Accounting Research Project: Australian Companies' Accounting Issues

This accounting research project investigates contemporary accounting issues within 10 ASX-listed companies, focusing on ethical, social, and sustainability factors. The research employs both theoretical and empirical approaches, drawing on literature reviews and analyzing annual reports. Key research questions address the impact of contemporary accounting issues, the recognition of sustainability, and the relationship between corporate social responsibility and financial performance. The project identifies significant issues such as governance risks, management negligence in compliance, and the reluctance of companies to integrate social and environmental factors into their accounting practices. The methodology involves both primary (interviews) and secondary data collection (surveys, company websites) to analyze and conclude on the integration of sustainability and ethical considerations in accounting practices. The report highlights the need for improved corporate social responsibility and provides insights into the challenges and opportunities within sustainability reporting.

Running head: THE ACCOUNTING RESEARCH PROJECT
The Accounting Research Project
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author’s note

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Abstract
The research tends to emphasise on the critical contemporary accounting issues which are present in
the accounting information of the different companies. The companies specifically chosen for this
research are 10 ASX listed companies. The different accounting issues related to ethics, social factors
as well as sustainability are pointed out from the annual reports of these companies. The research is
based on both theoretical and empirical applications. In the theoretical framework, theories from
different authors have been noted down. In the empirical research the findings related to the
contemporary issues of these companies are stated along with their improvisation of sustainability and
corporate social responsibility. Based on this research idea, the specific research questions and
methodologies are brought upon into focus and finally the research ends with a concluding statement.
Table of Contents

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Introduction...........................................................................................................................................2
Research objective.................................................................................................................................2
Research Questions...............................................................................................................................2
Research framework..............................................................................................................................2
Literature review...................................................................................................................................3
Discussion.............................................................................................................................................4
Research idea.........................................................................................................................................4
Main findings of the researched companies...........................................................................................5
Research methodologies........................................................................................................................6
Conclusion.............................................................................................................................................6
References.............................................................................................................................................7
Introduction
The primary objective of the paper is to bring about a research that is based on contemporary
accounting issues consisting of both theoretical and empirical application. The accounting issues

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related to 10 different companies of Australia will be specifically investigated. These issues would
mainly be of social and ethical in nature. The qualitative data related to the companies are analysed
for the purpose of stating the aim, objective and question of the research. The paper further includes
theories and papers related to the topic from different authors and also highlights a framework for the
research. The required methodology adopted for conducting the research is also stated accordingly.
Research objective
The aim of the research is to bring about an analysis of the contemporary issues that persist in
different organisations of Australia and also assess the ways in which sustainability and ethical factors
are taken into consideration for accounting by these organisations.
Research Questions
Q1) How does the contemporary issue of accounting affect the organisations of Australia?
Q2) How do companies recognise sustainability?
Q3)What is the relationship between the corporate social responsibility and financial
performance of a company?
Research framework
The research framework developed in this paper is based on the concept of corporate social
responsibility and its implications in the different organisations of Australia. The method adopted for
this research is completely based on primary and secondary data collection. The idea has both
theoretical and empirical applications. From the theoretical perspective, the views of different authors
have been studied thoroughly which is presented in the literature review. The empirical part draws
attention upon the different accounting issues faced by 10 ASX listed companies and the extent till
which these companies are integrating sustainability with their accounting procedures.
Literature review
Corporate social responsibility has been a widely used concept that has emerged very
significantly in the recent days. Corporate social responsibility can be defined as actions which
seemingly appear to provide certain social goods to the firm and sometimes they can be beyond the
interests of the firm (Cheng, Ioannou and Serafeim 2014). Several theoretical perspectives have been
stated in relation to corporate social responsibility while examining its implications in the
organisations. According to some of the authors, CSR can be defined as a symptom of the agency
problem which focusses on the conflict of interest between managers and shareholders (Lee, Cin and
Lee 2016). This theory has also been stated empirically by finding out a relation between stock prices
and divestment of assets and has mainly been tested in South Africa. Some others authors have
vividly challenged the agency theory and outlined a corporate social performance framework with

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respect to this concept. The theoretical models include social responsiveness, social issues and other
categories of social responsibility.
Another paper to be used in the research talks about the relationship between corporate social
responsibility and accounting information. According to this paper, reporting is considered to be the
most important element of accounting information system (Watson 2015). Some of the studies have
revealed that there has been a connection between corporate social responsibility and the accounting
on the basis of the responsibility that is highlighted in accounting procedures. This responsibility is
the proper measurement, disclosure and assurance of the accounting information. Sustainability
accounting has always been considered as a contradictory concept to the traditional accounting
(Schneider 2015). This is because sustainability accounting has always taken into account the
environmental, social and the governance performance of an organisation in order to present a report
in this matter.
Discussion
Research idea
The idea of research is to focus on the landscape of sustainability accounting and reporting
and broadly tends to locate certain important issues of this process of reporting (Bebbington, Unerman
and O’dwyer 2014). The first issue that arose in relation to this idea is the measurement of social
performance and its impact. It is difficult to calculate a social profit or a loss through standard
indicators due to lack of proper methods of formulae. The second issue can be regarded as an
extension to the first issue. It highlights the limitations that are faced by the accountants in
quantifying the social responsibility of sustainability.
Similar to this, there are also certain other issues while taking into account the contemporary
factors of accounting (Liu, Wang and Lee 2015). These can be compliance issues of sustainability
accounting that require an external auditor to assert the internal control of the financial reporting.
Another issue in relation to this could be the subjective nature of the accounting framework prepared
by different companies based on sustainability accounting. As a result, these companies do not face
penalisation even for showing misstatements. There is lack of uniformity among the companies while
relating to the standards of the sustainability performance.
Main findings of the researched companies
The 10 companies selected for this research and which are listed in Australian securities exchange
can be stated below.
1) Commonwealth bank of Australia

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2) Conico LTD
3) Centrex Metals Limited
4) Clime Investment management LTD
5) Coca-cola amatil limited
6) CML Group Limited
7) China Construction Bank Corporation
8) Celsius Resources Limited
9) Cadence Capital limited
10) Consolidated Zince limited
The significant contemporary accounting issues found through the analysis of the financial
statements of the company are risk of appropriate governance provided by the board and the audit as
well as risk committees (Bottomley 2016). Another significant issue was the negligence of
management in giving importance to compliance and internal audit issues. Due to increased
competitiveness in the banking deregulation, there has been dramatic effects on society as a result of
considerable downsizing of employees. Another company, named as China construction Bank
Corporation, has been among the first companies to issue a sustainability report that is non-financial
(Junior, Best and Cotter 2014). The companies have recognised sustainability reporting as a tool to
guide the shareholders on their performance of social responsibility. However, it has been studied that
the companies have shown reluctance in taking into account the relationship between the
environmental and social performance and the financial performance. Other issues related to
sustainability is the lack of background description of the targets and measurement of the performance
with the set of standards (Muhammad et al. 2015). All these problems can be attributed to the non-
quantifiable nature of the social as well as sustainable accounting.
Research methodologies
The method that would be adopted for the conduction of the research will be both primary as
well as secondary data collection methods. As the research focusses on pointing out the contemporary
issues related to sustainability in the different organisations, sources of data could be direct interaction
with the employees through interview or feedback methods. This is the primary research. Another
could be secondary research through survey, questionnaire or data taken from the company website.
Conclusion
From the above research, it can be concluded that the contemporary issues of accounting are
very significant in the recent days as the companies are generally reluctant in integrating the social,
ethical and environmental issues to their accounting information. These issues have been highlighted
thoroughly and the necessity of corporate social responsibility in accounting is also stated. The
research also provides qualitative information about the sustainability report of the companies.

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References
Bebbington, J., Unerman, J. and O’DWYER, B.R.E.N.D.A.N., 2014. Introduction to sustainability
accounting and accountability. In Sustainability accounting and accountability (pp. 21-32).
Routledge.
Bottomley, S., 2016. The constitutional corporation: Rethinking corporate governance. Routledge.
Cheng, B., Ioannou, I. and Serafeim, G., 2014. Corporate social responsibility and access to
finance. Strategic management journal, 35(1), pp.1-23.

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Junior, R.M., Best, P.J. and Cotter, J., 2014. Sustainability reporting and assurance: a historical
analysis on a world-wide phenomenon. Journal of Business Ethics, 120(1), pp.1-11.
Lee, K.H., Cin, B.C. and Lee, E.Y., 2016. Environmental responsibility and firm performance: the
application of an environmental, social and governance model. Business Strategy and the
Environment, 25(1), pp.40-53.
Liu, C.C., Wang, L.F. and Lee, S.H., 2015. Strategic environmental corporate social responsibility in
a differentiated duopoly market. Economics Letters, 129, pp.108-111.
Muhammad, N., Scrimgeour, F., Reddy, K. and Abidin, S., 2015. The relationship between
environmental performance and financial performance in periods of growth and contraction: Evidence
from Australian publicly listed companies. Journal of Cleaner Production, 102, pp.324-332.
Schneider, A., 2015. Reflexivity in sustainability accounting and management: Transcending the
economic focus of corporate sustainability. Journal of Business Ethics, 127(3), pp.525-536.
Watson, L., 2015. Corporate social responsibility research in accounting. Journal of Accounting
Literature, 34, pp.1-16.