5K4Z1008 Governance Ethics and Law Coursework and Resit Coursework Brief

Unit Learning Outcomes:

1. Discuss the advantages and drawbacks of different forms of business organisation; 

2. Identify key regulations and codes applying to companies and directors; 

3. Apply the legal and ethical principles examined to actual and hypothetical scenarios. 

The following programme learning outcomes will also be introduced/developed in this assessment. 

PLO 1.1: Identify and interrogate relevant data and literature sources using methods appropriate to  the level of study and discipline 

PLO 1.2a: Apply theory to discussion and analysis 

PLO 2.1.1: Organise work in a logical structure to draw conclusions that follow from the line of  argument 

PLO 2.1.2: Apply consistent and appropriate referencing and in-text citations 

PLO 3.1.1: Recognise, explore and reflect on key ethical issues as they affect own and other’s practice PLO 3.1.2: Recognise, explore and reflect upon corporate social responsibility and sustainability  issues as they affect different stakeholders 

PLO 4.1.1: Identify and explain professional and commercial/corporate issues PLO 4.1.2: Critically evaluate professional and commercial/corporate issue

5K4Z1008 Assignment Details and Instructions

Background

Trust in Corporate Governance and audit is important for the stability of capital markets and the confidence of investors and stakeholders. However, this trust has been seriously eroded over recent years due to the many corporate failings and scandals across the globe, including, for example, Volkswagen in Germany in 2015, BHS in the UK in 2016, Carilion in the UK in 2018, Patisserie Holdings in the UK in 2018 and Wirecard in Germany in 2020. All of these resulted in significant societal consequences.

Similar themes relating to the failings at these companies have emerged, such as questions over the quality of the external audit work, concerns over the effectiveness of the board and the board committees, fraudulent and unethical behaviour, poor risk management and internal control failings.

This resulted, in the UK, in various reviews into both Corporate Governance and audit, culminating in the Department of Business Energy and industrial Strategy (BEIS) publishing a White Paper on 18 March 2021 seeking views by 8 July 2021, on proposals to strengthen the UK’s regulatory framework for major companies and the way they are audited, in an attempt address such issues. Since then, much watered-down proposals have been incorporated in the Queen’s speech and are being taken forward to be implemented within Parliament, leading to much discussion as to whether these will be sufficient.

5K4Z1008 Your assignment task

Write a 1,500-word report which critically evaluates the strength of corporate governance and the associated ethical issues in light of recent corporate scandals.

In addressing this question, you should specifically include the following sections in your report:

Introduction (100 words)

• Clear setting of the context as to why corporate governance regulation is currently an important issue.
  oHighlighting specific examples of recent corporate scandals.
  oShowing Corporate Governance (“CG”) and audit failings is not an isolated issue.
• A very brief summary of what the report is addressing.
  Consequences to society/stakeholders of corporate scandals (250 – 300 words)
• Recognition that corporate scandals have an economic impact and damage society/ fail to fulfil Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)
• Evaluation of which stakeholders are impacted and how.
• Illustrate these impacts with specific recent examples.

Corporate governance (650 - 750 words)

• A brief overview of what CG is and why it is needed.
• Evaluation of best practice companies should follow for two main areas of CG (choose two of external audit, risk management, internal controls, or board of directors).
• Critical evaluation of some ways in which companies failed to meet these two chosen CG requirements. You must use at least three of the following specific corporate scandals to illustrate this: Patisserie Holdings, BHS, Carillion, Wirecard, Volkswagen and Arcadia.

Ethics (300 - 350 words)

• Evaluation of two specific examples of how an individual’s unethical behaviour within the
  corporate scandal’s examples discussed above contributed to the scandal.
• As part of your evaluation, you should refer to relevant ethical theories or models which were
  specifically discussed during the unit.

Conclusion (100 - 150 words)

• A brief summary of the main CG failings and unethical behaviours resulting in the corporate scandals discussed in your report.
• A conclusion, with support, as to whether CG regulation is strong enough to prevent further corporate scandals.

The number of words included for each section above is purely as guidance to assist you rather than definitive numbers as there is flexibility within this. The upper limit assumes that you will use the 10% additional allowance in the word count.
You are expected to include a header page comprising a relevant heading for the report and your name as author of the report.

The allocation of marks will be as follows:

5K4Z1008 Assignment instructions

The assessment criteria are detailed in the forms overleaf. The marks will be awarded based on the assessment criteria and so it is vital that you refer to these.

The report is to be 1,500 words in length + or – 10%, excluding citations, headings, tables/figures, references and appendices. The penalty applied for exceeding or falling short of this word count will be the dropping of one grade band using the stepped marking system.
A full reference list is to be shown and the body of the work must be fully cited. Students are required to use an author-date referencing style and are expected to use Cite Them Right Harvard. This version of the author-date referencing style is supported by Bloomsbury’s Cite Them Right website and accompanying ebook.

The Cite Them Right website:

• Advises on how to cite and reference a broad range of source types in the Cite Them Right Harvard style.
• Encourages you to identify/correct any referencing mistakes via the ‘You try’ function.
• Provides guidance on How to use Cite Them Right
• Offers an online tutorial and video guidance.
• Cite Them Right content is regularly updated and new source formats are added.

Assessment weighting

The assessment weighting is 100% of the overall mark for the Governance Ethics and Law unit and the unit will require achieving 40% for successful completion.

Resources, research and referencing.

A key element of university-level thinking, and your subsequent working life is the ability to critically analyse and evaluate information, usually from multiple sources, in order to develop an argument. This is what is expected in much of this assignment, and this is different to descriptive writing which is used to set the background and to provide evidence rather than to develop an argument.

You will be expected to undertake research in the press, academic and other professional journals to discuss the potential implications fully. A large amount of research has been undertaken in respect of corporate governance and ethics. A number of these articles will be provided to you throughout the course through Moodle each week and listed, with links, on Moodle each week. Others can be obtained through a search on Google Scholar or within the MMU library. Reference to such articles will, therefore, be expected. Failing to include such research or reference to it, may significantly impact your mark.

Further guidance to support you with the assignment will be provided in weekly lectures and tutorials and should you need further support or guidance, you can speak to your unit leader during her weekly student hours. You will be expected to complete your assessment in stages over the weeks which will coincide with the learning for those weeks.

What you MUST do:

• Use grammatically correct formal professional UK English, not USA.
• Attend all sessions and engage fully in discussions.
• Use your own words – the assignment is designed to demonstrate YOUR knowledge and understanding.
• Include a header page with a RELEVANT title for the report.
• Use headings and sub-headings.
• Use the correct voice i.e. third person.
• Use page numbers.
• You must reference your work fully.
• Proofread your work.
• You must read and follow the instructions in this assignment brief and address the supporting assessment criteria!

What you MUST NOT do:

• Do not use Wikipedia, Investopedia, business dictionary, UKessays.com or other inappropriate web sites.
• Do not submit work generated by artificial intelligence.
• Do not go over the word count of 1,500 words (+/- 10%).
• Do not leave completion until the last day.
• Do not submit late – see the Late Submission section below for details.

Late submissions

If your submission is after the deadline but within seven days of it, your mark will be capped at 40%. If you attempt to submit after the seven-day grace period, without approved mitigating factors, it will be classed as a non-submission. You will then be offered the opportunity to re-sit at the next assessment opportunity as determined by the exam board, but your mark will similarly be capped.

Please note that your tutor cannot grant extensions to the deadline, but you can contact your Personal Tutor in the first instance for guidance. All extension requests must be submitted with evidence to mitigating factors through Moodle. If you think that you will be unable to submit on time due to your health or other unforeseen issue you must apply through formal channels for Mitigating Factors.

University Stepped Marking Guidelines

The assessment criteria are detailed in the forms overleaf. The marks will be awarded based on the assessment criteria and so it is vital that you refer to these.

Please note stepped marking is applied as below:

5K4Z1008 Assessment Marking Rubric

In marking this assessment, the marking rubric below will be applied, and all aspects of the unit learning outcomes and professional skills (PLOS) will be evident.