With reference to relevant literature, critically evaluate Kaplan and Norton’s Balanced Scorecard as a Strategic Management System.

The assignment should address the following questions:

Question 1 (35%).

Select an international organisation (of your choice – company A) and identify its closest competitor (company B). Present the two organisations and the criteria used for the identification of the competitor.

Use ratio analysis technique to evaluate the financial performance of the two organizations; draw a comparative evaluation and critically discuss the findings.

You need to access the annual financial statements of the last two years and provide details of the ratio calculations.
It is recommended to use graphs and tables to present your analysis, and cite academic literature.

Question 2 (20%).

With reference to relevant literature, critically evaluate Kaplan and Norton’s Balanced Scorecard as a Strategic Management System.

Question 3 (35%).

Provide a critical analysis of the benefits and challenges of adopting Integrated Reporting (IR) for your selected organization (company A).

Use academic literature and refer to the International Integrated Reporting framework to support your discussion.

Presentation (10%).

Mark awarded for presentation refers to overall structure and presentation, academic style of writing, use of Harvard style for references and in text citations.

You need touse a comprehensive range of relevant sources; use of online sources should be limited and the reliability of the source should be verified.

All sources need to be acknowledged and referenced properly to ensure the originality of the work. The report needs to follow the below structure and address the three questions. The word limit for this assignment is 3,500 words (10% tolerance) excluding references and appendix.

Note: Refrain from selecting companies that have been shown for demonstration purposes during the sessions (this includes, for example, Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Axa, Monnalisa, Impahla Clothing, Viasat, Dellas).

Any written work should be spell-checked and a contents page should be included. Do not use various font sizes and colours; Black ink, Arial, size 11, 1.5 lines spaced is recommended. Use DIN A4 format and page margins of 2.5 cm or 1 inch.

Proposed structure of the Report:

1. Introduction

Introduce the scope and focus of the report (approx. 250 words)

2. Financial Performance using Ratio Analysis Question 1 (approx. 1,000 words)

3. Balanced Scorecard

Question 2 (approx. 1,000 words)

4. Integrated Reporting

Question 3 (approx. 1,000 words)

5. Conclusions

Provide an overall conclusion based on the reflection from the report (approx. 250 words)

6. References – Harward style

7. Appendix – Provide details on the calculations presented in Question 1.

The proposed structure above intends to provide a recommendation on the structure of the coursework. This can be enriched with more sections/subsections as you consider appropriate (example abstract, executive summary, table of contents, appendices, etc.).

Full reading list

There will be weekly guided readings and you will be expected to undertake your own review of relevant literature, both academic and professional.

Essential Readings

Atrill, P., & McLaney, E.J. (2019). Management Accounting for Decision Makers. Pearson
Education.

Barth, M. E., Cahan, S. F., Chen, L., & Venter, E. R. (2017). The economic consequences
associated with integrated report quality: Capital market and real effects. Accounting,
Organizations and Society, 62, 43-64.

Berk, J., & DeMarzo, P. (2015). Corporate Finance (3rd ed.). Harlow: Pearson.
Busco, C., Malafronte, I., Pereira, J., & Starita, M. (2019). The Determinants of Companies’
Levels of Integration: Does One Size Fit All? The British Accounting Review

Further Readings

Busco, C., & Quattrone, P. (2015). Exploring how the balanced scorecard engages and
unfolds: Articulating the visual power of accounting inscriptions. Contemporary Accounting
Research 32(3) pp. 1236–1262.

Busco, C., Frigo, M.L., Quattrone, P., & Riccaboni, A. (2013) Integrated Reporting: Concepts
and Cases that Redefine Corporate Accountability. Switzerland: Springer.

Busco, C., Frigo, M. L., Quattrone, P., & Riccaboni, A. (2013). Redefining corporate
accountability through integrated reporting. Strategic Finance, 8, 33-41.

Busco, C., Granà, F., & Quattrone, P. (2017). Integrated thinking. CIMA Research Executive
Summary, 13(3), 1-26.

Cardinaels, E. & van Veen-Dirks, P. (2010) Financial versus non-financial information: the
impact of information organization and presentation in a balanced scorecard. Accounting,
Organizations and Society 10(6) pp. 568–578.

De Villiers, C., Rinaldi, L., & Unerman, J. (2014). Integrated Reporting: Insights, gaps and an
agenda for future research. Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, 27(7), 1042-1067.

Dumay, J., Bernardi, C., Guthrie, J., & Demartini, P. (2016). Integrated reporting: A structured
literature review. Accounting Forum, 40(3), 166-185.

Greatbanks, R. & Tapp, D. (2007). The impact of BSC in a public sector environment:
Empirical evidence from Dunedin City Council New Zealand. International Journal of Operations
and Production Management 27(8) pp. 846–873.

Hoque, Z. (2014). 20 years of studies on the balanced scorecard: Trends, accomplishments,
gaps and opportunities for future research. British Accounting Review 46(1) pp. 33–59.

Nørreklit, H., & Mitchell, F. (2014). Contemporary issues on the balance scorecard. Journal of
Accounting & Organizational Change, 10(4).

Salterio, S.E. (2012). Balancing the scorecard through academic accounting research:
opportunity lost? Journal of Accounting and Organizational Change 8(4) pp. 458–476.

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