TABL5582 Taxation of Business Entities - 2018

Subject Code
TABL5582
Study Level
Postgraduate
Commencing Term
Semester 1
Total Units of Credit (UOC)
6
Delivery Mode
On Campus
School
Taxation & Business Law

1. Course Details

Summary of Course

​Australia currently taxes the different types of business entities in ways that are consistent with their legal form. It follows that some economically equivalent business structures are treated quite differently from each other for income tax purposes. Issues relating to the choice of a particular type of business entity and its operation produce tax planning opportunities and tax policy challenges. This course examines tax issues relevant to the creation, operation and termination of partnerships, trusts and companies. It places particular emphasis on a detailed examination of the dividend imputation system and on issues arising when dividend income moves through a partnership, a trust or an interposed company. (Sourced from (with slight adaptation) UNSW, Postgraduate Handbook 2018).

Teaching Times and Locations

Please note that teaching times and locations are subject to change. Students are strongly advised to refer to the Class Timetable website for the most up-to-date teaching times and locations.

View course timetable

Course Policies & Support

Course Aims and Relationship to Other Courses

Course Aim

The aim of this course is for you to be able to apply relevant Australian tax legislation, cases, rulings and principles, to the solution of typical tax-related professional problems involving the three (or four) most widely used business entities or structures or property-owning structures in Australia.

Relationship between this Course and other Courses (Majors) in Business School

This course is taught as part of the Master of Professional Accounting degree and may be undertaken in other degrees. The course builds on knowledge and skills gained by students in their prior studies, in particular, TABL 5551 - Taxation Law

There is a strong relationship between generally accepted accounting principles (GAAPs) and Australia’s taxation rules. As students will already appreciate, the accounting rules can be very important in the context of applying the income tax rules to the three “entities” studied in this course.

Accordingly, one theme in this course is to consolidate and build awareness of the accounting rules and their role in the income taxation of the three entities studied in the course.

Pre-Requisite

The following is a pre-requisite for this course:

TABL 5551 - Taxation Law

2. Staff Contact Details

Position Title Name Email Location Phone Consultation Times
Lecturer-in-chargeAProfDale BoccabellaRoom 2069, Quadrangle Building – Ref E15+61 2 9385 3365To be advised in first or second week of semester

Communication with staff

You should contact the lecturer-in-charge (Dale Boccabella) in regard to any administrative issue concerning the course. It is best to send Dale an email. Before sending an email enquiry, please check this Course Outline and the Approach to Solving Problems in Taxation Law and Student Companion document, as the answer to your query is very likely to be contained in these documents.

Note also that UNSW staff can only respond to your official UNSW email address. If you have not received an email response from the lecturer-in-charge within say three to four days, there is a good chance your email address is not working properly (i.e. not allowing emails to go through).

Technical Tax Matters

Experience over a considerable period indicates that it is both inefficient and counter-productive to attempt to answer your technical tax questions via email. Accordingly, technical tax questions will not be answered over the email (Note comment below). If you do send a staff member an email with technical questions in it, the staff member will not be answering your questions by email. Accordingly, as a matter of basic courtesy, do not clog up the email of staff in this manner. You must either see Dale in person, or phone him (arrange a time to phone them). Note though that you are welcome to send Dale your questions by email, but you must see him or phone him to obtain a response.

Consultation Times

The consultation times of Dale Boccabella will be announced before the end of the second week of the course, and they will be mentioned in lectures and sent to you by email. You are encouraged to see Dale to discuss any technical questions or issues you have with the course materials during the listed consultation times. If the nominated consultation times are not convenient for you, please contact Dale to arrange an alternate time.

Experience indicates that demand for consultation is at its highest in the lead up to an assessment task (e.g. final exam). Consistent with previous practice, Dale will expand his consultation times in such periods.

You should note that consultation times are limited. Accordingly, you should narrow down the range of issues you seek assistance on. For example, staff will not give you a mini-lecture on a topic in consultation times, as this would be unfair to other students.

Difficulty with Course Materials

If you are experiencing difficulty with the course materials or problem questions you are encouraged to seek assistance from Dale Boccabella as soon as problems arise. It is far easier to address problems if help is sought at the earliest time possible, compared to leaving problems till the “last minute”. In this regard, you should read (and re-read) the relevant parts of the Approach to Solving Problems in Taxation Law and Student Companion document. Unfortunately, a number of students every year do not take this advice. You do need to be honest with yourself on the question of whether you are having difficulty with course materials.

3. Learning and Teaching Activities

Approach to Learning and Teaching in the Course

Four propositions guide my (Dale Boccabella) approach to learning and teaching activities and the design of course documents. They are:

  1. The best legacy to leave students is to have helped them develop: (a) their independent learning skills (b) their analytical/critical thinking skills (c) an understanding of the context of their learning and (d) a desire or passion for knowing or mastering a body of knowledge;
  2. Given the complexity and volume of Australia’s tax law, students require considerable direction in their approach to problem solving. The level of support must strike a balance between the opportunity to develop independent learning skills and critical thinking skills, and the need to assist students in confronting a difficult body of knowledge;
  3. Given the role model position filled by teaching staff, deeper levels of student motivation and engagement with the curriculum is more likely when teaching staff convey energy, motivation and deep engagement with topics of study; and
  4. Academics are in a better position to assist students with their deep learning when they maintain deep and up-to-date-knowledge of the topic areas in which they teach.

Implementation of the above propositions or guiding principles gives students the best chance of maximising their academic performance and in their future careers.

These propositions and guiding principles will inform the teaching strategies, teaching approaches, design of course documents and assessment tasks in this course.

Learning Activities and Teaching Strategies

Every learning activity, inside and outside the classroom, is directed at facilitating the achievement of the learning outcomes. Given that students in this course will have had some exposure (albeit limited) to the income taxation rules concerning the three entities in their earlier taxation law course, the lecturer will assume some basic knowledge of the taxation of the three entities and build on that. The overall aim of the lecture is to provide that initial introduction to topics. This is important in that it gives students the overall structure of a topic (and a fair bit of detail), as well as highlighting the difficulties to look out for in a given topic. The designated readings are designed to build on this. The commentary in the Lecture Program, Reading Program and Study Guide, where the designated readings are set out, provides you with direction for your learning in regard to topic areas.

The lecture handouts assist with the all-important structure of a topic (and some detail).

The tutorials are designed as a key opportunity to practice the key learning outcome in the course, namely, applying the tax law to a typical taxation of business entities problem. The tutorial is a non-threatening environment where students can engage with typical tax related problems and experiment with, and practice their, critical thinking and problem solving skills. The tax problems are contained in a tutorial program document. Some 50-55 minutes is allocated to the tutorial each week. This means students have ample time to participate in the critical thinking and problem solving required in the context of pre-set tax problems.

All assessments in this course involve solving typical problems concerning the taxation of business entities, which means they are all directed at facilitating and achieving the learning outcomes for the course.

5. Course Resources

​The income tax rules studied in this course are derived from legislation and case law. However, Australian Taxation Office (ATO) rulings and ATO practice also provide substantial guidance on the operation of Australia’s income tax rules.

Prescribed materials are books that you must have ready and ongoing access to so that, for example, you can underline, annotate.

Prescribed Legislation

The main piece(s) of legislation studied in the course are the Income Tax Assessment Act 1936 (ITAA 1936) and the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 (ITAA 1997). Most of the legislative materials required for this course are contained in S Barkoczy, Core Tax Legislation & Study Guide 2018, 21st ed., Oxford University Press, South Melbourne, 2018. Last year’s edition of this book is acceptable, subject to ensuring you access some recent amendments. A similar book published by one of the other commercial publishers would be equally acceptable.

It should be noted that some legislative references in the Lecture Program, Reading Program and Study Guide have not been reproduced in the Core Tax Legislation & Study Guide 2018. In such cases, you are responsible for locating those legislative provisions. The full text of the relevant legislation is available on the CCH database, which can be accessed via the UNSW library website. The Thomson Reuters database, also accessible through the UNSW library, also has the full legislation, as does the ATO website. A user-friendly site where tax legislation is readily available is the Commonwealth Law site (comlaw).

Prescribed Texts/Books

You must have access to either:

  • R H Woellner, S Barkoczy, S Murphy, C Evans and D Pinto, Australian Taxation Law 2018, 27th ed., Oxford University Press, South Melbourne, 2018 (Woellner)

or

  • F Gilders, J Taylor, M Walpole, M Burton and T Ciro, Understanding Taxation Law 2018, LexisNexis Butterworths, Chatswood, 2018 (Gilders)

Using last year’s version of Woellner or Gilders is acceptable, provided you update for recent amendments.

Additional Texts, Casebooks that can be consulted

  • R L Deutsch, M L Friezer, I G Fullerton, P J Hanley and T J Snape, Australian Tax Handbook 2016, Thomson Reuters, Pyrmont, 2016 (look for latest version)
  • CCH Tax Writers, Australian Master Tax Guide 2016, 58th ed., CCH, North Ryde, 2016 (look for latest version)
  • Pip Hughes (with contributions by George Kolliou, Robin Pennell and David Coombes), Australian Trusts Tax Handbook, Thomson Reuters, Pyrmont, 2012 (look for latest version)
  • Bernard Marks, Trust & Estates: Taxation and Practice, 2nd ed., Taxation Institute of Australia, Sydney, 2009 (Note, there is a third edition of this “book”, but it is only available in electronic form through The Tax Institute)
  • Gordon Cooper and Chris Evans (assisted by Kirk Wilson), Australian CGT Handbook 2015-16, Thomson Reuters, Pyrmont, 2015 (look for latest version)
  • G Cleary, S Baxter, L Biti, P McCouat and S Peters, Small Business Tax Concessions Guide, 3rd ed., CCH, North Ryde, 2013 (look for latest version)
  • John Gaal, CGT Small Business Reliefs Handbook 2008-09, Taxation Institute of Australia, Sydney, 2008 (look for latest version)
  • John Gaal, Division 7A Handbook 08-09, Taxation Institute of Australia, Sydney, 2008 (look for latest version)
  • Bernie O’Sullivan, Estate & Business Succession Planning 2011-12, The Tax Institute, Sydney, 2011 (Note, subsequent editions of this book have been published)
  • M Kobetsky, A O’Connell, R Krever and M Stewart, Income Tax: Text, Materials and Essential Cases, 7th ed., The Federation Press, 2008 (Note, a subsequent edition of this book has been published)
  • P Burgess, G S Cooper, M Stewart and R J Vann, Cooper, Krever & Vann’s Income Taxation: Commentary and Materials, 7th ed., Thomson, Pyrmont, 2012
  • Julie Cassidy, Concise Income Tax, 5th ed., The Federation Press, Leichhardt, 2010
  • Andrew Sommer, Robyn Schofield and Stephen Gates, Tax & Insolvency, 3rd ed., Thomson Reuters, Pyrmont, 2011
  • Stephen J Gates, Tax Aspects of Corporate Restructuring, LBC, North Ryde, 1996
  • Maurice Cashmere, Tax and Corporate Financing into the new millennium, CCH, North Ryde, 1999
  • Stan Ross and Philip Burgess, Income Tax: A Critical Analysis, 2nd ed., LBC Information Services, North Ryde, 1992
  • Wouter Scholtz, Australian Corporate Taxation, Longman Business & Professional, Melbourne, 1995
  • C J Taylor, Capital Gains Tax: Business Assets and Entities, Law Bok Company, North Ryde, 1994
  • Michael Butler, Australian Federal Company Taxation, Butterworths, North Ryde, 1994
  • Jeffrey Waincymer, Australian Income Tax: Principles and Policy, 2nd ed., Butterworths, North Ryde, 1993
  • Bernard Marks, Corporate Taxation in Australia: Distributions and Imputation, CCH, North Ryde, 1990
  • R I Richards and R H Doherty, Taxation of Dividends: The imputation and foreign tax credit systems, Butterworths, North Ryde, 1987
  • Richard J Vann (ed.), Company Tax Reform, The Law Book Company, North Ryde, 1988

(As noted, some of these listed books have been published as subsequent editions)

Australian Taxation Office (ATO) Rulings that can be consulted

The ATO has published a number of rulings on Australia’s income tax in the area of the taxation of business entities. These rulings provide readers with the ATO’s view on various transactions. They are a valuable source of information. Indeed, a number of rulings are referred to in the prescribed text. Further, some rulings are listed in the Lecture Program, Reading Program and Study Guide as important readings. The rulings are available on the ATO’s website. A step-by-step guide to finding the rulings is set out in the Approach to Solving Problems in Taxation Law and Student Companion document.

Taxation Journals/Bulletins that can be consulted

There are a number of journals relevant to Australian taxation law published in Australia. They include: (1) Taxation in Australia (2) The Tax Specialist (3) Australian Tax Review (4) The Journal of Australian Taxation (5) Revenue Law Journal (6) Australian Tax Forum and (7) eJournal of Tax Research. These journals contain articles on Australia’s income tax regime. Students are not required to read any of the articles in these journals. However, it could be useful to identify and read relevant articles in such journals in regard to some issues in the assignment(s).

Note that Taxation in Australia is available to you electronically for free if you take out student membership of The Tax Institute (TTI). Student membership of the TTI is free for full-time undergraduate students. Dale will provide information about this in the first lecture.

Indeed, you can contact Ms Cherish Renshaw to enquire about and take up your student membership of the TI.

Electronic Databases

The UNSW library subscribes to several electronic databases. Of particular relevance to this course are the CCH and the Thomson Reuters databases on tax publications (e.g. legislation, cases, ATO rulings services, tax commentary services). The UNSW library database can be accessed either on Level One of the Law Library, or via the UNSW website. As a UNSW student, you are entitled to use this database.

It should also be noted that the library also has hard copies of most tax reports and ATO rulings that are listed in this course outline.

Warning/Caution

Do not use the Austlii website for tax legislation. On a number of occasions, admittedly some years ago, this website did not contain up-to-date tax legislation.

Hardcopies of Tax Cases

Note also that hardcopies of most tax cases, not only CCH cases, are available in the law library. In fact, this is the only way to access cases reported in Australian Tax Decisions (ATDs); ATDs are not available on line.

Course Documents

All of the documents (including this Course Outline) for this course are available on UNSW Moodle.

6. Course Evaluation & Development

Each year feedback is sought from students and other stakeholders about the courses offered in the School and continual improvements are made based on this feedback. UNSW's myExperience survey is one of the ways in which student evaluative feedback is gathered. In this course, we will seek your feedback through end of semester myExperience responses.

These responses are carefully reviewed and if suggested improvements can be made, they will be implemented in the following semester for the benefit of students coming after you.

Perhaps of more relevance to you is that feedback from last year indicates a very high level of student satisfaction with this course. However, suggestions were made for further improvements, and where possible, these suggestions will be implemented this semester.

Perhaps of further benefit to you, we will conduct an informal student survey in Week 6 of semester (e.g. what are the positives of this course, what are the negatives of this course). Every semester, this feedback is reviewed very carefully and quickly. The aim of this is to identify issues that you think can make your learning experience in this course better for the rest of the semester.

You are also welcome to provide feedback at other times as well.

7. Course Schedule

Week 1: 26 Feb
Activity

Lecture but no tutorial

Topic

LECTURE SCHEDULE

1.1 Welcome to Course, 1.2 Course Administration, 1.3 General Law Features of the Various Business Entities: Overview of Issues, 1.4 Options for Taxing Taxable Income obtained through Business Entities: Overview of Issues

Assessment/Other

Given that all relevant information regarding assessment tasks (and their timing) is set out under the Assessment tab, that information will not be repeated in detail here.

Week 2: 05 Mar
Activity

Lecture and tutorial

Topic

LECTURE SCHEDULE

2.1 Taxation of Sole Traders/Sole Proprietors, 2.2 Overview of Taxation of Taxable Income obtained through Partnerships, 2.3 Existence of a Partnership, and Distinguishing Other Entities, 2.4 Tax Issues on Creation of a Partnership or Purchase of Interest in Partnership, 2.5 Taxation of Partnerships Taxable Income/Tax Loss, 2.6 Transactions between Partners, Transactions between Partners and Partnership and Transactions between Partnership and Third Parties

TUTORIAL SCHEDULE

Tutorial 1, Week 2 (T1W2) in your Tutorial Program. The topics dealt with in the relevant tutorial problem are not necessarily limited to the lecture topics from the previous week. You must appreciate the inter-connectedness of the taxation law in the area of business entities so that at times, a tutorial problem may involve some issues from weeks back. This is hereby inserted in each week's commentary belowg

Week 3: 12 Mar
Activity

Lecture and tutorial

Topic

LECTURE SCHEDULE

3.1 Transactions between Partners, Transactions between Partners and the Partnership and Transactions between Partnership and Third Parties (continued), 3.2 Tax Issues on Dissolution of a Partnership or on Disposal of Interest in Partnership, 3.3 Tax Issues on Variation of Interests in a Partnership, 3.4 Other Selected Issues in Taxation of Partnerships.

TUTORIAL SCHEDULE

Tutorial 2, Week 3 (T2W3) in your Tutorial Program

Week 4: 19 Mar
Activity

Lecture and tutorial

Topic

LECTURE SCHEDULE

4.1 Overview of Taxation of Taxable Income obtained through a Trust Estate (Trust), 4.2 Existence of a Trust, and Distinguishing Other Entities, 4.3 Significant Types of Trusts for Tax Purposes, 4.4 Tax Issues on Creation of a Trust, and on Purchase of an Interest in a Trust.

TUTORIAL SCHEDULE

Tutorial 3, Week 4 (T3W4) in your Tutorial Program

Week 5: 26 Mar
Activity

Lecture and tutorial

Topic

LECTURE SCHEDULE

5.1 Taxation of Taxable Income obtained through a Trust: Central Concepts, 5.2 Notion of, and Importance of, Present Entitlement, 5.3 Differences between Taxable Income and Accounting Profit.

TUTORIAL SCHEDULE

Tutorial 4, Week 5 (T4W5) in your Tutorial Program

Mid Semester Break: 02 Apr
Week 6: 09 Apr
Activity

Lecture and tutorial

Topic

LECTURE SCHEDULE

6.1 Net Capital Gains made by Trusts and Passing Net Capital Gains to Beneficiaries, 6.2 Tax Treatment of Taxable Income of Children, 6.3 Treatment of Trust Losses.

TUTORIAL SCHEDULE

Tutorial 5, Week 6 (T5W6) in your Tutorial Program

 

Week 7: 16 Apr
Activity

Lecture and tutorial

Topic

LECTURE SCHEDULE

7.1 Notion of Absolute Entitlement, 7.2 Disposal of Trust Assets to Beneficiaries, 7.3 Winding Up of Trusts and Disposal of Interest in a Trust, 7.4 Other Selected Issues in Taxation of Trusts.

TUTORIAL SCHEDULE

Tutorial 6, Week 7 (T6W7) in your Tutorial Program

 

Week 8: 23 Apr
Activity

Lecture and tutorial

Topic

LECTURE SCHEDULE

8.1 Options for Taxing Taxable Income obtained through Companies: Overview, 8.2 Existence of a Company, and Distinguishing Other Entities,

8.3 Classification of Companies for Income Tax Purposes: Private or Public, 8.4 Tax Issues on Creation of Company, and on Purchase of Interest in Company, 8.5 Calculation of Companies Taxable Income or Tax Loss, and Tax Payable by Companies.

TUTORIAL SCHEDULE

Tutorial 7, Week 8 (T7W8) in your Tutorial Program

NOTE, WEDNESDAY OF THIS WEEK IS THE ANZAC DAY PUBLIC HOLIDAY. WE WILL DISCUSS HOW TO DEAL WITH THIS IN THE FIRST CLASS.

 

Week 9: 30 Apr
Activity

Lecture and tutorial

Topic

LECTURE SCHEDULE

9.1 Maintenance of Franking Account by Company, 9.2 Character of Distributions and Returns on Capital provided by Company, 9.3 Distributions to Natural Person Shareholders, 9.4 Distributions to Corporate Shareholders.

TUTORIAL SCHEDULE

Tutorial 8, Week 9 (T8W9) in your Tutorial Program

 

Week 10: 07 May
Activity

Lecture and tutorial

Topic

LECTURE SCHEDULE

10.1 Distributions to Partnerships and Trusts, 10.2 Dividend Streaming and Franking Credit Trading.

TUTORIAL SCHEDULE

Tutorial 9, Week 10 (T9W10) in your Tutorial Program

 

Week 11: 14 May
Activity

Lecture and tutorial

Topic

LECTURE SCHEDULE

11.1 Deemed (Disguised) Dividends, 11.2 Returns of Capital, 11.3 Share Buybacks, 11.4 Tax Issues on Dissolution of Company, 11.5 Other Selected Issues in Taxation of Companies.

TUTORIAL SCHEDULE

Tutorial 10, Week 11 (T10W11) in your Tutorial Program

 

Assessment/Other

Assignment due 15 May, 4pm.

Week 12: 21 May
Activity

Lecture and tutorial

Topic

LECTURE SCHEDULE

12.1 Small Business Concessions, aside from Capital Gains Tax, 12.2 Converting from One Entity Structure to Another, 12.3 Capital Gains Tax Small Business Concessions.

TUTORIAL SCHEDULE

Tutorial 11, Week 12 (T11W12) in your Tutorial Program

 

Week 13: 28 May

8. Policies

Information about UNSW Business School protocols, University policies, student responsibilities and education quality and support.

Program Learning Goals and Outcomes

The Business School Program Learning Goals reflect what we want all students to BE or HAVE by the time they successfully complete their degree, regardless of their individual majors or specialisations. For example, we want all our graduates to HAVE a high level of business knowledge and a sound awareness of ethical, social, cultural and environmental implications of business. As well, we want all our graduates to BE effective problem-solvers, communicators and team participants.

You can demonstrate your achievement of these goals by the specific outcomes you achieve by the end of your degree (i.e. Program Learning Outcomes—henceforth PLOs). These PLOs articulate what you need to know and be able to do as a result of engaging in learning. They embody the knowledge, skills and capabilities that are identified, mapped, taught, practised and assessed within each Business School program.

All UNSW programs and courses are designed to assess the attainment of program and/or course level learning outcomes, as outlined in the UNSW Assessment Design Procedure. It is therefore important that you become familiar with the Business School PLOs, as they constitute the framework which informs and shapes the course components and assessments of the courses within your program of study.

Program Learning Outcomes

  • Undergraduate
  • Postgraduate Coursework
Knowledge You should be able to identify and apply disciplinary knowledge to business situations in a local and global environment.
Critical thinking and problem solving You should be able to identify and research issues in business situations, analyse the issues, and propose appropriate and well-justified solutions.
Written communication You should be able to prepare written documents that are clear, concise and coherent, using appropriate style and presentation for the intended audience, purpose and context.
Oral communication You should be able to prepare and deliver oral presentations that are clear, focussed, well-structured, and delivered in a professional manner.
Teamwork You should be able to participate collaboratively and responsibly in teams, and reflect on your own teamwork, and on the team’s processes and ability to achieve outcomes.
Ethical, social and environmental responsibility
  1. You should be able to identify and assess ethical, environmental and/or sustainability considerations in business decision-making and practice.
  2. You should be able to identify social and cultural implications of business.
Workplace skills (Co-op programs only) You should be able to conduct yourself in a professional manner in the work environment, communicate effectively in diverse workplace situations and be able to apply discipline knowledge and understanding to real business problems with initiative and self-direction.
Related PLO Documents View the Undergraduate Honours PLOs (pdf)
Knowledge You should be able to identify and apply current knowledge of disciplinary or interdisciplinary theory and professional practice to business in local and global environments.
Critical thinking and problem solving You should be able to identify, research and analyse complex issues and problems in business and/or management, and propose appropriate and well-justified solutions.
Written communication You should be able to produce written documents that communicate complex disciplinary ideas and information effectively for the intended audience and purpose.
Oral communication You should be able to produce oral presentations that communicate complex disciplinary ideas and information effectively for the intended audience and purpose.
Teamwork You should be able to participate collaboratively and responsibly in teams, and reflect on your own teamwork, and on the team’s processes and ability to achieve outcomes.
Ethical, social and environmental responsibility
  1. You should be able to identify and assess ethical, environmental and/or sustainability considerations in business decision-making and practice.
  2. You should be able to identify social and cultural implications of business.
Related PLO Documents View the Master of Philosophy PLOs (pdf)
View the Doctor of Philosophy PLOs (pdf)

UNSW Graduate Capabilities

The Business School PLOs also incorporate UNSW graduate capabilities, a set of generic abilities and skills that all students are expected to achieve by graduation. These capabilities articulate the University’s institutional values, as well as future employer expectations.

UNSW Graduate CapabilitiesBusiness School PLOs
Scholars capable of independent and collaborative enquiry, rigorous in their analysis, critique and reflection, and able to innovate by applying their knowledge and skills to the solution of novel as well as routine problems.
  • Critical thinking and problem solving
  • Knowledge
  • Oral communication
  • Research capability
  • Teamwork
  • Workplace skills
  • Written communication
Entrepreneurial leaders capable of initiating and embracing innovation and change, as well as engaging and enabling others to contribute to change
  • Critical thinking and problem solving
  • Knowledge
  • Oral communication
  • Workplace skills
  • Written communication
Professionals capable of ethical, self- directed practice and independent lifelong learning
  • Ethical, social and environmental responsibility
  • Workplace skills
Global citizens who are culturally adept and capable of respecting diversity and acting in a socially just and responsible way.
  • Ethical, social and environmental responsibility
  • Oral communication
  • Written communication

The Business School strongly advises you to choose a range of courses that assist your development against these PLOs and graduate capabilities, and to keep a record of your achievements as part of your portfolio. You could use these records for work or further study. For support with selecting your courses contact the UNSW Business School Student Centre.

Academic Integrity and Plagiarism

Academic Integrity is honest and responsible scholarship. This form of ethical scholarship is highly valued at UNSW. Terms like Academic Integrity, misconduct, referencing, conventions, plagiarism, academic practices, citations and evidence based learning are all considered basic concepts that successful university students understand. Learning how to communicate original ideas, refer sources, work independently, and report results accurately and honestly are skills that you will be able to carry beyond your studies.

The definition of academic misconduct is broad. It covers practices such as cheating, copying and using another person’s work without appropriate acknowledgement. Incidents of academic misconduct may have serious consequences for students.

Plagiarism

UNSW regards plagiarism as a form of academic misconduct. UNSW has very strict rules regarding plagiarism. Plagiarism at UNSW is using the words or ideas of others and passing them off as your own. All Schools in the Business School have a Student Ethics Officer who will investigate incidents of plagiarism and may result in a student’s name being placed on the Plagiarism and Student Misconduct Registers.

Below are examples of plagiarism including self-plagiarism:

Copying: Using the same or very similar words to the original text or idea without acknowledging the source or using quotation marks. This includes copying materials, ideas or concepts from a book, article, report or other written document, presentation, composition, artwork, design, drawing, circuitry, computer program or software, website, internet, other electronic resource, or another person's assignment, without appropriate acknowledgement of authorship.

Inappropriate Paraphrasing: Changing a few words and phrases while mostly retaining the original structure and/or progression of ideas of the original, and information without acknowledgement. This also applies in presentations where someone paraphrases another’s ideas or words without credit and to piecing together quotes and paraphrases into a new whole, without appropriate referencing.

Collusion: Presenting work as independent work when it has been produced in whole or part in collusion with other people. Collusion includes:

  • Students providing their work to another student before the due date, or for the purpose of them plagiarising at any time
  • Paying another person to perform an academic task and passing it off as your own
  • Stealing or acquiring another person’s academic work and copying it
  • Offering to complete another person’s work or seeking payment for completing academic work

Collusion should not be confused with academic collaboration (i.e., shared contribution towards a group task).

Inappropriate Citation: Citing sources which have not been read, without acknowledging the 'secondary' source from which knowledge of them has been obtained.

Self-Plagiarism: ‘Self-plagiarism’ occurs where an author republishes their own previously written work and presents it as new findings without referencing the earlier work, either in its entirety or partially. Self-plagiarism is also referred to as 'recycling', 'duplication', or 'multiple submissions of research findings' without disclosure. In the student context, self-plagiarism includes re-using parts of, or all of, a body of work that has already been submitted for assessment without proper citation.

To see if you understand plagiarism, do this short quiz: https://student.unsw.edu.au/plagiarism-quiz

Cheating

The University also regards cheating as a form of academic misconduct. Cheating is knowingly submitting the work of others as their own and includes contract cheating (work produced by an external agent or third party that is submitted under the pretences of being a student’s original piece of work). Cheating is not acceptable at UNSW.

If you need to revise or clarify any terms associated with academic integrity you should explore the 'Working with Academic Integrity' self-paced lessons available at: https://student.unsw.edu.au/aim.

For UNSW policies, penalties, and information to help you avoid plagiarism see: https://student.unsw.edu.au/plagiarism as well as the guidelines in the online ELISE tutorials for all new UNSW students: http://subjectguides.library.unsw.edu.au/elise. For information on student conduct see: https://student.unsw.edu.au/conduct.

For information on how to acknowledge your sources and reference correctly, see: https://student.unsw.edu.au/referencing. If you are unsure what referencing style to use in this course, you should ask the lecturer in charge.

Student Responsibilities and Conduct

Students are expected to be familiar with and adhere to university policies in relation to class attendance and general conduct and behaviour, including maintaining a safe, respectful environment; and to understand their obligations in relation to workload, assessment and keeping informed.

Information and policies on these topics can be found on the 'Managing your Program' website

Workload

It is expected that you will spend at least nine to ten hours per week studying for a course except for Summer Term courses which have a minimum weekly workload of eighteen to twenty hours. This time should be made up of reading, research, working on exercises and problems, online activities and attending classes. In periods where you need to complete assignments or prepare for examinations, the workload may be greater. Over-commitment has been a cause of failure for many students. You should take the required workload into account when planning how to balance study with employment and other activities.

We strongly encourage you to connect with your Moodle course websites in the first week of semester. Local and international research indicates that students who engage early and often with their course website are more likely to pass their course.

View more information on expected workload

Attendance

Your regular and punctual attendance at lectures and seminars or in online learning activities is expected in this course. The Business School reserves the right to refuse final assessment to those students who attend less than 80% of scheduled classes where attendance and participation is required as part of the learning process (e.g., tutorials, flipped classroom sessions, seminars, labs, etc.).

View more information on attendance

General Conduct and Behaviour

You are expected to conduct yourself with consideration and respect for the needs of your fellow students and teaching staff. Conduct which unduly disrupts or interferes with a class, such as ringing or talking on mobile phones, is not acceptable and students may be asked to leave the class.

View more information on student conduct

Health and Safety

UNSW Policy requires each person to work safely and responsibly, in order to avoid personal injury and to protect the safety of others.

View more information on Health and Safety

Keeping Informed

You should take note of all announcements made in lectures, tutorials or on the course web site. From time to time, the University will send important announcements to your university e-mail address without providing you with a paper copy. You will be deemed to have received this information. It is also your responsibility to keep the University informed of all changes to your contact details.

Special Consideration

You must submit all assignments and attend all examinations scheduled for your course. You can apply for special consideration when illness or other circumstances beyond your control, interfere with your performance in a specific assessment task or tasks. Special Consideration is primarily intended to provide you with an extra opportunity to demonstrate the level of performance of which you are capable.

General information on special consideration for undergraduate and postgraduate courses can be found in the Assessment Implementation Procedure and the Current Students page.

Please note the following:

  1. Applications will not be accepted by teaching staff. The lecturer-in-charge will be automatically notified when you lodge an online application for special consideration
  2. Decisions and recommendations are only made by lecturers-in-charge (or by the Faculty Panel in the case of final exam special considerations), not by tutors
  3. Applying for special consideration does not automatically mean that you will be granted a supplementary exam or other concession
  4. Special consideration requests do not allow lecturers-in-charge to award students additional marks

Business School Protocol on requests for Special Consideration

The lecturer-in-charge will need to be satisfied on each of the following before supporting a request for special consideration:

  1. Does the medical certificate contain all relevant information? For a medical certificate to be accepted, the degree of illness and its impact on the student must be stated by the medical practitioner (severe, moderate, mild). A certificate without this will not be valid. Students should also note that only medical certificates issued after physically visiting a registered medical practitioner will be accepted. Medical certificates submitted for Special Consideration should always be requested from a registered medical practitioner that you have seen at a medical practice. Certificates obtained online or via social media may be fraudulent and if relied upon could result in a breach of the UNSW Student Code.
  2. Has the student performed satisfactorily in the other assessment items? To understand what Satisfactory Performance means in this course, please refer to the 'Formal Requirements' section in Part A of your Course Outline

Special Consideration and the Final Exam in undergraduate and postgraduate courses

Applications for special consideration in relation to the final exam are considered by a Business School Faculty panel to which lecturers-in-charge provide their recommendations for each request. If the Faculty panel grants a special consideration request, this will entitle the student to sit a supplementary examination. No other form of consideration will be granted. The following procedures will apply:

  1. Supplementary exams will be scheduled centrally and will be held approximately two weeks after the formal examination period.

    Supplementary exams for Semester 1, 2018 will be held during the period 14 - 21 July, 2018. Students wishing to sit a supplementary exam will need to be available during this period.

    The date for all Business School supplementary exams for Summer Term 2017/2018 is Wednesday, 21 February, 2018. If a student lodges a special consideration for the final exam, they are stating they will be available on this date. Supplementary exams will not be held at any other time.

  2. Where a student is granted a supplementary examination as a result of a request for special consideration, the student’s original exam (if completed) will be ignored and only the mark achieved in the supplementary examination will count towards the final grade. Absence from a supplementary exam without prior notification does not entitle the student to have the original exam paper marked, and may result in a zero mark for the final exam.

The Supplementary Exam Protocol for Business School students is available at: http://www.business.unsw.edu.au/suppexamprotocol

For special consideration for assessments other than the final exam refer to the ‘Assessment Section’ in your course outline.

Protocol for Viewing Final Exam Scripts

The UNSW Business School has set a protocol under which students may view their final exam script. Please check the protocol here.

Given individual schools within the Faculty may set up a local process for viewing final exam scripts, it is important that you check with your School whether they have any additional information on this process. Please note that this information might also be included in your course outline.


Student Support and Resources

The University and the Business School provide a wide range of support services and resources for students, including:

Business School EQS Consultation Program
The Consultation Program offers academic writing, literacy and numeracy consultations, study skills, exam preparation for Business students. Services include workshops, online resources, individual and group consultations.
Level 1, Room 1035, Quadrangle Building.
BUS.EQS.Consultations@unsw.edu.au
02 9385 4508

Business School Student Centre
The Business School Student Centre provides advice and direction on all aspects of admission, enrolment and graduation.
Level 1, Room 1028 in the Quadrangle Building
02 9385 3189

UNSW Learning Centre
The UNSW Learning Centre provides academic skills support services, including workshops and resources, for all UNSW students. See their website for details.
Lower Ground Floor, North Wing Chancellery Building.
learningcentre@unsw.edu.au
02 9385 2060

Educational Support Service
Educational Support Advisors work with all students to promote the development of skills needed to succeed at university, whilst also providing personal support throughout the process. Check their website to request an appointment or to register in the Academic Success Program.
John Goodsell Building, Ground Floor.
advisors@unsw.edu.au
02 9385 4734

Library services and facilities for students
The UNSW Library offers a range of collections, services and facilities both on-campus and online.
Main Library, F21.
02 9385 2650

Moodle eLearning Support
Moodle is the University’s learning management system. You should ensure that you log into Moodle regularly.
externalteltsupport@unsw.edu.au
02 9385 3331

UNSW IT
UNSW IT provides support and services for students such as password access, email services, wireless services and technical support.
UNSW Library Annexe (Ground floor).
itservicecentre@unsw.edu.au
02 9385 1333

Disability Support Services
UNSW Disability Support Services provides assistance to students who are trying to manage the demands of university as well as a health condition, learning disability or who have personal circumstances that are having an impact on their studies. Disability Advisers can arrange to put in place services and educational adjustments to make things more manageable so that students are able to complete their course requirements. To receive educational adjustments for disability support, students must first register with Disability Services.
Ground Floor, John Goodsell Building.
disabilities@unsw.edu.au
02 9385 4734

UNSW Counselling and Psychological Services
Provides support and services if you need help with your personal life, getting your academic life back on track or just want to know how to stay safe, including free, confidential counselling.
Level 2, East Wing, Quadrangle Building.
counselling@unsw.edu.au
02 9385 5418


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