Microsoft Word - Assignment 2 Sem XXXXXXXXXXupdate.docx
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ACC8000 Research in Accounting Practice
Assignment 2, Semester 2, 2017: Due 14 May 2019
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Weight: 30%, XXXXXXXXXXExpected words (excluding references XXXXXXXXXX
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Question 1 XXXXXXXXXX42 marks)
You work with an accounting firm that offers taxation and advisory services to
clients. The firm has offices in all the state capital cities, as well as Canbe
a,
Cairns, Newcastle and Toowoomba. Recently, your firm decided to try to
improve the productivity and the worklife balance of their staff. More than
1000 taxation and advisory staff are employed along with 500 administrative
staff. After reading about organisations that cut working hours to 20 hours per
week, your office has decided to have a six month trial. On Monday each week
staff at each office meet to nominate the days and hours they will work in the
following week. The aim of the meeting is to enable staff to collaborate to
ensure there is an adequate staff presence at each office during the opening
hours of Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm. The partners want to find out the
staff’s opinions about their experiences in servicing clients as the staff work
educed hours. Staff have also been asked to talk with clients about how the
change in accounting staff hours may have affected the service they receive.
They ask you to conduct a qualitative research to answer the following
questions concerning the taxation and advisory staff:
What do staff believe are the advantages of the 20 hour work week?
What problems have staff encountered in 20 hour work week?
What comments have staff received from clients about services after the
20 hour work week was introduced?
What suggestions do staff have to improve client services while
maintaining the 20 hour work week?
Required:
You have been asked to write a research plan for the research. Your plan
should include the following issues and provide a justification for the
choices that you have made. Write your research plan as a report, with
appropriate headings for each section.
a. the objective of the research (3 marks)
2
. why a qualitative approach is more appropriate for addressing the
esearch objectives (4 marks)
c. the population from which participants will be selected (2 marks)
d. How the sample size will be determined, (how will you determine the
number of participants?) (3 marks)
e. How the sample of participants will be selected from the population (once
you have determined the number of participants, how will you select
them?) (4 marks)
f. How will the data be collected from participants. (4 marks)
g. Provide examples of three questions to participants; for each question
explain how it is linked to the research objectives. (9 marks)
h. What steps should be taken to analyse the collected data? (9 marks)
i. What are the possible limitations to applying the findings to other non-
accounting organisations that are considering implementing a 20 hour
work week?
(4 marks)
Question 2 XXXXXXXXXX6 marks)
Explain how the answers to qualitative interview questions might be used in a
mixed methods study. Explain which type of mixed method approach would be
used: explanatory sequential mixed methods; exploratory sequential mixed
methods or convergent parallel mixed methods.
Question 3 XXXXXXXXXX52 marks)
This question focuses on writing an academic paper. To aid students in their
learning, the task of writing a paper is
oken down into steps. It is highly
ecommended that you use the resources from USQ that are linked through
the Writing and Grammar section of the Learning Centre. Your answers to
question 3 will be evaluated using information from the Purdue Online Writing
Lab. Students are required to answer each question separately, you do not
need to write a report. The topic is about participatory budgeting (participative
udgeting, participation in budgeting). The organisation you work for employs
450 staff, evenly spread at two locations: Toowoomba and Springfield. The
organisation provides advisory services for clients who wish to restyle and
efu
ish their offices.
3
a. Definition XXXXXXXXXX4 marks)
Define participatory budgeting in your own words, ensuring you provide an
in-text reference to your source. Explain why the source you have chosen is
eliable.
. Finding literature XXXXXXXXXX6 marks)
Find four academic research articles published since 2007 that have
discussed the advantages of participatory budgeting in for-profit
organisations. List your four articles using Harvard referencing.
c. Summarising article findings XXXXXXXXXX8 marks)
Using the four studies that you found in question 3 part b. above,
summarise the findings of each article using no more than five sentences
per article. Ensure you use in-text referencing.
d. Writing an argument XXXXXXXXXX8 marks)
Rewrite your information from question 3 part c. above to present an
argument that integrates the findings of the four articles to outline the
advantages of participatory budgeting in for-profit organisations. Ensure
you use in-text referencing.
e. The significance of culture XXXXXXXXXX8 marks)
Using the work of Hofstede, explain the cultural dimensions of power
distance and individuality. Ensure you use in-text referencing.
f. Culture and participation in budgeting XXXXXXXXXX6 marks)
What do researchers suggest regarding the influence of the power distance
cultural dimension on budgetary participation? Ensure you use in-text
eferencing.
g. Factors that influence participation in budgeting XXXXXXXXXX9 marks)
Briefly explain three factors (other than culture factors) in the academic
literature that may contribution to enhancing employee engagement in
participatory budgeting. Ensure you use in-text referencing.
h. Writing an introduction XXXXXXXXXX7 marks)
Write the introduction paragraph to an essay that would address the topic
“successfully introducing budgetary participation”.