Reference no: EM132201986

Performance measures, remuneration and motivation Subject Learning Outcomes (LOs) assessed (from Subject Outline):

a) Analyse the roles of cost and management in organisations through the analysis of accounting concepts and tools
b) Evaluate and apply financial and non-financial performance measures and tools used in assessing and rewarding individual and corporate performance
c) Describe how management control theory and concepts apply to organisational settings through the generation of accounting and organisational reports

Most of the second half of this subject focusses on how firms can measure performance and in turn, reward effort through bonus and incentive schemes, often using accounting concepts and tools (LO a) and LO b). It is important that firms have a clear understanding of what their overall corporate strategy is and set targets for performance in line with those goals and in line with the Mission and Vision Statement.

Background to task topic:

Every Australian Public Company must produce a ‘Remuneration Report' detailing how their highest paid executives' remuneration (pay) has been calculated. This includes details of fixed versus at-risk (or variable) remuneration and the methods used to make these awards. Each company must nominate Board Members to form a ‘Remuneration Committee' (some companies may use different names for this committee) and generally the members consist of at least two non-executive members of the Company's Board plus the Chairperson. (Each student should check the composition of the committee relevant to their allocated company and briefly report the details in their report in the company overview.)

The Committee's role is to determine and approve the remuneration policy, the methods and amounts of executive compensation including the base salary and benefits.

The details of the remuneration scheme are published in the Remuneration Report within the Annual Report for the company and then voted on by shareholders at the annual general meeting. If more than 25% of shareholders ‘vote down' (against) the remuneration plan, the Board must revise the plan and if this revised plan is still rejected by shareholders at the next General Meeting, the Board's position in considered ‘untenable' (unacceptable) to the shareholders and typically must offer their resignation.

Key questions to be answered:

After a comparison has been completed, as a group, critically review both methods and analyse which methodology is believed to produce the following:

a) How the performance measurement measures may affect the ethical behaviour and the culture of the organisation;
b) Which performance measures are likely to have the greatest motivational impacts on management behaviour; and
c) An evaluation of the Financial and Non-Financial measures in achieving desirable outcomes, i.e. those ‘aligned' with shareholder outcomes.

The following is a Report Format that should be adopted by each group. More details will be given in the Week 6 briefing.

Group Report

Each group is to research and contribute to a group report that includes the following:

1. Research of the Academic Literature using EBSCOHOST and/or other Academic Search Engines and discover academic articles discussing methods of measuring Executive Performance. (Note in the USA, remuneration is referred to as Executive Compensation or Executive Pay so you may wish to substitute this term in your searches.)

2. Research and discover the corporate goals of each of the company reviewed. (Review the Chairman and CEO's Statements in the Annual Report and the Corporate Website for this information.)

3. Research and discover how the senior executive are having their performance assessed. This may be limited to only the TWO top earning Executives, usually the CEO and CFO.
NOTE - DO NOT REVIEW THE REMUNERATION OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS ONLY THE EXECUTIVE TEAM/KEY MANAGEMENT PERSONNEL (KMP)

4. Research commentary on the company's performance and you may include some of these materials provided they are fully referenced. E.g. Use screen grabs using the Windows ‘Snipper' Tool may be used to capture these images. Only a FEW (no more than THREE!) should be entered into your report and these MUST be fully referenced.

5. Reflect and COMPARE the information given between the methods used by the Company and the methods identified by your research of the literature. Thoroughly report your findings and present your comparisons.

6. Your group should write up your findings AND conclude if your company is being truly transparent and if it is producing a ‘good' result for the shareholders. In essence, you are concluding whether you believe their management control systems are working

7. Present your final analysis of the Company's remuneration methods.

8. Conclude with your overall findings in relation to the three areas of focus given.

Video presentation:

- Video presentations must be submitted by 1 pm Tuesday of Weeks 10. The video must be 7 minutes in duration and ALL group members must participate with either or both recorded images or voice-over parts. The video presentation will give all groups the ability to further demonstrate their understanding of the entities and the work you have done in researching these entities.

- These marks will be awarded by the tutor/assessor based on the criteria given in the rubric.

- Groups may use any application to produce the Video however it must be capable of being uploaded to a YouTube Channel (which will be established for the purpose). The link will be given in Moodle at the end of Week 8.

- Groups should NOT simply record themselves reading material. It is expected that multiple media sources are used and MUST be fully referenced. Please note Copyright provisions require full acknowledgement of all sources.

After the videos have been marked, the markers and assessors may interview, students on various aspects of both the video and report content. These questions may include but are not limited to research methods and sources, information within the report and knowledge gained about the organisation under review. All members should be able to demonstrate their contributions to the report and video at this time. Note that your Group Mark will be finalised AFTER the video AND the reports have been marked and taking into account your ability to demonstrate your understanding of the topic.

Attachment:- Task Specification.rar