- This topic has 17 replies, 6 voices, and was last updated 2 years ago by
.
- Posts
Hi All
I am a little disheartened as I am halfway through my project and think I have done this wrong,
I have picked topic 3: assessment of the potential impact of an aspect of impending legislation on the operations and financial position of a business.
I have decided to use the PEST, porters 5 forces and SWOT analysis models.
My logic was to look at the business from different perspectives using these models and by doing that assess what impact the legislation may have on the different elements of the business (example: political, environmental, social etc).
However I think I cannot do it like this because as the rap states in Part 2 then part 3. I have to gather data then apply the models to the data.
the way I am doing it I will use the models to gather data. Is this approach accepted?
Has anyone else done topic 3 and what models have you used?
any help is appreciated.
Best wishes
@wlliams1977 That approach shouldn’t be a problem: you outline the theory of the models in Part 2 and then apply them in Part 3 to the organisation.
Your biggest hurdle with this topic is not to end up just describing what the potential impact is. Somewhere you must do some form of assessment and demonstrate original analysis to pass the all important Evaluation, Analysis & Conclusions section (This need to evaluate applies to every topic).
So say it has been estimated that having to comply with the legislation meant that an additional process had to be incorporated by the company you could show how that might impact on profits for the next few years or say it was something that improved safety or reduced risk you could assess whether it may mean more sales (i.e. perform some sort of cost benefit analysis) or contribute to health improvements or reduce financial losses to the public (e.g consumer protection). Sometimes the change in legislation might even mean a radical overhaul so the more analysis of the effects of this you can do the better.
Thank you so much for the help trephena
I will ensure to include something to satisfy the evaluation part
I would be very grateful if you could clarify the following for me
1) Can I use legislature in Sri Lanka
2)Can i Use historic data from companies past performances to validate my opinion
3) Is it considered to be a good topic?@Raveen –
1) Yes
2) Yes but only for comparative purposesTopic 3’s full title is:
“An assessment of the potential impact of an aspect of impending legislation
on the operations and financial position of an organisation”
This means that essentially you are projecting forward assessing how the change is going to affect the company financially and strategically. In other words you need to look at whether the legislation requirements are likely to restrict the demand for the product (or possibly increase it if means better safety etc) and how much the implementation is likely to cost both in product development, staff training, marketing etc.3) How long is a piece of string? I think a good topic is one that interests you and for which there is an availability of information.
Note: with some topics there is a tendency to describe what has gone on and not bring in original analysis (these often are failed as p.22 of the Info Pack states: ” if you just report what you find you will not pass the RAP”) – in other words you have to do something with the data not just state it . However with this topic there is plenty of scope (provided you have reliable information) to do a good financial evaluation (forecast Income statements at various sensitivity / probability levels) and base your final conclusions and recommendations on those.
Thanks.
What if I look at a peice of legislature implemented in Sri Lanka which adversely affected a companies bottom line.
And then discuss what effects it would have on financial performance of a company in UK with similar product ptotofolio.
Would that be valid.@Raveen – I doubt that would be acceptable as it is far too hypothetical. You need to stick to a company in the country in which the legislation is applicable and as I say look at the various potential scenarios implicated by that legislation as that is what the title implies.
Good Afternoon,
I am wondering if you could provide some guidance. I have found impending legislation that is relevant to the industry I work in and that interests me. However I plan to submit my project in May 2017 so the deadline for submission would be the 17th May 2017 but the impending legislation comes into force on the 1st April 2017 so would have been enforced by the time I submit the project and therefore would no longer be “impending”.
I am assuming this would not be an acceptable choice as the project title states the potential impact of impending legislation but some of the actual impact of the change would have already been seen.
Thank you in advance for any help.
That is as good as ‘impending'”. If you read the RAP rules the Uni assumes a RAP takes 3 months and therefore for example with Topic 8 they do not insist on use of financial statements that were published in the last 90 days.
It will still be too early in May to see what the full impacts of the new legislation introduced in April are so in that sense it is impending (and even for P35 it still wouldn’t be a full year – just six full months). So no problem at all.
So chill baby, chill! You will be fine on this one 😀
- Topics: 0
- Replies: 6
- ☆
Hi
I chose topic 3 to submit my RAP in period 37, failed to achieve the pass grade, however; I am not satisfied with examiner’s feedback and after corresponding with obu team, it came to my knowledge I cannot appeal against my result as I am disagreeing with the judgement the examiner made while marking my RAP. I will write below a bit more about the background and appreciate some expert opinions as the deadline for re submission is approaching (23rd June).
The topic is ‘An assessment of the potential impact of an aspect of impending legislation on the operations and financial position of an organisation’. For this topic, I chose the instance of upcoming VAT implementation in Bahrain and applied Lewin’s model of change management that has three stages (Unfreeze, Transition and Refreeze), it is the second stage where the change is made for which a complete study and plan is required which means to establish what is currently going on and what needs to be done or what will be impacted to bring about the change – this is the assessment of potential impacts. Now, these impacts are on operations of a company and its financial position too
And now quoting the examiner’s feedback on Understanding of Accountancy/Business Models:
“Lewin’s model of management change is not really appropriate here, since it really applies to management structures and organisational change – how responsibility for functions change throughout the organisation. In this instance it is a change within the accounting function and a requirement for additional processes, training and awareness.”
I am aligned to part of first sentence of feedback above where it speaks about the model itself that the model caters the changes in different functions or operational processes and, in my opinion, that is how we can arrive at the impact due to changes in responsibilities. The second sentence where the examiner states that the instance of VAT legislation implementation impacts accounting function only is not in line with my recent experience of being a VAT implementation champion, that tells me that not only accounting but other functions such as sales ( marketing perspective, contracts etc.), purchasing, IT (e.g. a complete new ERP requirement) etc. gets affected by VAT too and all these functions require training, awareness and additional processes in the chain.
Summary:
-I think that Lewin’s model is appropriate here,
-The examiner’s gives a feedback that I feel is not right,
-OBU ACCA team once asked, doesn’t respond on logical grounds but those standard emails and tells me that I cannot appeal on this base.If I am not logically clear, I feel the idea of this exercise is not actualized. Please advise me a course of action. Thank you
-Fahad
Dear Fahad
Yours is an interesting case especially as I had a discussion with another marker on change management models regarding a student MBA dissertation (as the student’s supervisor I was first marker and the process at most universities is that to remove marker bias and to bring in objectivity and a different perspective, a second marker will also assess the work independently and then together the two markers will discuss their differing opinions.
My student had used the implementation of IFRS in his country as his topic and examined the issues on and resolutions by fellow accountants. The latter were either sole practitioners or very small partnerships and one of the main emphases and purposes of their work was to produce and submit tax returns for their clients to the tax authorities. The 2nd marker (not an accountant) was adamant that the student should have used a change management model and I was equally adamant that as the government of his country had imposed the change from local GAAP to IFRS with little or no consultation and within a very tight deadline and especially given the accountants were mostly self-employed that expecting them to have engaged in a formal change management process and the student to have included this was not realistic.
So you see even academics do not always agree and he and I had to beg to differ on this (the student unfortunately failed but that was for other reasons)
So getting back to your work: rather than argue strongly on the merits or otherwise of Lewin, look at Appendix 1 and the assessment criteria you failed on (presumably application of models and techniques). Depending on what the criteria say e.g. ‘mostly apprropriate or something like that you may be able to argue that even if the marker thought Lewin was incorrectly used, you beg to differ and other techniques you used were within the ‘mostly appropriate/accurate’ category
Good luck!
(I an currently out of the UK with limited internet access so accessing the assessment criteria is difficult for me)
- Topics: 0
- Replies: 6
- ☆
Hi GillianM.
Thank you for an insightful response.
One point where I beg to differ would be that the Lewin’s Change model is an internal process; it assumes that the process within the company is set in motion (‘chosen’) by the company seniors. A new legislation is not ‘chosen’ by the company, it is imposed by government.
Now, in the interest of time, could you please advise on some model to be used in this instance?
Regards, Fahad
As I have mentioned I am out of the UK at the moment with limited WiFi access. I would suggest that you either use the Google Scholar search engine and use a few key words to search for something suitable. Alternatively the big 4 accounting firms often produce guides to advise industries of change so they may have something on their websites again a few key word searches should bring these up. (As VAT has been introduced into several Gulf states recently I think it is like they produced guides on implementation)
- Topics: 0
- Replies: 6
- ☆
I’ve tried quite a lot but didn’t find something much suitable on google. The big 4 firms have issued Impact assessment reports that state which area will be impacted and how it will be impacted etc.
Now quoting the requirements of info pack:
”5.b.iv) Choosing your accounting of business ‘models’
You must consult academic sources in order to judge which accounting and business concepts, theories, models and techniques are likely to be of use, both in understanding related issues in your chosen organisation, and also in analysing and evaluating all the other information you have gathered”Considering the big 4 practice, can I simply use an impact assessment format, where I list the findings, assess the impact and then recommend something and call it as my ‘technique/concept’ ?? Do you think that it will be acceptable?
Apologies to disturb you while you are out of UK, but with your insightful guidelines, I might be able to achieve a pass standard. Appreciate your support.
I think it is reasonable to consider the impact statements. In fact although I haven’t been able to consult these myself I think they might provide a good framework for the analysis and evaluation. Although you haven’t mentioned whether you were passed on that or not, the situation is that too often with some topics students set out the problem issue and then describe what happened, that is they do not really analyse the consequences adequately. So possibly you might be guided by the impact statements and be able to frame some of your analysis around them showing some of the specific impacts on your company. (I imagine you can demonstrate how prior to the imposition of VAT there was a spike in sales and then after its imposition a slowdown? You may be able to further analyse this in terms of effects on inventory levels, and possibly working capital changes).
You could state in your resubmission statement that having been informed that Lewins was not suitable you have shifted the emphasis to these impact statements as the big professional firms are the acknowledged experts in respect of VAT and have on the ground experience in anticipating client issues and are therefore very relevant to the study.
- Topics: 0
- Replies: 6
- ☆
Thank you Gillian for the response. The examiner failed me too on the analysis. It was mentioned in the feedback
3. Evaluation of Information, Analysis And Conclusions
‘…You have done well to identify the range of transactions which come under the scope ofVAT, and to discuss the implications for recording and cash flow, but it would make more sense to evaluate the potentially most difficult changes to make and the greatest financial impact. This might be done through interview discussion with knowledgeable informants within the organisation’Your response provides some level of confidence to me to choose the Impact assessment format as it is based on some reasonable grounds.
I am now making changes in my RAP, hope to submit it on time.
Thank you again
- Topics: 0
- Replies: 6
- ☆
Thank you so much GillianM, I was able to secure pass grade with your guidelines. Although, a bit late in posting but really appreciate your help in the time where I needed the most.
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.