Assessment Manual

BSBFIM601

Manage finances

ASSESSMENT INFORMATION for students

Throughout your training we are committed to your learning by providing a training and assessment framework that ensures the knowledge gained through training is translated into practical on the job improvements.

You are going to be assessed for:

• Your skills and knowledge using written and observation activities that apply to your workplace.
• Your ability to apply your learning.
• Your ability to recognise common principles and actively use these on the job.

All of your assessment and training is provided as a positive learning tool. Your assessor will guide your learning and provide feedback on your responses to the assessment materials until you have been deemed competent in this unit.

How you will be assessed

The process we follow is known as competency-based assessment. This means that evidence of your current skills and knowledge will be measured against national standards of best practice, not against the learning you have undertaken either recently or in the past. Some of the assessment will be concerned with how you apply your skills and knowledge in your workplace, and some in the training room as required by each unit.

The assessment tasks have been designed to enable you to demonstrate the required skills and knowledge and produce the critical evidence to successfully demonstrate competency at the required standard.

Your assessor will ensure that you are ready for assessment and will explain the assessment process. Your assessment tasks will outline the evidence to be collected and how it will be collected, for example; a written activity, case study, or demonstration and observation.

The assessor will also have determined if you have any special needs to be considered during assessment. Changes can be made to the way assessment is undertaken to account for special needs and this is called making Reasonable Adjustment.

What happens if your result is ‘Not Yet Competent’ for one or more assessment tasks?

Our assessment process is designed to answer the question “has the desired learning outcome been achieved yet?” If the answer is “Not yet”, then we work with you to see how we can get there.

In the case that one or more of your assessments has been marked ‘NYC’, your trainer will provide you with the necessary feedback and guidance, in order for you to resubmit your responses.

What if you disagree on the assessment outcome?

You can appeal against a decision made in regards to your assessment. An appeal should only be made if you have been assessed as ‘Not Yet Competent’ against a specific unit and you feel you have sufficient grounds to believe that you are entitled to be assessed as competent. You must be able to adequately demonstrate that you have the skills and experience to be able to meet the requirements of units you are appealing the assessment of.

Your trainer will outline the appeals process, which is available to the student. You can request a form to make an appeal and submit it to your trainer, the course coordinator, or the administration officer. The RTO will examine the appeal and you will be advised of the outcome within 14 days. Any additional information you wish to provide may be attached to the appeal form.

What if I believe I am already competent before training?

If you believe you already have the knowledge and skills to be able to demonstrate competence in this unit, speak with your trainer, as you may be able to apply for Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL).

Assessor Responsibilities

Assessors need to be aware of their responsibilities and carry them out appropriately. To do this they need to:

• Ensure that participants are assessed fairly based on the outcome of the language, literacy and numeracy review completed at enrolment.
• Ensure that all documentation is signed by the student, trainer, workplace supervisor and assessor when units and certificates are complete, to ensure that there is no follow-up required from an administration perspective.
• Ensure that their own qualifications are current.
• When required, request the manager or supervisor to determine that the student is ‘satisfactorily’ demonstrating the requirements for each unit. ‘Satisfactorily’ means consistently meeting the standard expected from an experienced operator.
• When required, ensure supervisors and students sign off on third party assessment forms or third party report.
• Follow the recommendations from moderation and validation meetings.

How should I format my assessments?

Your assessments should be typed in a 11 or 12 size font for ease of reading. You must include a footer on each page with the student name, unit code and date. Your assessment needs to be submitted as a hardcopy or electronic copy as requested by your trainer.

How long should my answers be?

The length of your answers will be guided by the description in each assessment, for example:

Type of Answer	Answer Guidelines
Short Answer	4 typed lines = 50 words, or 5 lines of handwritten text
Long Answer	8 typed lines = 100 words, or 10 lines of handwritten text = of a foolscap page
Brief Report	500 words = 1 page typed report, or 50 lines of handwritten text = 1foolscap handwritten pages
Mid Report	1,000 words = 2 page typed report 100 lines of handwritten text = 3 foolscap handwritten pages
Long Report	2,000 words = 4 page typed report 200 lines of handwritten text = 6 foolscap handwritten pages

How should I reference the sources of information I use in my assessments?

Include a reference list at the end of your work on a separate page. You should reference the sources you have used in your assessments in the Harvard Style. For example:

Website Name – Page or Document Name, Retrieved insert the date. Webpage link.

For a book: Author surname, author initial Year of publication, Title of book, Publisher, City, State

assessment guide

The following table shows you how to achieve a satisfactory result against the criteria for each type of assessment task.

Assessment Method	Satisfactory Result	Non-Satisfactory Result
You will receive an overall result of Competent or Not Yet Competent for the unit. The assessment process is made up of a number of assessment methods. You are required to achieve a satisfactory result in each of these to be deemed competent overall. Your assessment may include the following assessment types.
Questions	All questions answered correctly	Incorrect answers for one or more questions
Answers address the question in full; referring to appropriate sources from your workbook and/or workplace	Answers do not address the question in full. Does not refer to appropriate or correct sources.
Third Party Report	Supervisor or manager observes work performance and confirms that you consistently meet the standards expected from an experienced operator	Could not demonstrate consistency. Could not demonstrate the ability to achieve the required standard
Written Activity	The assessor will mark the activity against the detailed guidelines/instructions	Does not follow guidelines/instructions
Attachments if requested are attached	Requested supplementary items are not attached
All requirements of the written activity are addressed/covered.	Response does not address the requirements in full; is missing a response for one or more areas.
Responses must refer to appropriate sources from your workbook and/or workplace	One or more of the requirements are answered incorrectly. Does not refer to or utilise appropriate or correct sources of information
Observation	All elements, criteria, knowledge and performance evidence and critical aspects of evidence, are demonstrated at the appropriate AQF level	Could not demonstrate elements, criteria, knowledge and performance evidence and/or critical aspects of evidence, at the appropriate AQF level
Case Study	All comprehension questions answered correctly; demonstrating an application of knowledge of the topic case study.	Lack of demonstrated comprehension of the underpinning knowledge (remove) required to complete the case study questions correctly. One or more questions are answered incorrectly.
Answers address the question in full; referring to appropriate sources from your workbook and/or workplace	Answers do not address the question in full; do not refer to appropriate sources.

written activity

For this assessment you will need to perform the following tasks. These tasks will need to be completed and submitted in a professional, word processed, format. Each task must be 1000 words minimum in length.

Task 1

You will need to write a report outlining the following:

1. What methods would you use to plan for financial management including:
   1. What you would analyse in order to find information on previous profit/loss?
   2. How would investigate the reasons for previous profit/loss?
   3. How would you analyse identify future expenses etc…?
   4. How would you analyse cash flow trends?
   5. What requirements might you have in relation to taxation?
   6. What types of software might you need for financial management?
2. Then discuss the steps involved in creating a budget:
3. Then you will need to discuss the methods you will use to implement a budget including:
   1. Circulation methods
   2. Risk management
   3. Review methods
   4. Contingencies
   5. Tracking
   6. Compliance and statutory requirements
   7. Identifying types discrepancies
4. Then discuss the types of reports you would need to prepare and how you would prepare them including:
   1. Formats for reports
   2. Who they would be distributed to?
   3. Who recommendations would be addressed to?

Once you have completed this assessment you must submit it to your trainer for marking.

Task 2

For this task you must discuss in your own words the answers to the following questions:

1. Identify the requirements for financial probity
2. Describe the principles of accounting and financial systems
3. Explain Australian, international and local legislation and conventions that are relevant to financial management in the organisation
4. Outline the requirements of the Australian Tax Office, including Goods and Services Tax, Company Tax, Pay As You Go.

OBSERVATION

For this assessment you will need to perform the following observation in a workplace or simulated environment.

You will need to be observed performing the following actions in a workplace or simulated environment:

1. Planning for financial management including:
   1. Reviewing and analysing previous financial data
   2. Undertaking research to review reasons for profit/loss
   3. Reviewing the business plan to establish critical dates and initiatives
   4. Analysing cash flow trends
   5. Reviewing statutory requirements
   6. Reviewing existing software
2. Preparing budgets which align with the business plan, use previous financial data and meet all organisational and statutory compliance requirements
3. Allocating funds as required
4. Analysing the effectiveness of existing financial management approaches
5. Reporting on the finances of the organisation/business including:
   1. Ensuring structure and format of reports are clear and conform to organisational and statutory requirements
   2. Identifying and prioritising significant issues in statements
   3. Preparing recommendations to ensure financial viability of the organisation
   4. Evaluating the effectiveness of financial management processes
6. Implementing the budget including:
   1. Ensuring managers and supervisors are clear about budgets, reporting requirements and financial delegations
   2. Managing risks
   3. Reviewing profit and loss statements, cash flows and ageing summaries
   4. Revising budgets to deal with contingencies
   5. Maintaining audit trails
7. Using your knowledge of the requirements of the Australian tax office
8. Contributing to financial bids and estimates

Your trainer/assessor will provide you with access to:

9. Financial data
10. Relevant legislation and Australian tax office requirements
11. Examples of business plans, profit and loss statements, cash flows and aging summaries
12. Organisational financial policies and procedures
13. Financial management software

Questions

The following questions may be answered verbally with your assessor or you may write down your answers. Please discuss this with your assessor before you commence. Short Answers are required which is approximately 4 typed lines = 50 words, or 5 lines of handwritten text.

Your assessor will take down dot points as a minimum if you choose to answer them verbally.

Answer the following questions either verbally with your assessor or in writing.

1. What does a balance sheet enable you to do?
2. Poor cash flow may arise from what?
3. Monitoring expenditure has important advantages. What are they?
4. Why do you need a good financial record keeping system?
5. Give a description of the 3 most common programs used for financial input.
6. Give a detailed description of the below types of expenditure and income:
   1. Gross profit
   2. Net profit
   3. Stock turnover
7. Describe what the following 3 phrases mean in detail:
   1. Converting financial data to ratios or percentages
   2. A ration by itself means little unless it is benchmarked
   3. The benefits of financial analysis
8. What does “Tax Liability” mean?
9. Effectively auditing a budget requires an estimation process that is acceptable and/or reasonable. What are some issues to consider?
10. Explain the terms used to describe variations and what can the unfavourable variances be further classifies into?
11. What are 3 pieces of financial documentation necessary to verify expenditure? Give an explanation for each.
12. To ensure that you are in a good position to negotiate your budget submission what should you do?