Topic 1: Ethics and budgeting
Budgeting is generally regarded as an essential technique for planning and controlling an
organisation’s activities. However, budgeting systems can also create incentives for unethical
behaviour.
Using examples to illustrate your discussion, explain:
• How the use of budgets in planning and controlling an organisation’s activities may create
incentives for unethical behaviour; and,
• What strategies organisations can adopt to minimise the risk of their budgeting system
leading to unethical behaviours.
Topic 2: Accounting for overhead
Modern manufacturing processes are typically characterised by large-scale automation, with
machines replacing people. Consequently, manufacturing overhead has often become a much
more significant component of total manufacturing costs and this presents a particular challenge for
cost and management accountants. Competitive pressures make it essential that firms have
accurate and up-to-date cost data, but overhead is an indirect cost and allocating it to individual
products and product lines will always involve subjectivity and estimation.
Discuss the difficulties associated with allocating overhead costs in the contemporary manufacturing
environment and identify strategies that firms can adopt to help make their overhead allocations
more accurate and reliable.
Presentation
The assignment is to comply with the University’s General Guide for the Presentation of Academic
Work. Students are required to use the APA style of referencing. See comments below regarding
word length. Each group is to submit a single copy of their assignment.
Assessment criteria
In assessing submitted assignments consideration will be given to:
• Overall neatness, completeness and quality of presentation. Graduate students are
expected to achieve a satisfactory standard with respect to this criterion as a matter of course
and for this reason, no credit will be granted for achieving it. However, assignments…