Assessment Brief

Programme: BSc Accounting/ Finance and Investment Management/ Economics and Finance

Module Code: AF4032

Module Title: Careers in Accounting, Finance and Economics.

Distributed on: Week 1 Semester 2

Submission Time
To be submitted by 23.59 on (TBC)
and Date:

Word Limit: 2000 words (1000 word reflective statement + 1000 word action plan) plus appendices.

Weighting This coursework accounts for 100% of the total mark for this module

Submission of
All assignments must be submitted electronically.
Assessment
Electronic Management of Assessment (EMA): Please note if your assignment is
submitted electronically, it will be submitted online via Turnitin by the given deadline.
You will find a Turnitin link on the module’s eLP site
It is your responsibility to ensure that your assignment is submitted before the
submission deadline stated above. See the University policy on late submission of
work.

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Instructions on Assessment:

To be submitted as one document:

Personal Reflective Statement and Action Plan (Programme Learning Outcomes;
4.1.1, 4.1.2, 4.2.1, 4.3.1, 4.3.1, 4.1.3, 4.2.2.)
(Individual Submission: 2000 words plus appendices; to be submitted during the
May assessment period – date TBC)

Section A: Individual reflective statement on career readiness (1000 words):

You are required to identify a specific employment position suitable for your degree area.
This may be a year-long placement, internship, or graduate level position and must be
specific to the Accounting, Finance or Economics sector according to your programme.
Using specific examples from your experiences on this module, produce a Personal
Reflective Statement which documents the progress you have made in developing the
necessary skills and acumen to support your suitability for that position.

Reflection is a very important activity. It is much more than simply evaluating your
progress i.e., what you did well and what you did badly. The act of reflecting on
experiences involves considering what you did and why, thinking about what you have
learned from that experience, then considering what you could do differently the next time
to improve your practice. This will require you to research and read about the skills you
are reflecting on and are important for the position upon which you have chosen to frame
your reflection. You should draw upon the reading materials you have engaged with
throughout the semester and reference these accordingly.

Your statement should reflect on the progress you have made to date to develop your
career readiness for your chosen position. You should include specific reference to the
group presentation you did in week 4, and your team’s output for project 2. You should
consider the experience you gained from these activities and the skills you developed
which will strengthen your application for the position you chose. Your statement must
also have, as an appendix, a copy of your outputs from both projects one and two.

When writing your statement, some of the skills/behaviours you could include and reflect
on are:
 Collaboration and teamwork
 Commercial awareness
 Resilience
 Presentation skills

However, you can reflect on any skills/behaviours that you justify as important to your
career readiness as an AFM student but you should aim to design your reflection around
the skills and acumen required from the position you have selected.

You should use an appropriate reflective model to structure your work (for example, Gibbs’
reflective cycle) or devise your own.

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Assessment instructions continue, on the following page.

Section B: Career Action Plan (1000 words):

Now you have reflected on your suitability for an employment position, it is time to draw up
a personal career action plan. In this section of your assessment, you should consider
your goals for the remainder of your time at university and your career goals for the future.
You may want to discuss the specific area of industry you would like to go into for
example, wealth management, auditing, or analytics.

Specifically, you should create an action plan that focuses on three core skills or
attributes you want to develop throughout your remaining time at university to ensure you
are career ready when you graduate, and three career goals for the future. You should
highlight in your action plan how development of these attributes will support you
in meeting the three career goals you have specified.

To help you with this, you should use your skills mapping matrix to identify the skills that
need further development. You must include your Skills Matrix as an appendix.

When writing your Action Plan, you should use relevant literature to justify why these
skills/attributes are important, why you want to develop the specific skills/attributes you
have chosen and how you plan to develop them over the coming years.

Remember this reflective assessment is still an academic piece of work and you must
draw on your own background reading for the subject, relating your own experiences to
the theoretical perspectives relevant to your experiences. However, as the work is more
about your own experiences it is acceptable for this assessment to be written in the first
person (‘I’).

See page 4 for module specific assessment criteria.

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Module Specific Assessment Criteria –100 marks

0 - 29 marks 30 - 39 marks 40–49 marks 50- 59 marks 60- 69 marks 70 -79 marks 80-89 marks 90-100 marks

Presentation of Presentation of Adequate Clear presentation of Very well presented Exceptionally well Outstanding Exemplary
individual reflective individual reflective presentation of individual reflective individual reflective presented individual individual reflective individual reflective
statement and statement and individual reflective statement and statement and reflective statement statement and statement and
action plan is action plan is statement and action plan which is action plan which is and action plan action plan which is action plan which is
completely insufficient. action plan. Some organised and easy organised and easy which is very well very well organised very well organised
insufficient. Significant weaknesses in to interpret. Project 2 to interpret. organised and easily and easily accessed. and easily accessed.
No evidence of weaknesses in project 2 and group and presentation Project 2 and accessed. Project 2 Project 2 and Project 2 and
project 2 or group project 2 and no presentation. has some presentation is and presentation is presentation are presentation are
presentation group presentation. weaknesses, but complete with notes. excellent. outstanding. exemplary.
presented in the these are minor.
appendix. Reflection and action Reflection and action Reflection and action Reflection contains Reflection contains Reflection contains
plan contains minimal plan contains some Reflection and action plan contains very excellent reference to outstanding and exemplary reference
reference to your reference to your plan contains good good reference to your chosen job and detailed reference to to your chosen job
Reflection and action chosen job and future chosen job and future reference to your your chosen job and future career, the your chosen job and and future career, the
plan contains no career, the necessary career, the necessary chosen job and future future career, the necessary skills and future career, the necessary skills and
reference to your skills and acumen to skills and acumen to career, the necessary necessary skills and acumen to be a necessary skills and acumen to be a
chosen job and future be a successful be a successful skills and acumen to acumen to be a successful A/F/E acumen to be a successful A/F/E
career, the necessary A/F/E student. A/F/E student be a successful successful A/F/E Student successful A/F/E student.
skills and acumen to A/F/E student student student.
be a successful Provides insufficient Provides excellent Provides exemplary
A/F/E student. and inauthentic Provides adequate Provides very good and relevant Provides outstanding and pertinent
examples within the examples within the Provides good examples within the examples within the and pertinent examples within the
reflection from events reflection from events examples within the reflection from events reflection from events examples within the reflection from events
Provides no specific in Semester 2; in Semester 2; reflection from events in Semester 2; in Semester 2; reflection from events in Semester 2;
examples within the attributes and/or attributes and/or in Semester 2; attributes and/or attributes and/or in Semester 2; attributes and/or
reflection from events career goals in career goals in attributes and/or career goals in career goals in attributes and/or career goals in
in Semester 2; no action plan action plan career goals in action plan very action plan career goals in action plan
attributes and/or insufficient. adequate. action plan are good with very excellent with very action plan exemplary with
career goals in justified with good good consideration excellent outstanding with exemplary
action plan. Contains insufficient consideration of of how attribute consideration of outstanding consideration of
evidence of wider Contains adequate how attribute development will how attribute consideration of how attribute
reading and evidence of wider development will support career development will how attribute development will
Fails to provide theoretical reading and some support career goals. support career development will support career
evidence of underpinning theoretical goals. goals. support career goals.
meaningful conducted into the underpinning Contains very good goals.
engagement with issues which arose conducted into the Contains good evidence of further Contains excellent Contains exemplary
academic reading during the activities. issues which arose evidence of wider relevant reading evidence of Contains outstanding evidence of a
and no theoretical during the activities. reading and has which goes beyond substantial relevant evidence of a substantial relevant
underpinning. theoretical suggested sources reading which goes substantial relevant reading which goes
underpinning and has theoretical beyond suggested reading which goes beyond suggested
conducted into the underpinning into the sources and has beyond suggested sources and has
issues which arose issues which arose theoretical sources and has theoretical
during the activities. during the activities. underpinning into the theoretical underpinning into the

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issues which arose underpinning into the issues which arose

during the activities. issues which arose during the activities.
during the activities.

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Mapping to Programme Goals and Objectives

This assessment will contribute directly to the following Undergraduate programme goals and
objectives.

Goal 1 Knowledgeable about the theory and practice of responsible accounting and financial
management in an international context.
Students will be able to:

PL01 Identify contemporary professional practice in business and management and understand how
BM it is informed by theory and research
PL02 Use knowledge of business and management to solve complex problems related to
BM professional practice, thereby identifying justifiable solutions
PL01 Identify contemporary professional practice in accounting and finance and understand how it is
ACC informed by theory and research
PL02 Use Knowledge of accounting and finance to solve complex problems related to professional
ACC practice, thereby identifying justifiable solutions

2. Skilful in the use of professional accounting and financial management techniques and processes.
Students will be able to:

PL03 Demonstrate effective interpersonal communication skills and the ability to work in multi-
BM cultural teams
PLO4 Describe evidence of their self-reflection as a means of informing personal development
BM planning
PL03 Demonstrate effective interpersonal communication and the ability to work in multi-cultural
ACC teams
PL04 Describe evidence of their self-reflection as a means of informing personal development
ACC planning

3. Prepared for career and personal progress.

Students will be able to:

PL05 Undertake innovative project work and research

BM
PL06 Identify an awareness of the cultural and ethical contexts in which international business
BM operates
PL05 Undertake innovative project work and research
ACC
PL06 Identify an awareness of the cultural and ethical contexts which international accounting and
ACC finance operates

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ASSESSMENT REGULATIONS

You are advised to read the guidance for students regarding assessment policies. They are available online
here.

Late submission of work

Coursework submitted more than 1 day (24 hours) after the published hand-in deadline without approval
will be marked as zero but will be eligible for referral. The reassessment should where appropriate, and as
determined by the Module Leader, be the same method (e.g. essay) but maybe with a different task (e.g.
different essay title) or with the same task (e.g. the same essay title) as indicated in the Module handbook.
In modules where there is more than one assessment component, Students are not required to complete all
assessment components if an overall Pass Mark (40% UG, 50% PGT) has been achieved. The only
permitted exception will be in cases where the University is prevented from doing so by a PSRB requirement.
In the case of PSRB requirements, a variation order will be required from the regulations.
In modules, where there is more than one assessment component and an overall pass mark has not been
achieved, Students will be eligible for a referral* in the individual failed module and/or not attempted
component(s) of assessment.

These provisions apply to all assessments, including those assessed on a Pass/Fail basis.

The full policy can be found here.

Word limits and penalties

If the assignment is within +10% of the stated word limit no penalty will apply.

The word count is to be declared on the front page of your assignment and the assignment cover sheet. The
word count does not include:

 Title and
 Reference list  Appendices  Appropriate tables,
Contents page
figures and
 Quotes from
illustrations
 Glossary  Bibliography interviews and
 Executive Summary
focus groups.

Please note, in text citations [e.g. (Smith, 2011)] and direct secondary quotations [e.g. “dib-dab nonsense
analysis” (Smith, 2011 p.123)] are INCLUDED in the word count.

Students must retain an electronic copy of this assignment (including ALL appendices) and it must be
made available within 24hours of them requesting it be submitted.

Academic Misconduct

The Assessment Regulations for Taught Awards (ARTA) contain the Regulations and procedures
applying to cheating, plagiarism and other forms of academic misconduct.

The full policy is available at here

You are reminded that plagiarism, collusion and other forms of academic misconduct as referred to in the
Academic Misconduct procedure of the assessment regulations are taken very seriously. Assignments in
which evidence of plagiarism or other forms of academic misconduct is found may receive a mark of zero.

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