Reflective Journal: Agriculture and Rural Businesses in Australia

This reflective journal analyzes the Australian agriculture and rural business sector, focusing on key issues such as accounting practices, regulatory burdens, and the adoption of digital technologies. The author explores the industry's challenges, including IRS penalties and a lack of assessment programs, and identifies opportunities for improvement, such as the implementation of better bookkeeping strategies and the use of digital technologies. The research utilizes a literature review, case studies (including Canada's agricultural model), and an explanatory research design to examine the relationship between accounting performance and business success. The author highlights the impact of government policies, like high licensing fees, and the need for accounting professionals. The journal concludes with a reflection on the learning experience, the limitations encountered, and the potential for future research to address the evolving challenges and opportunities within the Australian agricultural landscape. The author emphasizes the importance of government support and active participation in the advancement of the industry.

Running head: REFLECTIVE JOURNAL
Reflective Journal: Agriculture and Rural Businesses in Australia
Student Name
University name
Author Note

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Introduction
I chose agriculture and rural business of Australia as my research subject because
I believe these serve as the backbone of the country’s economy. This research was aimed
to identify significant issues that the industry is facing in order to figure out effective
strategies to find more success.
Learning Experience
Though I focused on the just agricultural industry but it is present all over the
country so the issues I identifies are applicable for all the businesses from all the
locations. My research also aims to explore the possible solutions for those identified
issues. The literature review I did was based on multiple key issues like assessments,
regulatory business, and printed material, technology in accounting, finance and income.
While I was exploring the available literature I found out that the IRS punishments are
causing organizations shut down. Most of the agricultural organizations lack any
assessment programs so the organizations fail to determine their necessities. The
agricultural business of Australia I feel can spare some expanses a lot if the complete
proprietorships enlist their organizations. While I was investigating the issues affecting
the agricultural business in Australia, I found that the digital technologies are not being
used by the business and this is supported by most literature I found. I tried to explore
other texts where some other successful examples of record keeping process are used.
The case study of Canada can serve as a good model for our agricultural industry. The
organizations also have to check their clients’ credit record before making any
transaction. The strategy of book keeping can prove to be effective for the business in the

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longer run. I understood that regular monitoring could be great strategy for the
organizations to could save them good amount of cash and time. Australian government’s
high licensing price is also problematic for the rural business farms.
Evaluation
My research also highlighted that the lack of accounting professional in the
business also creates big challenge for the business. Contrary to my prior conception, the
accounting in the Australian agricultural industry has multiple affective issues that
require wider research. I tried to explore as much as possible within the limitations I had
during the initial phase of the research proposal preparing.
Objective View on the Learning Outcomes
In order to give the research a proper framework I had to set few questions that
would shape the research and guide me towards my desired destination. Primary research
question was related to the accounting issues that the agricultural and rural industry face.
Then I had to focus on the next step that is the identification of existing opportunities and
how our government can help the accounting performance and the agricultural business
to perform better. Before deciding on any particular research methodology I had to
explore the various research methods. I discussed the descriptive, explanatory and
exploratory research designs in order to decide on the most suitable one for my research.
I finally decided upon the explanatory research as I felt this could be most effective to
establish an effective cause-effect based relationship between the business performance
of the industry and accounting practice. I chose the both qualitative and quantitative

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process for this research process, as I had already realized that this research needs wider
amount of information to come up with right answers.
Future Implication
The research not only provided me with adequate knowledge but also opened up
many aspects of rural agricultural industry of our country. The research highlighted how
accounting in Australian rural agricultural has changed over the years and creating newer
challenges for the industry professionals and government must take initiatives to support
it. My research demonstrated multiple potential areas that could enhance the accounting
performance in the business and it also highlighted that government should take active
participation in the advancement of the agricultural industry.
Conclusion
Though it is a long journey, but I tried my best to complete the process as early as
possible without compromising any of the parts. I have started the research in July and
completed the whole research by August. Because I had to finish the research within the
university set time schedule I could not update my mentor on time regarding my research
progression. However later he provided me with some valuable suggestions that I tried to
incorporate in my project. I did face challenges initially regarding the general approach of
research because of my limited knowledge which I overcame in the later phase of the
research. However the major limitation I felt was my failure to understand certain
relevant issues and their severity from the farmers’ perspectives.

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