Sally Smyth is working as a journalist in North-West Tasmania and understands alittle about accounting. Sally recently read an article by Wild (2013) ? see separatefile ? and although it refers to New Zealand and a lot of the information she did notunderstand, she identified that the way accountants base their definitions, principlesand concepts on economic benefits was an issue when dealing with natural assets.With such a reliance on economic benefits, she felt it was difficult for accountants tointegrate ?sustainability? into their accounts. She has been thinking about this in termsof the recent fires in north-west Tasmania and believes she could write a series ofarticles on it from a variety of perspectives.Sally is particularly interested in how the term ?asset? has been used by the media andthe public in terms of the ancient forests. She is curious to how the public seem to bedifferentiating ?natural assets? to ?economic assets? and questions whetheraccountants should also be identifying the ?intangible assets? that she believes musthave been recognised when World Heritage listing of the area was previouslyachieved. She is also curious about how sustainability could be integrated byaccountants so that it was valued.She has written to you asking that you write a letter in reply about the fires includingher issues, from an accounting perspective. She would then be able to take theinformation to the local newspaper to find out if they would be interested in followingit up (this would lead to an interview and a write-up in the newspaper).What you need to do:Write a letter to Sally ? she is a friend so you do not have to be really formal, but youdo need to use a letter format to set up your letter.Do not get too carried away with the article by Wild (provided on a separate filecalled Accounting for heritage, cultural and community assets) ? use it just asinformation, to give you some ideas on how to argue with these natural assets.Do not use references other than in-text (have you ever received a letter with a pageof references at the end)? However do not copy slabs of information withoutreferencing it in-text. You should not need such information in your letter, write it inyour own words and try and explain it in the context of the case.Write concisely, use examples if this helps you explain your concepts, but alwaysrelate it to the case. Use the rubric for guidance on how you will be marked.Word count should be around 500-750 words (as you wrote so much in part 1). If yougo slightly over this word count you will not be penalised, but less is better.

BFA605 Semester 1 2016
Case Study Part 2

Sally Smyth is working as a journalist in North-West Tasmania and understands a
little about accounting. Sally recently read an article by Wild (2013) ? see separate
file ? and although it refers to New Zealand and a lot of the information she did not
understand, she identified that the way accountants base their definitions, principles
and concepts on economic benefits was an issue when dealing with natural assets.
With such a reliance on economic benefits, she felt it was difficult for accountants to
integrate ?sustainability? into their accounts. She has been thinking about this in terms
of the recent fires in north-west Tasmania and believes she could write a series of
articles on it from a variety of perspectives.
Sally is particularly interested in how the term ?asset? has been used by the media and
the public in terms of the ancient forests. She is curious to how the public seem to be
differentiating ?natural assets? to ?economic assets? and questions whether
accountants should also be identifying the ?intangible assets? that she believes must
have been recognised when World Heritage listing of the area was previously
achieved. She is also curious about how sustainability could be integrated by
accountants so that it was valued.
She has written to you asking that you write a letter in reply about the fires including
her issues, from an accounting perspective. She would then be able to take the
information to the local newspaper to find out if they would be interested in following
it up (this would lead to an interview and a write-up in the newspaper).
What you need to do:
Write a letter to Sally ? she is a friend so you do not have to be really formal, but you
do need to use a letter format to set up your letter.
Do not get too carried away with the article by Wild (provided on a separate file
called Accounting for heritage, cultural and community assets) ? use it just as
information, to give you some ideas on how to argue with these natural assets.
Do not use references other than in-text (have you ever received a letter with a page
of references at the end)? However do not copy slabs of information without
referencing it in-text. You should not need such information in your letter, write it in
your own words and try and explain it in the context of the case.
Write concisely, use examples if this helps you explain your concepts, but always
relate it to the case. Use the rubric for guidance on how you will be marked.
Word count should be around 500-750 words (as you wrote so much in part 1). If you
go slightly over this word count you will not be penalised, but less is better.
Submit your assignment in Dropbox on MyLO by 2pm Friday 8th April.