Impact of AASB 16 Accounting Standards on Woolworths Group Limited

This report examines the impact of the new AASB 16 accounting standards on Woolworths Group Limited. It begins with an introduction to accounting standards and their role in ensuring transparency, particularly in Australia where the AASB defines these standards. The research includes an analysis of the research questions, aims, and objectives, which focus on understanding the impact of AASB 16 on Woolworths' financial reporting and whether the new standards are more effective. The report also acknowledges the limitations, such as the reliance on secondary data and the recent implementation of the standard. The research design employs a mixed approach, combining both quantitative and qualitative methodologies to provide a comprehensive analysis. The report concludes with a list of references used to support the findings and analysis of the impact of AASB 16 on Woolworths.

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Introduction
 Some of the ways governments and regulatory bodies enforce accountability is by enacting
accounting standards.
 Accounting standards are some of the regulations that ensure transparency of companies.
 These standards are used in order to ensure all companies use a similar process of doing their
accounts making it easier for any person to understand the financial records of different
companies without having to learn new standards with each company.
 The accounting standards are used to increase the transparency of companies while producing
their financial papers to the public.
 In Australia, the Australian Accounting Standards Board (AASB) is in charge of setting and
defining accounting standards within the country.
 A new accounting standard was defined by the Australian Accounting Standards Board
(AASB) in response to international standards. This new accounting standard is known as the
AASB 16 and starts being implemented from 1st January of 2019.
 This paper will analyze the effects of the new accounting standards on Woolworths Group
Limited.

Research Questions
Research questions come before a research is conducted.
The author comes up with research questions which need to be
answered and hence give the research a purpose and goal.
The primary research question is: What are the expected impacts of the
AASB 16 accounting standards on Woolworths Group limited
Company?
The secondary questions are: Will the new AASB 16 accounting
standards benefit or disadvantage Woolworths Group limited Company?
Are the new AASB 16 accounting standards more effective than the
previous accounting standards in achieving transparency?

Research Aim and Objectives
 The aims and objectives of the research are the basic purpose
of conducting the entire research process.
 The research objectives are as listed below:
1. To explore the set of rules or accounting standards defined
by AASB 16
2. To investigate the impact of AASB 16 accounting standards
on the financial reporting of Woolworths Group Limited.
3. To find out the ways to address the challenges faced by
Woolworths Group Limited due to the new accounting
standards being implemented in Australia.

Limitations of the Study
Limitations include the disadvantages of the study methodology or any factor
that could lead to less than perfect results.
One of the major limitations of the research paper is that it will not implement
first hand information from interviews and questionnaires.
Primary research is often more difficult and time consuming in comparison to
secondary research which this paper will implement.
Primary research, however, provides first hand information that is the most
credible information.
Another limitation to the study is that the subject of the study is a new
accounting standard that started implementation at the beginning of the year.
This means that available credible information on the relevant subject is limited
since the subject has not been studied for a long time.

Research Design
The research design includes the method and methodology that has been
implemented in the study paper.
The research design can also provide the theoretical approach that the paper has
taken in order to achieve the set out objectives and goals.
The research method will make use of secondary data instead of primary data
due to its availability.
This study paper will implement a mixed approach during the research process.
A mixed approach implies that the study paper will use both the quantitative
and the qualitative research methodology.
The author has preferred the mixed approach because it combined the
advantages of both the research methodologies into one approach.

References
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Baskerville, R.F., George, S. and Makale, K., 2018. The Landscape for Accounting Regulation in NZ (Presentation
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Brumm, L. and Liu, J., 2019. New leasing accounting standard. Taxation in Australia, 53(8), p.449.
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Accounting Review, 25(3), pp.248-261.
Clark, G., 2013. 5 Secondary data. Methods in Human Geography, p.57.
Dakis, G.S., 2016. Upcoming changes to contributions and leasing standards. Governance Directions, 68(2), p.99.
Dhankar, R.S., 2019. International Financial Reporting Standards. In Capital Markets and Investment Decision
Making (pp. 323-352). Springer, New Delhi.
Hannoudi, O.A., 2015. Comparative analysis between the IFRS and the AAOIFI accounting standards.
Henderson, S., Peirson, G., Herbohn, K. and Howieson, B., 2015. Issues in financial accounting. Pearson Higher
Education AU.
Humayun, S.H., 2016. Merchandising operation of Woolworths Global Sourcing.
Hussey, R. and Ong, A., 2017. Corporate Financial Reporting. Macmillan International Higher Education.
Joubert, M., Garvie, L. and Parle, G., 2017. Implications of the New Accounting Standard for Leases AASB 16 (IFRS
16) with the Inclusion of Operating Leases in the Balance Sheet. The Journal of New Business Ideas &
Trends, 15(2), pp.1-11.