Contemporary Issues in Accounting: TPG Telecom Limited

This report focuses on the conceptual framework, accounting guidelines, and policies of TPG Telecom Limited's annual report to assess compliance with the requirements. It concludes that TPG has complied with the Conceptual Framework and accounting standards.

Running Head: CONTEMPORARY ISSUES IN ACCOUNTING
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Project Report: CONTEMPORARY ISSUES IN ACCOUNTING

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Executive summary
This report mainly focuses on the conceptual framework, accounting guidelines and
policies which are required to prepare and present the financial reports.
TPG telecom Limited’s annual 2018 report has been analysed to assess whether TPG
has complied with conceptual framework, accounting guidelines and policies. According to
this study, it has been concluded that TPG has complied with Conceptual Framework
requirements and Australia Accounting standards because all the guidelines and standards
have been followed by the company.
The annual reports of TPG is relevant, easy to understand and are quite helpful and
useful for potential investors/ existing shareholders, lenders to evaluate its performance and
reach over a conclusion for their investment / financing decision. However, the following can
be improved through improving the presentation and detailed description of financial notes.
Overall TPG telecom’s annual report explains that TPG has complied with Conceptual
Framework.

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Contents
Introduction.......................................................................................................................4
Company overview...........................................................................................................4
Compliance of conceptual framework..............................................................................4
Fundamental qualitative characteristic’s compliances.....................................................8
Enhancing qualitative characteristics’ compliances.........................................................9
Financial statement evaluation.......................................................................................11
Accounting knowledge evaluation.................................................................................12
GPRS requirement..........................................................................................................12
Conclusion......................................................................................................................13
References.......................................................................................................................14

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Introduction:
Conceptual framework is a set of accounting fundamental and objectives which has
been developed by the IASB. the main objectives of conceptual framework is to ensure he
uniformity among the annual reports worldwide so that the users cannot be manipulated. It is
required for each of the businesses to adopt conceptual framework guidelines and policies to
prepare the accounting reports and present the accounting reports to the internal and external
stakeholders of the business. This report focuses on the GPRS guidelines, conceptual
framework, and fundamental and enhancing characteristics, accounting knowledge evaluation
etc. “TPG telecom limited” company’s annual report has been studied for this report.
Company overview:
TPG telecom limited is an Australian company which works under the
telecommunication and IT industry of Australia. The company specializes in the consumer
and business internet services. Along with that, the company also offers the mobile services
to its Australian customers. Company has been founded in the year of 1986. The company
serves the operations in the market of Australia, New Zealand and Singapore. TPG is the
second largest internet services providing companies in the Australian market (Home, 2019).
Along with that, it is also the largest mobile virtual network operator.
Compliance of conceptual framework:
Conceptual framework is a process of accounting which is basically defined as an
objective or ides about the standards and accounting policies. It offers the idea to the users
about accounting book preparations. The conceptual framework provides better guidelines
and policies to the accountants and auditors of an organization. This conceptual framework
offers the same bases to each of the organization to prepare the financial statement which
makes it easier for the stakeholders to understand and compare the annual report of different
organizations in order to make better decisions (Deegan, 2014).
In case of TPG telecom limited, annual report of the company has been prepared
along with policies and compliances by the accountant and auditors of the company. Proper
conceptual framework guidelines have been followed by the company through following the
IFRS guidleines. The standards, guidelines etc depicts that proper collection, recording,
identifying and measuring the financial performance of the company. IFRS rules and AASB

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rules have been followed by the company and the accounting books have been prepared
accordingly. Hence, it can be said that conceptual framework has complied by the company.
Few screenshot from accounting and financial statement of the company have taken to
explain the conceptual framework and guidelines (appendix). These statement explains that
proper rules have been followed by the company to comply with conceptual framework.
After studying over the financial statement of the business, it has also been found that
proper financial notes have been provided by the business. While preparing the financial
notes, proper guidelines have been followed by the business as company has prepared the
annual report accoridng to IFRS rules and set the uniformity in the annual report. On the
basis of the study, it has been found that TPG telecom limited has followed proper IFRS rules
and policies to present the performance and maintain the concept of uniformity in the annual
report (McLeay and Riccaboni, 2012). The auditor’s report and director report also defines
about the concept, guidelines and framework followed by the company to prepare the reports
and measure the opportunities, associated risk and performance of the business (Cayanan,
2016). Relevancy and faithfulness of the financial reports have also been verified on the basis
of the auditor’s report and detailed financial description of each financial activity and found
that overall performance of the business is quite satisfactory.
On the basis of the study over TPG telecom limited‘s annual report (2018) and the
conceptual framework guidelines, it has been found that the overall position and performance
of the company has been improved.
Fundamental qualitative characteristic’s compliances:
Fundamental qualitative characteristics define about the relevancy, faithful
representation, and trustworthy etc factor of an annual report of an organization (Garrett,
Hoitash and Prawitt, 2014). In this section, the fundamental characteristics of annual report
have been studied. On the basis of annual report and study over TPG telecom, it has been
found that below are the characteristics owned by the TPG telecom:
Relevancy:
Relevancy is the main criteria of every annual report. Relevant information makes to
easier for the stakeholders and the related parties of the business to build the trust and make
better decisions. It influences the decisions of the shareholders and other investors of the
business. TPG telecom limited’s annual report (2018) depicts that each of the transaction has

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been recorded and presented by the company along with proper calculations and proves so
that the information could be proved relevant. The annual report (2018) explains that the
managers and auditors have made efforts to present all the data in the annual report so that
the transparency level of the annual report could be improved. For instance, company has
valued the inventory at market cost because it was lower than the book value of the company
(Appendix).
Faithful representation:
Further, it has been found that along with the relevancy of the transaction, company
has also recorded each of the transaction in such a way that it could be easily understood by
each of the user. Faithful representation principle explains that each of the financial activity,
transaction and information of the business must be recorded and presented in the annual
report in an appropriate section so that the proper uses of the information could be done
(Abeysekera, 2013).
In case of TPG telecom limited, it has been found that all the financial and non
financial activity, transaction and information of the business have been recorded by the
company properly. But ACCC (2018) explains that company has mislead their customers
through manipulating the financial statement of the company which concludes that faithful
representation is missing in the company and company is required to work on it.
Enhancing qualitative characteristics’ compliances:
Along with the fundamental characteristics of annual report of TPG telecom limited,
the enhancing qualitative characteristics of the business have been studied. Below is the TPG
telecom’s enhancing qualitative characteristic:
Comparability:
Firstly, it has been recognized that proper guidelines and rules have been followed by
the company while preparing the annual report of the business so that it could become easier
for the stakeholder and other parties of the business to compare the annual report from other
company or the previous year to make decisions (Annual report, 2018). An example of
comparability is given in the appendix. The annual report is also compared with the other
companies of the industry and found that uniformity rules has been followed by TPG.
Timeliness:

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Timeliness characteristic defines about the timely information and better quality
information. It explains that if the information is provided on right time then only it could
prove its worthiness (Chand, Patel and White, 2015). In case of TPG telecom limited, it has
been found that the timely information are not provided by the company so that the decisions
could be manipulated. Such as ACCC (2018) described that company has mislead the
information and didn’t present it on time to manipulate the decisions of the stakeholders.
Understand ability:
Understand ability characteristic explains that information must be presented in such a
way that a non financial person can also understand it properly. In case of TPG telecom
limited, it has been found that each of the financial activities has been made understand by
the company along with the financial notes so that every transaction could be understand
(appendix). For instance, in order to make understand about the inventory valuation,
company has provided financial notes.
Verifiable:
Lastly, it has been found that each of the transaction is recorded by the company after
the verification. The annual report of the company is verified by its internal as well as
external stakeholders of the company (Annual report, 2018, pg no, 35). Hence, it could be
said that the overall performance of the business is quite satisfactory.
Financial statement evaluation:
TPG telecom limited’s financial statement has been studied further to identify the
understand ability level of the annual report of the business. Through study over the financial
report of the business, it has been found that proper IFRS and AASB guidelines have been
followed by the company to prepare the financial statement format which makes it easier for
the users of the annual report to get depth information about all the financial activities of the
business. Further, it has been found that the proper financial notes are also provided by the
company so that the external stakeholders which are investors, lenders, creditors, investors
and other creditors of the business could understand the annual report and get the relevant
information from the financial statement of the business to make better decisions (Annual
report, 2018).
Accounting knowledge evaluation:

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It has been argued by many accountants and researcher whether is it important for the
stakeholders of the business to keep accounting information? Most of the researcher argued
that basic knowledge must be kept by each of the stakeholders. But in terms of real life, it has
been found that very few stakeholders are aware about the accounting process, financial
statement and the annual report (Elad, 2016). And hence, these stakeholders rely over the
external parties, mediators, consultant firm to make decisions about the investment. It
becomes easier for the organization and consultancy firms t manipulate such stakeholders.
However, basic knowledge of accounting is quite sufficient for the stakeholder to
keep themselves from any manipulations and make better decisions about the investment and
divestment from the business. The basic knowledge helps the stakeholders to keep a track
over the financial performance, comparison the performance with competitors and changes in
the organization (Annual report, 2018). The study over the conceptual framework also
explains that few information and knowledge about the accounting process, guidelines and
policies are always helpful for the parties to make better decision.
GPRS requirement:
GPRS (general purpose financial reporting) is an accounting body which explains that
each organization is required to prepare the annual report in such a way that proper
information could be provided to stakeholder of the business with the relevant proves and
data. All the expectation of users from annual report must be fulfilled by the organization so
that it becomes easier for the parties to make decision (Loftus et al, 2015). If to talk about
TPG telecom limited, proper GPRS rules have been followed by the company along with
proper and expected information in the annual report of the company.
Company has described the financial notes, financial statement and the information
related to financial activities in the annual report. The presentation of each activity has also
been done in a faithful way in order to improve the relevancy and trustworthiness of
stakeholders in the organization (Annual report, 2018). Uniformity has also been maintained
by the company. Hence, it could be concluded that the proper GPRS rules have been
followed by the business.
Conclusion:
To conclude, TPG telecom limited has followed the proper IFRS, AASB, GPRS and
conceptual framework rules to prepare the annual report of the business. the main objectives

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of all these accounting bodies is to maintain the same rules and policies so that uniformity,
faithfulness and reliability over the annual reports could be improved and it becomes easier
for the stakeholders to make better decisions. However, in case of TPG, it has been found that
company is involved in various frauds and misleading the stakeholders of the company to
manipulate their decisions.
It is recommended to the company to follow the proper guidelines instead of
manipulating the financial statement which would help the company to enhance the goodwill
and worth among the stakeholders of the company.

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References:
Abeysekera, I., 2013. A template for integrated reporting. Journal of Intellectual
Capital, 14(2), pp.227-245.
ACCC. 2018. ACCC takes action against TPG for misleading customers. Available at:
https://www.accc.gov.au/media-release/accc-takes-action-against-tpg-for-misleading-
customers [accessed 7/4/19].
Annual report. 2018. TPG Telecom limited. Available at:
https://www.tpg.com.au/about/pdfs/TPM%20Group%20-%20Statutory%20Accounts%20-
%20FY18v16%20-%20Secure.pdf [accessed 7/4/19].
Cayanan, A.S., 2016. An assessment of the financial reporting practices of listed Philippine
banks in 2003. Philippine Management Review, 11(1).
Chand, P., Patel, A. and White, M., 2015.Adopting international financial reporting standards
for small and medium‐sized enterprises. Australian Accounting Review, 25(2), pp.139-154.
Deegan, C. M., 2014, Financial accounting theory, 4th ed., North Ryde, N.S.W. McGraw-
Hill Education (Australia) Pty Ltd
Elad, C., 2016. International Classification of Financial Reporting, Christopher W.
Nobes.Routledge, Abington, UK (2014),(160 pages,£ 95), ISBN: 0415736935.
Garrett, J., Hoitash, R. and Prawitt, D.F., 2014. Trust and financial reporting quality. Journal
of Accounting Research, 52(5), pp.1087-1125.
Home. 2019. TPG Telecom limited. Available at: https://www.tpg.com.au/ [accessed 7/4/19].
Loftus, J, Luke, B, Leo, KJ, Boys, N, Daniliuc, S, Hong, A, & Byrnes, K 2015, Financial
Reporting, Wiley, Melbourne. ProQuest Ebook Central.
McLeay, S. and Riccaboni, A. 2012. Contemporary issues in accounting regulation. Springer
Science & Business Media.

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Appendix:

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(annual report, 2018)

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(Annual report, 2018)
(Annual report, 2018)

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