated and detailed discussion) the one you advice to the organisation.
Please remember that the discussion is not just theoretical as you must stress the reasons for which you think your SBSC approach is the most suitable to the organisation with reference to the case study prompts.
Applying more than one approach is not recommended as you need to take into account your word limit and you should be coherent all over the business report with the approach you have chosen.
The approach that you advised should be explicitly applied while addressing the following questions of the assignment.
Particular emphasis on the sustainability objectives and their measurement (indicators) are expected to be discussed in the following points: 2 b, c and 3. There is not one best answer as you are required to apply your critical thinking to the case study, therefore you should pay attention to ensure coherence to the case study prompts in addressing those assignment points and motivate your choices.
Areas for you to explore should include, but not limited to, transport’s implications, workers’ health and safety, workers’ skills and capabilities, organisational culture and climate, use of raw materials in terms of sourcing and production processes, etc. These are expected to be considered in your strategic map and SBSC from the organisation’s management perspective (not from a stakeholders’, shareholders’ or other external parties’ perspective).
In terms of point 3, you are suggested to consider the impact/s of your indicators’ choice for the sustainability objectives onto the organisation’s decision making. You are expected to consider any possible positive and negative outcomes from the selection of your indicators (e.g. changes on the production processes, costing system, organisational culture and climate, social perception of the organisation, etc.). In this discussion, you can follow the causal relationships that you were required to explicit on the strategic map of the organisation, which (of course) would continue to inform your SBSC (independently from your chosen development approach).
It should be pointed out that in real world issues are often complex and there is no definite right or wrong decisions. The most important skill that you are expected to develop from this assignment is your reasoning skills and application skills. That is, you are expected to justify your arguments coherently with the approach you have chosen and the prompts of your case study.
Read carefully the marking rubric (from the next page), and understand how your work will be assessed.