AS 91481 annotated exemplars

This annotated exemplar is intended for teacher use only. Annotated exemplars are extracts of student evidence, with commentary, that explain key parts of a standard. These help teachers make assessment judgements at the grade boundaries.

Download all exemplars and commentary [PDF, 538 KB]

TKI Accounting assessment resources (external link)

For Excellence, the student needs to demonstrate comprehensive understanding of a contemporary accounting issue for decision-making.

This involves justifying how a contemporary accounting issue impacts on decision-making for an entity, incorporating financial and non-financial information by:

• justifying why the issue is important to the entity
• justifying how and why the issue affects decision-making by the entity
• drawing a conclusion that justifies the importance of the issue to the entity’s decision-making.

The student has identified how and why sustainability affects decision-making for Air New Zealand (1).

A range of financial (2) and non-financial (3) information has been provided to justify how decision-making has been affected by sustainability.    

The student has drawn a conclusion that justifies the importance of sustainability to decisions made by Air New Zealand (4).

For a more secure Excellence, the student could:

• justify the significant investment in new aircraft by linking the capital cost to a reduction in fuel expenses
• identify that recycling and repurposing are likely to incur additional costs but that this increase in expenses is justified by the wish to use sustainable practices.

For Merit, the student needs to demonstrate in-depth understanding of a contemporary accounting issue for decision-making

This involves explaining how a contemporary accounting issue impacts on decision-making by:

• explaining the issue, incorporating financial and non-financial information
• explaining how the issue affects decision-making by the entity
• drawing a conclusion that explains the importance of the issue to the entity’s decision-making.

The student has explained aspects of the student loan scheme that makes it a contemporary issue for Kelly, the borrower (1).

Financial (2) and non-financial (3) information have been used to explain how having the student loan has impacted on Kelly’s decisions.

The student has drawn a conclusion that explains the impact of the student loan on Kelly’s decision-making (4).

To reach Excellence, the student could strengthen financial information by quantifying the amount Kelly saves on travel costs by using public transport. The current interest rate payable by those people living overseas who have outstanding student loan balances could be quoted from an authoritative website, such as IRD or Studylink.

For Merit, the student needs to demonstrate in-depth understanding of a contemporary accounting issue for decision-making.

This involves explaining how a contemporary accounting issue impacts on decision-making for an entity by:

• explaining the issue, incorporating financial and non-financial information
• explaining how the issue affects decision-making by the entity
• drawing a conclusion that explains the importance of the issue to the entity’s decision-making.

The student has explained the issue of sustainability (1).

Relevant non-financial information (2) is evident throughout, as is financial information (3).

By identifying New World’s initiatives at the new store the student has explained how sustainability affects decision-making. A conclusion has been drawn that explains the importance of decision-making to the supermarket (4).

For a more secure Merit, the student could draw a conclusion that pulls information from the report and explains whether or not the financial costs of sustainability are worthwhile, given the long-term benefits that arise from New World being seen to be environmentally-friendly and socially responsible.

For Achieved, the student needs to demonstrate understanding of a contemporary accounting issue for decision-making.

This involves describing how a contemporary accounting issue impacts on decision-making for an entity by:

• describing the issue, incorporating financial and non-financial information
• describing how the issue affects decision-making by the entity
• drawing a conclusion.

The student has described the issue of sustainability (1), incorporating financial (2) and non-financial (3) information.

A conclusion has been drawn (4).

To reach Merit, the student could strengthen the financial impacts of sustainability by:

• drawing a relationship between reduced fuel expenses and profitability
• recognising that an electricity provider using renewable sources will not necessarily be the cheapest power supplier.

For Achieved, the student needs to demonstrate understanding of a contemporary accounting issue for decision-making.

This involves describing how a contemporary accounting issue impacts on decision-making for an entity by:

• describing the issue, incorporating financial and non-financial information
• describing how the issue affects decision-making by the entity
• drawing a conclusion.

The student has described the issue of student loans for the government, the original purpose being to increase access to tertiary study (1). The student’s reference to legislation to toughen penalties for loan defaulters makes student loans a contemporary issue (2).

Some financial (3) and non-financial (4) information has been described.

The student has drawn a conclusion which describes how student loans have affected decision-making (5).

For a more secure Achieved, the student could provide further financial and non-financial information about student loans.

For Achieved, the student needs to demonstrate understanding of a contemporary accounting issue for decision-making.

This involves describing how a contemporary accounting issue impacts on decision-making for an entity by:

• describing the issue, incorporating financial and non-financial information
• describing how the issue affects decision-making by the entity
• drawing a conclusion.

The student has described the issue of student loans for the government, the original purpose being to improve borrowers’ employment prospects. The student’s reference to 2013 legislation makes student loans a contemporary issue (1).

The student has described the issue incorporating financial (2) and non-financial (3) information. The student has briefly described how the issue affects decision-making by noting the decisions made in 2013.

To reach Achieved, the student could:

• draw a conclusion which describes how student loans impact on the decision-making of the government
• provide further financial and non-financial information.