July 2021 SEMESTER – ASSIGNMENT QUESTIONS

Business Accounting & Finance – A2 Assignment – Value Measurement – Workshop

Presentation

Assignment Instructions:
Assignment Reference BAF/StudentNumber/Jul21/A2
Due Date 9am UK time on the Day of the presentation
Length: 15 min presentation
Weighting 30%
File Format MS Powerpoint
Submission Details Blackboard – instructions provided on
Blackboard

Assignment Question:
Specifically, the assignment tests the following intended learning outcomes:
L2. Understand the differences between cash and profit, fixed and variable costs and
direct and indirect cost categories,
L15. Present quantitative and qualitative information, together with analysis,
argument and commentary, in a form appropriate to the intended audience, and
L17. Prompt dialogue by synthesizing and challenging planning, cost and sales
assumptions

Assignment Question:

Group Assignment
In preparation for the virtual workshop, you will have read the Wilkerson case study
and seen how the company is struggling to understand their costing and pricing
situation. During the workshop, we will ensure you are familiar with the practice of
Activity Based Costing (ABC) and will have arrived at estimates of the activity-based
cost rates for each cost pool.
Context
Given the competitive landscape faced by Wilkerson, and in light of the activity-based
costs you have computed, the Board has decided to change the current incentive
structure for the business. Rewards will now encompass a group-wide element (profit
of the entire group, 40% weighting) alongside an individual business-unit level element
(the remaining 60%). Previously, rewards were based only on an individual business-
unit basis.

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 July 2021 SEMESTER – ASSIGNMENT QUESTIONS

Required
Knowing that accounting information can be used to influence change in organisations,
and in light of the ABC data, you are required to:
1. Identify the main causes for the difference in profitability emerging from the ABC
analysis (compared to traditional costing)

2. What are the likely implications of this finding for managerial decision-making?

3. What strategic options does the company have to address the problems
revealed through the ABC analysis?

In addition:
4. As a group, you are required to report how overheads are allocated in your own
organisations, reflect on the potential for ABC adoption in your own
organisations and justify why you chose to recommend or discount ABC.
Clearly there will be much variation among your group, and you are required to
draw on any such variation to discuss and determine what this implies for
managerial accountability and their capacity to enhance corporate performance
and sustainability. If any member of the group already adopts ABC, you are
required to outline the impact that this accounting tool has had on strategic
decision making and overall organisational effectiveness.

The presentation should be no longer than 15 minutes in duration and be delivered to

the Board of Wilkerson.
The Board will then challenge you for 5 minutes as it seeks to weigh up which of your
group’s recommendation(s) to implement.
In proposing your recommendation(s), you should be prepared to be self-critical,
consider both the relative strengths and possible downsides of your proposals and
balance the recommendations against each-other, especially in terms of their overall
strategic impact and operational feasibility. This will help to reassure the Board you
have carried out a thoughtful and reasoned critical evaluation, including a
consideration of how they might work in practice, together with any risks/adverse
consequences that will need managing.

Instructions
The presentations will take place in the week commencing the week after your
workshop. Your workshop director will arrange a presentation slot with you that is
acceptable for all members of your group.
Each group should email their presentation to the workshop director two hours prior to
their presentation and upload a copy of their presentation to the workshop assignment
submission link on Blackboard prior to the presentation. We will not accept
presentation uploads after the presentation.

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 July 2021 SEMESTER – ASSIGNMENT QUESTIONS

All group members will be expected to participate actively in the presentation and
make appropriate contributions to the subsequent Q&A session.
Please ensure you include your group number, your individual names and student ID’s
on the front cover of the presentation), and your group number in the presentation’s
file name.
As a minimum, you should read Bhimani, et al, (2012) "Chapter 22. Strategic
Management Accounting and Emerging Issues" pp.753-786, Harlow, Financial Times
/Prentice Hall. This is referenced on the course blackboard page. The section on
Activity Based Management complements your understanding of Activity Based coting
and will prepare you to consider recommendations for the company.

Accounting in Business Workshop Assignment - Feedback and Marking Sheet

The following feedback is intended to indicate where the group performed well and on
the other hand where there may be a useful opportunity to improve some skills. The
marking matrix reports on diverse aspects of performance. It is not intended to be
exhaustive, and is not the sole basis of your final mark. This is based on an
assessment of the overall quality of your presentation and is not calculated on the
basis of any pre-set ‘formula’.

Analysis Excellent Adequate Weak

5 4 3 2 1
Have the group identified the main causes
for the difference in profitability emerging
from the ABC analysis (compared to
traditional absorption costing)
(20% weighting)
Do the recommendations target the root
causes of under-performance?
(20% weighting)
Are the recommendations operationally and
strategically credible, coherent and well
linked?
(25% weighting)
Group reflection: overall potential for ABC
adoption and any practical constraints
(25% weighting)
Presentation quality – appropriate slides,
suitable engagement of group members etc.
(10% weighting)

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