Establishing Formal Systems And Processes For Accountancy Victoria Essay.

Accountancy Victoria company overview

Accountancy Victoria is based in Footscray, Victoria and provides accountancy and book keeping services for a range of clients.

Accountancy Victoria was established by the two Directors who are the Senior Accountants for the company. Other staff employed are three accountants, a bookkeeper and an Officer Manager. The company is expanding due to the demand for accountancy services and will employ a further three senior accountants in the next 2 months, as well as an Officer Manager and Client Services Coordinator.

You have recently been appointed as the General Manager of Accountancy Victoria.  Your role is to manage the day to day operations of the company.  The first task you have been allocated is to establish formal systems and processes for a range of areas, as currently most of the company’s systems and processes are informal.

To start the process of creating formal systems and processes, you have been asked to develop systems and processes for workplace communication, consultation, as well as a Code of Conduct and dispute resolution processes. 

You are required to research and develop a Code of Conduct so that staff are aware of and follow the standard of behaviour expected of them in relation to their fellow employees, as well as clients. Your research could include review of other staff Codes of Conduct.

Complete the following activities:

1. In the role of General Manager of Accountancy Victoria, research at least three networks that may be relevant to the General Manager. This could be an association for managers or a local business network. It could also be a Facebook Group set up specifically for managers.

2. For each of the networks that you have identified, identify events provided by the network over the next 12 months. Identify at least 4 events that are of interest to you in the role of General Manager of Accountancy Victoria and that would be of benefit to the team and/or company.

3. Complete the professional development/networking plan provided by your assessor for the next 12 months.  You will need to complete the plan in full to show the details of the networking events you have identified as relevant to the role of General Manager of Accountancy Victoria.

The plan should show full details of the event including the name of the event, where it will be held, date and time and the cost of the event. You should also provide a brief description of the expected benefit to yourself (in the role of General Manager), as well as for the team of staff that you are responsible for in the role of General Manager of Accountancy Victoria.

Imagine that it is six months later at Accountancy Victoria.  The new Administration Assistant, Beth, has been employed and has been in the position for 2 months.  Beth is from Somalia but she has been in the country for 1 year and speaks good English.

The Officer Manager, Sarah, asks to see you to discuss the Administration Assistant’s performance. She mentions that the Beth has not been completing her tasks on time and/or to standard. She refers to a few examples, including stationary not been ordered on time, agendas for meetings not sent out in the correct format or to the required timelines and providing clients with incorrect information.

Now complete the following activities: 

1. Before you commence this assessment, read the following guide about managing underperformance. You will be assessed on your demonstration of the skill referred to under key points for employers to remember.
http://www.fairwork.gov.au/about-us/policies-and-guides/best-practice-guides/managing-underperformance

2. Send an email to your assessor (as though they are Beth) requesting her to attend a meeting with you to discuss her work.  Include a date and time for the meeting.

3.Conduct the meeting with Beth (with your assessor playing the role of Beth) explaining to her what the problem is, why it is a problem, how it impacts on the workplace and why there is a concern.

At the meeting you must: 

Explain the purpose of the meeting

Explain to Beth what the problem is

Explain how this behaviour impacts on the workplace/why it is a concern? Ensure you focus on the issue not the person.

Demonstrate your interpersonal and communication skills by:

• Keeping your communication clear and simple
• Listening to Beth and confirming and clarifying information shared
• Asking questions to confirm information
• Emphasizing Beth’s strengths as per the scenario information
• Discuss and agree on a solution

Send a follow up email to Beth within 1 day of the meeting summarizing the meeting and the solution agreed to.

Accountancy Victoria is a company, which provides accountancy services and book keeping services to its clients. The company wants to ensure that the business shall maintain all ethical, professional, and legal standards to conduct its business. The company wants to maintain workplace free from all types of harassment and discrimination with the coworkers and provides an appropriate environment to encourage and attract workers to boost their performance and conduct (Desai and Roberts 2013).

The main objective behind building the code of conduct for the organization is to enhance the trust and confidence within the employees so that they can work in cooperation and coordination within themselves. Moreover, it is expected that the employees should adhere to the policies and ethical standard within the workplace. The code of conduct policy also aims to guide the employees with the prescribed manner that they should maintain and abide by the policies during the conduct of the business affairs on behalf of company. However, if the employees does not abide by the policies and make breach of the policies the company will take disciplinary action against the employee and the company may terminate the employee if it finds that the misconduct of the employee is grave.

The personal and professional behavior of the employees in the organization shall abide by the policies and standards. The policies for the employees include:

• The employees should maintain the professional standards during their work and interactions with other employees in the organization.
• The employees should maintain integrity within the work environment.
• The employees as well as the managerial personnel of the organization must follow and comply the legal standards in conducting the business o the organization.
• The employees should support each other in maintaining a supportive and cooperative environment within the organization.
• The employees shall be responsible and assist in achieving the organization goals.
• The employees in conducting the business on behalf of the company should not make any false statement or misrepresentation of the facts (Branson 2016).

The employees working in the organization should not involve or indulge in any conflict arising out of the employee’s personal or financial interest of the company. The employees should not indulge or engage in any activity with similar type of business or invest in similar business. The employees must not use any property, information, or advantage of its position in the organization to fulfill its personal objective (Gorman, 2014).

The employees should not accept gifts or other personal benefits or privileges that would in way influence business decision. The employees should stay away from taking or involving in taking any types of gifts or entertainment or other preferential treatment from the customer and it is to be strictly prohibited so as to keep the business environment clean from scams.

The employees should strictly stay away from practicing outside or part time employment during the course of employment. The employees are expected to give full time and effort to the business of the organization and must not involve itself with any other business or employment (Kidwell et al 2013).

The employees are strictly prohibited to use social media within the office premises. Social media will only be allowed to such officials with prior approval and only to transfer or make publicity of the company. Whoever breaches the code of ethics in shall be penalized.

The organization should have a proper way and channel for the communication in the workplace. This Workplace communication policy will help the organization to keep its decisions confidential and limit the availability of confidential and policy information of the company to certain extent.

Workplace or employee communication and consultation is very important for an organization which helps in involving and developing people in the organization. The employees can improve their working standard and provide a quality output if an organization irrespective of their size and structure has good policy regarding workplace communication and consultation. The policy regarding workplace communication will help the employer as well as the employees to inform or provide information regarding improvements in the working culture, strategies that the company needs to take to the management of the organization.

Importance of establishing Formal systems and processes

The scope of implementing he workplace communication in the organization involves everyone in an organization and is an effective way of communicating the organizational needs and development.

Communication is a two way process where both the employer and employee participate at the same time and process. The process can go through downstream that I the information can be go from the employees to the employer through the managers and other officials or it can come for the upstream that is from the employer to the employees through the managers and other officials. The communication should be providing of information about the job. The Employees need information relating to their job and operation activities and the employers or the managers need to provide such information to its employees regarding the workplace, objective and performance of the organization, operational and technical instructions, employees health and safety and about the role of different employees working within the organization. The communication policy also should include to provide information regarding the financial status of the organization, changes in the management or staffs within the organization, market in which the organization deals, mergers and investment of the company and all other developments.

• Intranet
• Electronic Mail
• Face to Face Method
• Written Methods

The purpose of the organization to form a dispute resolution policy and procedure is that dispute can arise at any time within the work place. A dispute may arise when the interest of any employee clash with the interest of the company or other members of the company.

The employer on the employees applies the dispute resolution. Any mediator working within the organization and held a neutral position in the dispute will apply the policy.

A dispute may arise when there will be any clash of interest within any group, department or inter-group or inter-department within the organization.

The manager will play the role of mediator in resolving the dispute between different employees or officials within the organization. The managers will apply the law of natural justice to mediate the issue within the parties and resolve the dispute within them.

The employees whoever is party in the dispute shall provide information to the manager or the management about the dispute and sought to resolve the dispute. The employees should not make any comment outside through themselves or social media regarding the dispute within the organization.

The management must be informed about the dispute and the management must acknowledge such notice within two days from the receipt. The management will bring the issue before the other management personnel in the Board meeting. The parties to the dispute must be given enough space to speak to the management regarding the cause of the dispute. The directors shall discuss over the matter to decide what necessary step they must take to resolve the dispute. The management shall call for a motion to appoint an assessor or mediator to resolve the dispute. The mediator will decide what is necessary to resolve the dispute or ask the parties to negotiate and come to negotiation (Curtis and Williams 2014).

Dear All,

Developing the Code of Conduct policy

Thanking all for your support and hard working in the organization that has made us achieve success. I am sending this mail to you with certain codes of conduct and policy frame work that we all should abide while working in this organization. The policies and the codes of conduct will bring us more closer to achieve our success. Here I am sending you a mail regarding the code of conducts and rules for maintaining the working culture and discipline. Please go through with the whole process and try to fulfill the individual responsibilities which are mentioned in the attachment.

Thanks,

Sherla

Board Authority

Accountancy Victoria

Being the manager of the Accountancy Victoria, I need to develop an action plan for the organization. The organization should have a SMART plan, which will ensure to provide the organization with Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Timely towards the goals of the organization. The Accountancy Victoria deals in accounting practices of its clients or customers. Therefore, the goal of the company is to provide its client with updated standard of accounting and thus attracting more and more customers to enhance the profitability of the organization. To achieve such goal the organization must look for some networking resources (Nickels et al 2013).

Face to face, networks are very difficult in recent trends so we should take certain other networking methods, which will enhance the speed to reach to wide spread customers and deal in diverse models of accounting. To choose the suitable network for the professional development of the managers in the organization we can take three types of networking:

• Association of Managers working in the same industry;
• Accounting Firms in the local business networking
• Social media group ( i.e. Facebook Group for Managers)

We can make an event in an office or any other place, which will be updating our professional knowledge as well as refreshing from the day-to-day work pressure. All managers from the accounting business will meet for a lunch or tea party to discuss on the problematic issues they are facing in day-to-day activities. The name of the Event is ‘ACCOUNTING BUSINESS MEET, 2017. The agenda will be to identify issues the professional face in the day-to daily activities, discussion regarding the issues and ideas for resolving the issues.

We all know that each market and business industry has its own association. We can call for a meeting through the association to deal in difficulties that each one is facing working in the industry and will develop our professional growth.

The recent development in the social media has an enormous effect in the professional development. The managers of the accounting forms need to make a group in any of the social media such as the Facebook, and discuss with development matters and issues with other professionals without wasting time (Slack et al 2014).

Details of Professional development/Network	Type	Date/s	Cost	Expected benefit to self	Expected benefit to team
Accountants in the Modern Worlds Conference	Association of International Accountants (Association of Managers all over the World in the Accounting Industry)	12th September, 2017 at The Wesley Euston Hotel, 9:00 AM to 16:00 PM	$6300	· Knowledge about technological advancement in accounting industry. · Digital accounting procedure · Securing accounting data through Cyber Security Software’s.	· Faster and Smarter Ways in Bookkeeping and accounting. · Protecting the data from theft or leakage.
Accounting Live 2017	Accounting Association of Australia. (Association of Managers in Australia)	Brisbrane, 7th of Ausgust,2017	$1000	· Gaining knowledge in removing the disruptors from disrupting the economy. · Adoption of Technological Advances.	· Enhancing the knowledge and prevent information leakages. · Knowledge about the new era of Book keeping and accounting
Management Accounting Conference	Association of Managers in Australia	18th October, 2017	$1000	· Knowledge of Management of Accounting Firms. · Managerial attributes to be taken by the managers in the firm.	· Team coordination and cooperation. · Manage work flow efficiently
A New Frontier Accounting and Fintech	Social Networking	24TH October, 2017, Waterloo Street, Sydney	$900	· New Accounting Formats followed all over the world. · Knowledge regarding upgraded accounting and financial recording technologies	All round development regarding accounting book keeping and management

Dear Assessors,

Greetings for the day.

I wish to say that, I am planning for a meeting with all of you on next week. This meeting will be based on the discussion of the implanting the rules and regulations of the organization, codes of conduct and the working progress of each and every department. So cooperate with me and come to the meeting for a positive result. The meeting is scheduled on next Friday.

Thanks

Sherla

Accountancy Victoria

Dear Assessor,

Greetings for the day.

As per the previous discussion, the meeting will be on tomorrow. So take it very positively and come with all the important documents, so that we can evaluate everything.

Thanks

Sherla

Accountancy Victoria

Reference:

Desai, R. and Roberts, R., 2013. Deficiencies in the code of conduct: The AICPA rhetoric surrounding the tax return preparation outsourcing disclosure rules. Journal of business ethics, 114(3), pp.457-471.

Branson, D.M., 2016. A pathway to corporate sustainability c social accounting. Corporate Behavior and Sustainability: Doing Well by Being Good, p.138.

Gorman, E.H., 2014. Professional Self?regulation in North America: The Cases of Law and Accounting. Sociology Compass, 8(5), pp.491-508.

Kidwell, L.A., Fisher, D.G., Braun, R.L. and Swanson, D.L., 2013. Developing learning objectives for accounting ethics using Bloom's taxonomy. Accounting Education, 22(1), pp.44-65.

Curtis, M.B. and Williams, J.M., 2014. The impact of culture and training on code of conduct effectiveness: Reporting of observed unethical behavior. In Research on Professional Responsibility and Ethics in Accounting (pp. 1-31). Emerald Group Publishing Limited.

Zeff, S.A., 2016. Forging accounting principles in five countries: A history and an analysis of trends. Routledge.

Cameron, R.A. and O'Leary, C., 2015. Improving ethical attitudes or simply teaching ethical codes? The reality of accounting ethics education. Accounting Education, 24(4), pp.275-290.

Oakman, J., Oakman, J., Bartram, T. and Bartram, T., 2017. Occupational health and safety management practices and musculoskeletal disorders in aged care: Are policy, practice and research evidence aligned?. Journal of Health Organization and Management, 31(3), pp.331-346.

Fearn-Banks, K., 2016. Crisis communications: A casebook approach. Routledge.

Genn, H., Greger, R. and Menkel-Meadow, C., 2014. Regulating dispute resolution: ADR and access to justice at the crossroads. Bloomsbury Publishing.

Nickels, W., McHugh, J. and McHugh, S., 2013. Business: Connecting principles to practice. McGraw-Hill Higher Education.

Aithal, P.S., 2015. Comparative Study on MBA Programmes in Private & Public Universities–A Case Study of MBA Programme Plan of Srinivas University. Browser Download This Paper.

Friedman, A.L., 2013. Continuing professional development: Lifelong learning of millions. Routledge.

Slack, R., Loughran, J. and Abrahams, K., 2014. Corporate associate partnerships: Practitioners’ involvement in the delivery of an auditing course based on a case-study: A teaching resource. Accounting Education, 23(3), pp.262-276.