Comprehensive Review of Qantas Airlines' 2016 Annual Report

This report offers a comprehensive review of the Qantas Airlines 2016 annual report, adhering to Australian Accounting Standards and Corporations Regulation, 2001. It analyzes the company's financial statements, highlighting the importance of proper disclosure of management assumptions. The report identifies shortcomings in the presentation of the annual report, such as accounting delays and the need for clear communication, especially for non-accountants. It discusses the roles of various team members, including investors, stakeholders, and finance department employees, in reviewing the annual report. The report outlines internal and external briefs, emphasizing the needs of employees and stakeholders. It also includes a timeline with responsibilities for analyzing industry standards, ensuring clarity in the reports, and aligning communications from directors and chairpersons. The report addresses scenarios involving non-compliance with word limits and the inclusion of potentially negative information, emphasizing the importance of presenting a correct view of the company's accounts. It also touches on the importance of avoiding last-minute changes and using an affirmative tone in comparison reports.

By student name
Professor
University
Date: 16 August, 2017.

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Contents
Task 1............…………………………………………………………………...2
Task 2…………………………………………………………………..............5
Refrences.....……………………………………………………………….......6
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Task 1
Introduction
The annual report of the Qantas Airlines is prepared as per the Australian Accounting Standards
and the Corporations Regulation, 2001. The books of the accounts of the company have been
properly audited, with the basic principles of prudence, materiality and consistency followed by
the company in preparation of its financial statements. The company presents its accounts in a
consolidated format. The annual report has been prepared following the basic criteria, and
reflects the position of the company clearly. The preparation of the financial statements and
books of account require large amount of analysis and assumptions on part of the
management. It is important that all such assumptions are properly disclosed by the
management in the annual reports (Dichev, 2017).
Review of the annual report of 2016
The main shortcomings in the preparation of the annual report is that are often accounting
delays in the prep[ration and presentation of the financial statements, so the management
must ensure that proper care is ensure that all such changes must be properly accounted for
the in the annual reports. If there is any shortcoming on part of the management because of
the same care should be taken by, the management to ensure that such changes does not
affect the going concern assumption of the company materially. It is possible for the
accountants to read the annual reports, but for non-accounts people it becomes very difficult.
Thus, it is important on part of the management to make sure that they provide clear ideas in
as simple words as possible. The other shortcoming is that often the statements that are
presented in the annual reports fails to reflect one clear idea, through their words. The
director’s report, the chairperson’s statement presents a narrative about the corporate theme
in the message section. It is important that all these messages be in one line of operations, all
voicing the same opinions (Prasad & Chand, 2017).
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Identification of the team members
The main team members who have helped in effective study of the annual reports include the
user of the financial statements like the investors and the other stakeholders. It is important to
take feedback from them about the helpfulness of the annual reports for their major decisions.
In addition, whether the annual report is helpful to them and what difficulty they faced in
reading the statements, what is the information that they found was lacking. The other people
that can help in the review of the annual reports are the employees that are working in the
finance department of the company (Burke & Clark, 2016).
Drafting of the report
One example of internal brief will include how the reports are helpful to the employees of the
company, as they will get an insight into the activities of the company, and can ascertain their
position in the company. Thus, internal brief will include preparation of the statements in such
manner that it is helpful to the employees who are not acquainted with the accounting terms.
The external brief includes preparation of the reports to satisfy the needs of the stakeholders of
the company, which includes the investors, as they are the main users of the financial
statements of the company. Their most important investing decisions depend on the
information that is provided in the annual reports. Hence, there can be reports and calculations
that can be shown in the annual reports that may show the amount of profit that the investors
might earn in the coming years from the company. In addition, analysis with the set industry
can be done in that respect (Chariri, 2017).
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Time frame Responsibilities Sign off
1-2 month Analysis of the industrial
standards that can be helpful
to the investors in
ascertaining their investment
opportunities, and that will
also helps in reduction of
unnecessary assumptions on
part of the stock exchange.
It will be done by an expert
team, who have the requisite
knowledge for financial
analysis of the market and
can help in giving their
opinion on the financial
viability of the company as a
whole
10 days To check whether the annual
reports are prepared in such
manner that the internal
users of the statement are
able to understand the
complex words that are used
in the statement The
grammar content of these
statements should also be
checked.
It will be done by an expert
who has the requisite
knowledge in studying and
analysing the annual reports
and can form an opinion on
its viability and transparency
25 days To check that whether the
statements made by the
directors and the
chairpersons in the annual
reports are in the same line
of communication. They
reflect one clear idea.
It will be done by the PR
manager who is given the
responsibility of acting as the
team leader for an Annual
report project. The main
responsibility of analysing all
the details and then
presenting the details to the
management will be his.
The reports, after all the analyses and statement identification will be presented to the
members who are given the responsibility of forming and realising the annual statements to the
press. It will also be given to the CEO and the board of directors for the company, to give their
opinion on the same. After approval, the changes may be implemented and then the reports
can be released to the public (Beck, Dumay, & Frost, 2017).
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Task 2
In case the chairperson of the company is not ready to provide the reports as per the
prescribed word limit, then the report of the chairperson should be reduced as per the limits
that were initially wanted. He must be asked to do the same, because in the annual reports the
management is required to provide only a brief report, in case the management is not agreeing,
efforts should be taken to get the same done.
If the CEO does not want to include two paragraphs that present a bad picture of the company,
care should be taken to ascertain whether these reports have effect on the financial position of
the company in the present year. If the company is affected then the CEO cannot avoid the
same. The paragraphs must be included in the annual report of the company. The annual
reports are prepared to present the correct view of the accounts of the company and hence the
same must be kept in mind, while inclusion or deletion of information from the reports
(Maynard, 2016).
It is not recommended to make last minute changes in the annual report because that may not
be aesthetically correct. Thus if the Finance Manager wants to make some last minute changes
in the annual report that might change the page order, until and unless it is very vital it should
not be done. This is the main idea while making last minute changes in the books of account or
the annual report. Therefore, the manager should check whether it is important to include the
pie charts and the do the same.
While making comparison with the competitors and presenting a report on the same, it is
important that the company should not be presented in bad light. We should see that there
should be used of more affirmative tone of words while preparation of the comparison reports.
No negativity should be highlighted that may bring the company under bad books of the public.
The media report should not focus on highlighting the negative points of the company in
comparison with its competitors. However, to make sure that the positive traits of the company
that displays growth and development must be highlighted by the perpetrators of the annual
report.
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References
Beck, C., Dumay, J., & Frost, G. (2017). In Pursuit of a ‘Single Source of Truth’: from Threatened
Legitimacy to Integrated Reporting. Journal of Business Ethics , 141 (1), 191-205.
Burke, J., & Clark, C. (2016). The business case for integrated reporting: Insights from leading
practitioners, regulators, and academics. Business Horizons , 59 (3), 273-283.
Chariri, A. (2017). FINANCIAL REPORTING PRACTICE AS A RITUAL: UNDERSTANDING ACCOUNTING
WITHIN INSTITUTIONAL FRAMEWORK. Journal of Economics, Business and Accountancy , 14 (1).
Dichev, I. (2017). On the conceptual foundations of financial reporting. Accounting and Business
Research , 47 (6), 617-632.
Maynard, J. (2016). Financial Accounting, Reporting, and Analysis. U.K: Oxford University Press.
Prasad, P., & Chand, P. (2017). The Changing Face of the Auditor's Report: Implications for Suppliers and
Users of Financial Statements. Australian Accounting Review .
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