All assignments must be submitted ONLINE via my.wbs by 7pm UK time on the date displayed against this
assessment.
Please ensure that you have inserted a completed assignment coversheet, which must be included as the
first page of your script. This should include your Student ID number but not your name.
You should answer all of Section A (60% of the marks) and one question from Section B (40% of the marks).
Word Limit
2000 word limit.
Word Count Policy
WBS has a school-wide policy on word counts. This is strictly enforced to ensure consistency across
modules and programme. You can find more information about this policy in your Student Handbook under
Academic Practice.
This is a strict limit not a guideline: any piece submitted with more words than the limit will result in the
excess not being marked.
Academic Practice
When you submit this assignment online, you will be required to tick a declaration box indicating that the
work involved is entirely your own. Each assignment will be put through plagiarism software to identify any
collusion or inadequate referencing of materials used from different sources.
We would consider a piece of work to be not entirely your own if:
1. It is too reliant on the words of particular authors (rather than presenting their ideas in your own
words), if the essay uses the ideas or words of an author without referencing them or putting their
words into quotations (plagiarism).
2. Or if your work suggests that you have worked very closely with another student (collusion).
Please read the relevant information in your Student Handbook on the Academic Practice pages and ensure
you understand it.
Extensions and Self-certification
Late submissions will incur a penalty of 5% for every 24 hour period after the due date and time, i.e. this
begins one minute after the submission deadline (beginning at 7:01pm).
Requests for extensions (of up to 15 days) must be submitted via my.wbs BEFORE the deadline. Extensions
can only be approved with documentary evidence to support the request.
Self-certification is a university-wide policy whereby you are permitted an automatic extension of 5 working
days on eligible written assessed work without the need for evidence. WBS permits self-certification for all
types of written, assessed works such as essays and dissertations. It is not permitted for exams, course
tests, or presentations.
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You can self-certify twice within each year of study, starting from the anniversary of your course start date.
Self-certification periods cover a maximum of 5 consecutive working days, with the maximum allowable
extension being five working days within that range. This will cover all eligible written assessments that fall
within the self-certification period, as long as they have not previously had an extension applied.
If you wish to self-certify for an extension of 5 working days, please select ‘Self-certification’ in the
Extension Type field. If you wish to request a longer extension than 5 working days, please leave the
Extension Type as ‘Standard’.
QUESTION
SECTION A
M&S: CASE STUDY
The case materials were distributed on My.WBS.
Question 1 (60 marks in total)
Based on your interpretation of the 2018-19 accounts (that is, the excerpts from the published accounts,
which you can find in the my.wbs page of the module under ‘CORE case for the exam’) and any other relevant
information you have discovered, explain the financial performance of M&S in this reporting period.
In answering this question, you may draw on information and structure the answer as you wish, however the
following basic issues must be addressed.
• Examine how well the transformation plan, as it is described in the company’s strategy, was
implemented and how it is reflected in the company’s performance.
• It is essential that you make substantial and effective use of information in the various parts of the
report, such as the messages from management and from the auditor as well as the financial
information).
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SECTION B
Answer one question from this section:
Question 2 (40 marks in total)
“So that useful financial information is provided to managers and other decision-makers, we need to
have effective accounting rules and regulations and a good normative theory”.
Required
Critically discuss the statement above.
Use ideas about normative theory with respect to IFRS/IASB, regulation theories and research into
professionalism to answer this question. Reflect on any limitations or difficulties within the current system.
Question 3 (40 marks in total)
Question 3a
Required
Explain how the hypotheses of Positive Accounting Theory and related research findings help us to
understand better the accounting choices made by managers. As part of your answer, discuss the three
hypotheses that are important in PAT and support your discussion with evidence from research papers
mentioned in the module’s readings.
[20 marks]
Question 3b
Carillion plc was a multinational facilities management and construction services company headquartered
in Wolverhampton. The company was founded in 1999, and grew to become the second largest
construction company in the UK employing over 40,000 people. During May 2017 Carillion plc stock was
trading on the London Stock Exchange at £202, but in June 2017 its stock price was around £55, and by the
end of 2017 Carillion plc stock price was below £20. By January 2018 Carillion plc went into liquidation.
The stock price collapse was triggered by the issue of a ‘profit warning’ announcing an £845 million
impairment charge for Carillion’s construction services division. It emerged that the managers in the
company took on excessive risks, which resulted in losses and also created huge debts. At the time, several
journalists, who were not familiar with financial accounting theories and research findings, were puzzled to
find out that, in the years prior to the collapse, Carillion managers were earning hundreds of millions in
bonuses and also that, at the time of the collapse, the company had a very large goodwill (valued at
£1.57bn).
Required
Write a short report where you explain the reasons behind the behaviour of Carillion’s managers to the
journalists. In your report, use relevant PAT hypotheses and research findings to justify your explanations.

[20 marks]
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Question 4 (40 marks in total)
“In recent years, we have seen a large number of developing economies adopt IFRS Standards. However,
many of these countries need an additional support when adopting IFRS Standards or implementing
major changes to those standards” (Michel Prada, Chairman of the IFRS Foundation Trustees, 2017).
Required
Write a short essay discussing the statement above in which you:
• Examine the reasons why the International Accounting Standards Board believes that the adoption
of IFRS brings benefits to developing economies; and
• Evaluate why national differences might mean that IFRS is not suitable or easy to adopt in some
countries.
In your essay you should refer to relevant theories and research to support your discussion.