• SMU Challenge

    The case describes the SMU Challenge game, a digital simulation game that students can play anytime and anywhere, to revise their knowledge of concepts they had learnt earlier. Under the Financial Accounting topic of the app, the concepts that are covered include transaction analysis, double entry accounting system, accounting for cash, and financial statement analysis. Among the concepts tested in the Management Accounting topic are basic cost concepts, product costing classifications, cost accumulation, and cost-volume-profit relationships. As for the Audit and Assurance topic, concepts that students are tested on include audit planning, risk assessment, audit testing, reporting, and quality control. These concepts are covered in the following courses offered by Singapore Management University (SMU): ACCT 111/101 Financial Accounting, ACCT 112/102 Management Accounting, and ACCT 331 Audit and Assurance.
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  • Accounting For the Collapse of Dick Smith

    In August 2019, Oliver Jones, senior manager at the New South Wales Institute of Qualified Accountants, was following the case of the insolvency of Dick Smith Group. The company began when the founder started servicing radios and expanded to carry a wide range of electronics products. Over the years, the competitive consumer electronics industry saw Dick Smith undergo several strategic changes. The founder had sold the company to Woolworths before the supermarket retailer decided to exit the consumer electronics business. After private equity firm Anchorage turned the company around and sold it for a profit in 2014, Dick Smith again experienced financial troubles. Management had bought too much inventory, chose the wrong products to buy and ultimately assumed too much debt during its expansion phase. In 2016, Dick Smith went bankrupt. Subsequently, creditors began litigation against top Dick Smith executives for pursuing a "rebate maximising" strategy that prioritised rebates over customer demand. The auditor was also implicated. While Jones was unsure if the auditor was legally responsible for investor losses, he wondered how they had not found any risks worth flagging.
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  • Bellamy's Turnaround in China

    Set in December 2017, the case discusses Bellamy's Australia Limited (BAL)'s debacle in China, and its subsequent turnaround. BAL was the leading supplier of infant milk formula and baby food products in China, its largest export market. In mid-2016, the Chinese government, in a bid to control the growing proliferation of sub-quality products in the industry and boost consumer confidence, introduced new import regulations. These regulations restricted all companies, domestic and foreign, to selling a maximum of three product lines, and mandated their pre-approval and registration with the Certification and Accreditation Administration of the People's Republic of China (CNCA) and China Food & Drug Administration (CFDA). BAL's top management's subsequent liquidation of part of their shares in the market, coupled with an attempt to mislead the shareholders regarding the impact of the new regulations on the company's sales in the country, triggered a strong negative investor sentiment. BAL's stock prices plummeted by more than 40% overnight, leading to the company requesting for a voluntary trading suspension of its shares at the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX). In January 2017, the board of directors undertook a series of corrective steps including the appointment of Andrew Cohen as the new CEO. By December 2017, the market situation had improved with BAL reporting reduced inventory, positive operating cash-flow, renewed momentum in sales and a significant improvement in investor outlook. BAL's share price picked up by 60%. Yet, there were many concerns going forward. Would BAL be able to sustain and build upon the positive results, given the highly sensitive nature of the infant milk formula and baby foods industry in addition to the complex legal structure and bureaucracy of the Chinese market? What would be a prudent financial accounting and reporting strategy for BAL management to pursue in order to rebuild its market credibility?
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