ACC5502- Accounting and Financial Management

You are required to research the impact of job automation and use relevant sources to answer the following questions. You should use a mixture of academic, newspaper articles and other relevant financial commentary.

1. Identify and discuss the main ethical issues associated with job automation;

2. Determine the norms, principles and values relevant to the issue of job automation;

3. Identify two companies in two different industries that might be impacted by job automation. Discuss the advantages and disadvantages for these companies in adopting artificial intelligence or job automation;

4. Based on your answer to part (3) above, choose one company and identify the stakeholders most likely to be affected by job automation. Describe each stakeholder, their probable concerns and how they are likely to be affected.

Part Two

Refer to the 30 June 2017 financial reports of Virgin Australia Group

1. Provide a brief discussion of the various regulatory influences on external reporting for public companies in Australia; 

2. Answer the following questions using the consolidated financial report of Virgin Australia Group and the notes to the consolidated financial report for the year ending 30 June 2017;

a) State the accounting equation at the beginning and end of the year.

b) Which accounting firm audited the financial statements and what opinion was issued?

c) Did the auditor provide any other services to Virgin Australia during the year? If so, provide specific details of what these services were?

d) What is the largest non-current asset the company owns and state its opening and closing net book value? What valuation method is used for this asset?

e) What depreciation method is used for the company’s property, plant and equipment?

f) According to the financial statements what is the largest source of revenue for Virgin? What does the “other ancillary revenue” category consist of?

g) How much did Virgin Australia recognise as an expense for finance costs during 2017. Has this increased or decreased since 2016?

h) Have the directors identified any contingent liabilities for the group? If so what are they and how have these been disclosed?

i) How many ordinary shares did Virgin Australia issue during 2017? By how much did share capital increase during 2017 in relation to the issue of ordinary shares?

j) Compare the net loss with the net cash flows from operating activities. Which amount is larger? Provide an explanation for this.

k) Virgin Australia has reported several elements of Unearned Revenue as a liability. What are these? Would these be expected for a company in this industry?

l) Compare the director’s report and director’s declaration? What are the key features of each of these? Why are both reports required?

m) In addition to releasing an annual report, Virgin Australia Holdings Limited released a half year report. Why does the company release both half-year and annual accounts? What period does the half year report cover?

3. Calculate the following ratios for Virgin Australia for the year ending 30 June 2017:

a) return on equity

b) return on assets

c) profit margin ratio

d) asset turnover ratio

e) current ratio

f) debt to equity ratio

g) interest coverage ratio

h) debt coverage ratio

i) price earnings

j) dividends per share

General Requirements:

1. Part one of this assignment requires you to apply elements of ethical decision making models to a contemporary corporate issue. This section of the assignment will be marked based on the quality of your discussion and research.

2. Answer each question using a heading indicating the question number. Part one and part two of the assignment should be answered within the same word document.

3. Full referencing is required in accordance with the USQ preferred Harvard Referencing style.

4. There is no specified word length for this assignment. However, be as concise and efficient in your writing as possible. You should not require more than a maximum of eight 1.5 spaced A4 pages

5. Assignment extensions will only be granted if there are extenuating circumstances. University policy provides that the maximum extension is 5 business days.

6. The assignment is to be submitted electronically. Submit the assignment using the link on the study desk. File types allowed include doc and docx. Only one file will be accepted. If more than one file is uploaded, only the first file listed will be marked. Do not submit a cover sheet.

7. This assignment is to be your own individual work.

8. The Learning Centre at USQ, offers students online and face-to-face access to academic support, advice and guidance