Description

Information for Group Management Accounting Article Critique Assignment

(Weighting percentage – 16%)

Objective:

Students will be required to critique a management accounting research article including

providing a summary of the article and critically examining the article's strengths and

weaknesses including validity and significance of findings.

The article for critiquing:

Critically review the following journal article:

Kallunki, J. & Silvola, H. 2008. The effects of organizational life cycle stage on the use of

activity-based-costing. Management Accounting Research. 19 (1): 62-79.

Management Accounting Research is available electronically via University of Canberra’s

journal database.

Word limit – 1,000 words maximum (excluding bibliography) or approximately two A4

pages single spaced. Strict penalty will apply for exceeding the word limit.

Relevant chapters/sections in your textbook:

Pages 714-717 (life-cycle costing) of Chapter 16 and pages 324-345 (Activity Based Costing)

of Chapter 8.

(For further details please see the relevant sections of the unit outline.)

Marking criteria:

The broad marking criteria provided in the unit outline are as follows:

40% Summary of article objective, research method and findings

40% Critical examination of the article's strengths and weaknesses (including validity and

significance with evidence from the article that will allow the reader to make value judgments

about the article).

20% Effective communication and referencing.

Organising the body of your review:

Article critiques typically adhere to the following structure:

Introduction: Provide an overview of the article’s main purpose and main argument.

Basically, in this section you respond to the following question,

What is the article’s background and purpose?

Summary paragraph: Briefly reviews the article’s key points (summary). Basically, in this

section you respond to the following question,

What is/are the main idea/s (objective, research method and findings) that the article is

communicating?

Critical examination paragraphs: Evaluate the articles strengths and weaknesses. Basically,

in this section you will be responding to the following questions,

How convincing or persuasive is/are the research findings provided in the article?

Whether the research findings are supported through explication of evidence.

Avoid composing a critique that solely addresses the article’s strengths.

Conclusion: Presents your conclusions on the article’s overall usefulness. You should address

the extent to which the findings of the article help the academics including the management

accounting students and practitioners to understand the applicability of the management

accounting techniques and concepts presented in the article.

To learn more about how to critique a journal article please check the following URL of the

Massey University:

http://owll.massey.ac.nz/assignment-types/article-critique.php

Why read journal articles?

• They contain up-to-date information and debate on current topics in your subject area
  
• They contain specialised information that may not be available elsewhere
  
• They describe research by experts in your subject area.
•  Most academic journal articles are peer-reviewed before publication. This means that the articles have a guarantee of quality.

• A journal (sometimes also referred to as a periodical or serial) is a publication produced on a continuing basis; 

• The titles of journals (i.e. New Media and Society or Journal of Communication) usually give a good indication of the  
• general focus of the subject matter to be found inthem.