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ACCT5961 (Assessment 1) - 35%
Content Analysis of a Sustainability
Report (Individual)
Assessment Description
This project aims for students to gain knowledge of information typically provided in
sustainability reports and understand how a company manages its societal impact.
A company will be allocated to students to perform a content analysis of a
sustainability report. As part of this assessment, students will identify the company’s
approach to sustainability, assess environmental and social initiatives by selecting
and discussing a sample of qualitative and quantitative key performance indicators
(KPIs) reported by the company it its latest sustainability reports and then critically
evaluating the company’s strategy and its environmental and social impact.
Assessment Length
3-4 page Content Analysis (Font 12 including references; cover page excluded)
addressing requirements.
Submission
Individual reports must be submitted (preferably in a PDF format) through a
submission link on Moodle by 5pm in end of Week 5 (Friday, 11 October).
Each submission must be accompanied submitted with a cover sheet (excluded
from page count). The assignments will be checked using a plagiarism software, so
it is the responsibility of the student to ensure that no plagiarism occurs, and quoted
text is properly cited.
Penalties apply for late submissions (10% per day) and more if plagiarism is
detected.
Allocation of companies
Table 1 – Unilever Table 6 – Microsoft Inc
Table 2 – Apple Inc. Table 7 – Walmart Inc
Table 3 – Tesla Inc Online (A-L)* – IKEA
Table 4 – Nestle Online (M-S)* – Siemens AG
Table 5 – BP (British Petroleum) Plc On-line (T-Z)* – HSBC Holdings Plc
*indicates first letter of student’s last name
Required:
1. Download the the annual corporate report/sustainability report of your assigned
company from the company’s website. Note that there may be supplementary
reports prepared by the company that may provide more information about their
sustainability initiatives. Do not hesitate to use additional reports as needed.
2. Peruse corporate annual/sustainability report/other reports of your assigned
company.
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3. Understand the company’s business and identify its purpose, mission, business
strategy, vision, corporate values and culture, if disclosed.
4. Identify initiatives that address social and environmental issues that are
relevant and material to the organisation’s business and purpose. What key
performance indicators (KPIs) are reported by the company. Quality of
discussion will be assessed in the ability of the student to identify and explain
initiatives that are significant to the organisation’s business in addressing its
environmental and social impact. For example, energy companies will typically
reduce its environmental impact.
5. Submit a report addressing the following tasks:
a. Describe the company’s business and discuss the company’s
purpose/mission/values. (3 Marks)
b. Discuss the process of stakeholder engagement applied by the company to
help them identify material social and environmental issues to include in a
sustainability report and describe how the stakeholders and issues are
prioritised. You may need to do research on this as some may not include
these processes in their reports. Critically evaluate the engagement process.
For example, do all the significant stakeholders participate in the process? Is
there a stakeholder that has been left behind. Is the process transparent? Is
there a framework used to identify significant material issues. (8 Marks)
c. Select two social (S) and two environmental (E) initiatives (i.e. total of 4
initiatives) that are material to the core business of the organisation (i.e. not
green washing initiatives). You must be able to differentiate the E from the S.
Explain each initiative and justify why you chose each initiative. You must
argue why this initiative is materially significant/important to the business. It
would help to link this to your discussion in the stakeholder engagement. (8
Marks)
d. For each of the initiative selected, evaluate the company’s performance on
this issue. For example, discuss the key performance indicators (KPIs)
reported or if not available, the qualitative disclosure provided by the
company on this initiative. Evaluate the ESG performance of the company
thru these initiatives and discuss how the initiatives further the competitive
advantage of the organisation (or not). (6 Marks)
e. Recommend points for improvement in the reporting of these initiatives and
support these by providing a comparison of reporting practices with another
company in the same sector/industry. (5 Marks)
f. Formatting and presentation (5 Marks)
• Report is well structured (with sub-headings), concise and cohesive.
• Report is within specified length (2-3 pages) excluding cover sheet.
• Report is well written (careful with use of grammar and no spelling errors)
and just copied from the sustainability report.
• Report is appropriately referenced usually using Harvard style or other
acceptable citation styles.
6. Marking Rubric is available in Appendix 1.
ACCT5961 - Marking Rubric (Content Analysis of a Sustainability Report) APPENDIX 1 Tasks < 1 mark 1 mark -2 marks
3 marks a Describe briefly the company’s business and discuss the company’s
purpose/mission/values. (3 Marks) Bare minimum or no information atbout
the business and minimum discussion about
the company's purpose/ mission/ values are
taking place. - Described the company's business;
- identified the company's purpose etc.
but not sufficient for discussion - Clearly described the company’s business; and
- Discussed the company's purpose mission and
values in detail < 1 mark 1 - 2 marks 2.5 - 4 marks 4.5 - 6.5 marks 7-8 marks b Discuss the process of stakeholder engagement applied by the company
to help them identify material social and environmental issues to include
in a sustainability report and describe how the stakeholders and issues
are prioritised. You may need to do research on this as some may not
include these processes in their reports. Critically evaluate the
engagement process. For example, do all the significant stakeholders
participate in the process? Is there a stakeholder that has been left
behind. Is the process transparent? Is there a framework used to identify
significant material issues. (8 Marks)
- No discussion about the process of
stakeholder engagement applied by the
company to help them identify material
social and environmental issues to include
in a sustainability report - little description about how the
stakeholders and issues are prioritised.
- No or little evaluation about the
engagement process. For example, do all
the significant stakeholders participate in
the process? Is the process transparent? Is
there a stakeholder that has been left
behind? Is there a framework used to
identify significant material issues.
- some discussion about the process of
stakeholder engagement applied by the
company to help them identify material
social and environmental issues to include
in a sustainability report - some description about how the
stakeholders and issues are prioritised.
- some evaluation about the engagement
process. For example, do all the significant
stakeholders participate in the process? Is
the process transparent? Is there a
stakeholder that has been left behind? Is
there a framework used to identify
significant material issues.
- sound discussion about the process of
stakeholder engagement applied by the
company to help them identify material social
and environmental issues to include in a
sustainability report - sound description about how the stakeholders
and issues are prioritised.
- sound evaluation about the engagement
process. For example, do all the significant
stakeholders participate in the process? Is the
process transparent? Is there a stakeholder that
has been left behind? Is there a framework used
to identify significant material issues.
- good discussion about the process of
stakeholder engagement applied by the
company to help them identify material social
and environmental issues to include in a
sustainability report (including analysis) - good description about how the stakeholders
and issues are prioritised.
- good evaluation about the engagement
process. Incorcoprated some research in the
discussion. For example, do all the significant
stakeholders participate in the process? Is the
process transparent? Is there a stakeholder
that has been left behind? Is there a
framework used to identify significant material
issues.
- excellent discussion about the process of
stakeholder engagement applied by the
company to help them identify material social
and environmental issues to include in a
sustainability report (including analysis) - excellent description about how the
stakeholders and issues are prioritised.
- excellent evaluation about the engagement
process. Incorcoprated some research in the
discussion
For example, do all the significant
stakeholders participate in the process? Is the
process transparent? Is there a stakeholder that
has been left behind? Is there a framework used
to identify significant material issues.
<1 mark 1 - 2 marks 2.5 - 4 marks 4.5 - 6.5 marks 7-8 marks c - Select two social and two environmental initiatives (i.e. total of 4
initiatives) that are material to the core business of the organisation (i.e.
not green washing initiatives).
- Explain each initiative and justify why you chose this initiative. You
must argue why this initiative is materially significant/important to the
business. It would help to link this with your discussion in the
stakeholder engagement. (8 Marks) - No or little explanation about each
initiative that are material to the core
business of the organisation. - No or little justification about why the
student has chosen the initiative. - No or little arguments about why the
initiative selected are material to the
business (visual aid preferred) - some explanation about each initiative
that are material to the core business of
the organisation. - some justification about why the student
has chosen the initiative. - some arguments about why the initiative
selected are material to the business
(visual aid preferred) - sound explanation about each initiative that are
material to the core business of the
organisation. - sound justification about why the student has
chosen the initiative. - sound arguments about why the initiative
selected are material to the business (visual aid
preferred) NB: Students who has not selected 4 initiatives
in total cannot achieve marks 3 or higher. - good explanation about each initiative that
are material to the core business of the
organisation. - good justification about why the student has
chosen the initiative. - good arguments about why the initiative
selected are material to the business (visual
aid preferred) - excellent explanation about each initiative that
are material to the core business of the
organisation. - excellent justification about why the student
has chosen the initiative. - excellent arguments about why the initiative
selected are material to the business (visual aid
preferred) based on evidence or strong
justification < 1 mark 1.5 marks 2 -3 marks 3.5 - 5 marks 5.5 - 6 marks d For each of the initiative selected, evaluate the company’s performance
on this issue. For example, discuss the key performance indicators (KPIs)
reported or if not available, the qualitative disclosure provided by the
company on this initiative. Evaluate the ESG performance of the
company thru these initiatives and discuss how the initiatives further the
competitive advantage of the organisation (or not). (6 Marks) - No or little evaluation about the
company's performance on this issue; - No or little identification of KPIs or
qualitative disclosure; - No or little evaluation / discussion about
how the initiatives further the competitive
advantage (or not). - Discussion is not demonstrating
knowledge of environmental(E) and
social(S) initiatives and do not know the
difference between E and S. - Some evaluation about the company's
performance on this issue; - Some identification of KPIs or qualitative
disclosure; - Some evaluation / discussion about how
the initiatives further the competitive
advantage (or not). - Discussion is not demonstrating
knowledge of environmental(E) and
social(S) initiatives and do not know the
difference between E and S. - Sound evaluation about the company's
performance on this issue; - Sound identification of KPIs or qualitative
disclosure; - Sound evaluation / discussion about how the
initiatives further the competitive advantage (or
not). - Knows the difference between E and S
initiatives. NB: Students who has not selected 4 initiatives
in total cannot achieve marks 3 or higher. - Good evaluation about the company's
performance on this issue; - Good identification of KPIs or qualitative
disclosure; - Good evaluation / discussion about how the
initiatives further the competitive advantage
(or not). - Excellent evaluation about the company's
performance on this issue; - Excellent identification of KPIs or qualitative
disclosure; - Excellent evaluation / discussion about how the
initiatives further the competitive advantage (or
not). < 1 mark 1.5 marks 2 -2.5 marks 3 - 3.5 marks 4-5 marks e Recommend points for improvement in the reporting of these initiatives
and support these by providing a comparison of reporting practices with
another company in the same sector/industry. (5 Marks) - No or little recommendation for
improvement in reporting of these
initiatives - No or little comparision of reporting
practices with another company in the
same sector / industory - Some recommendation for improvement
in reporting of these initiatives but weak - Some comparision of reporting practices
with another company in the same sector
/ industory - Sound recommendation for improvement in
reporting of these initiatives - Sound comparision of reporting practices with
another company in the same sector / industory
(Mention of the industry should exist) - Good
recommendation for improvement in
reporting of these initiatives and strong - Good comparision of reporting practices
with another company in the same sector /
industory - Excellent recommendation for improvement in
reporting of these initiatives and they are
impressive with justification.
- Excellent comparision of reporting practices in
detail with another company in the same sector /
industory which support the recommendations
clearly. < 1 mark 1.5 marks 2 -2.5 marks 3 - 3.5 marks 4 - 5marks f Formatting and presentation (5 Marks)
•Report is well structured (with sub-headings), concise and cohesive.
•Report is within specified length (2-3 pages) excluding cover sheet.
•Report is well wriƩen (careful with use of grammar and no spelling
errors) and just copied from the sustainability report.
•Report is appropriately referenced usually using Harvard style or other
acceptable citation styles. - No or little structure in writing - margin requirements may not be met - Many errors of grammatical structures
and punctuation exist and/ or phrases are
often copied from sustainability report(s) - No appropriate referencing style is used
(mostly)
- Some structure in writing - margin requirements may not be met - Many errors of grammatical structures
and punctuation exist and/ or phrases are
often copied from sustainability report(s) - Some appropriate referencing style is
used (mostly)
- Sound structure in writing - margin requirements should be met - Some errors of grammatical structures and
punctuation exist and/ or little or no phrases are
often copied from sustainability report(s) (The
report should be easily read) -
appropriate referencing style is used (mostly)
- Good structure in writing - margin requirements should be met - Little errors of grammatical structures and
punctuation exist and/ or little or no phrases
are often copied from sustainability report(s)
(The report should be easily read) -
appropriate referencing style is used well
- Sophisticated structure in writing - margin requirements must be met - Little or no errors of grammatical structures and
punctuation exist and/ or little or no phrases are
often copied from sustainability report(s) (The
report should be easily read) -
appropriate referencing style is used very well
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