Assignment 2B: Management report

Teaching Period 3, 2024

SCM30002 Understanding Risk Management

Assignment 2B: Management report 

Word/time limit: 2500 (+/- 10%) (does not include the table of contents, exec summary, references, and appendices)

Weighting: 35%

Due date: 5pm AEDT Monday 20 January 2025 (Week 10)

Individual/team task: Individual

After you have read this information, head over to the Assignment 2 Q&A discussion board to ask any questions and see what your peers are saying about this assignment.

Assignment details

This assignment challenges you to apply risk management principles to real-world scenarios at Alpha University. You will analyse climate change impacts and internal fraud risks, proposing strategies to address these issues. This assignment builds on your planning in Assignment 2A: Management report progress plan.

Your report will demonstrate your ability to evaluate risks, provide practical recommendations, and use research to support your analysis. This task helps develop your skills in strategic planning and financial risk management, preparing you for future challenges in the field.

This assignment supports unit learning outcomes 1, 2, 3 and 4. 

Within your main discussion, you will need to include two sections:

Section 1 evaluates your understanding of concepts regarding the importance of strategic forward planning regarding the threat of climate change and helps you understand issues around sustainability.
Section 2 assesses your analysis of financial hazard risk controls and how to implement them. It would be best to consider internal culture and how a poor internal culture leads to internal fraud. 

Section 1 (approx. 1,500 words)

Unfortunately, due to climate change, Alpha University campus now suffers from many floods due to being near a large river, bushfires due to its rural location, and dust and pollen storms caused by winds blowing across from dry farmlands in nearby districts during spring and summer. Many of the teaching staff and students are nervous about the threat of floods and bushfires. Also due to the dust/pollen storms, many suffer severe breathing difficulties and asthma attacks. Some teaching staff find they are unable to teach due to illness because of these dust/pollen storms. Some students say they don’t know how to evacuate in case of fire or flood or get medical help in this situation and may decide to leave the university. It is your job to help out in this situation and to inform senior university managers who can formulate program to mitigate this situation and reassure and help staff and students.

Identify and

analyse

3 risk management strategies for Alpha University managers to consider to help them combat the increasing effects of climate change. Use appropriate research to justify your position.

 

(There is a lot of research on climate change risk – please make use of it. To get you started please refer to Section 4 of the 

Climate Risk Management Guidance Report

 (you do not have to use this guidance report but can if you choose)).

Provide some action-oriented recommendations aimed at senior managers at the university based on your identified three strategies aimed at senior managers at the University. Detail to Alpha University senior managers

 exactly what current and/or future steps they need to take to combat the effects of climate change. You are advised to make these realistic.

Use academic, practitioner or quality expert literature to help justify your analyses (minimum 5 references). 

 

Section 2 (approx. 1,000 words)

It has come to your attention that there has been some internal fraud at Alpha University. A staff member, John Smith, in Accounts, has been paying money into his own bank account based on paying false invoices he fraudulently created. There are many false invoices detailing companies that do not exist for work that was never done for the university. The fraud has been ongoing for the past 3 years and payments based on these false invoices amount to $50,000 stolen by the staff member. 

Outline some risk controls specifically related to fraud that you can implement to prevent, correct and detect this type of fraud. Please provide some details about each fraud-minimising method you use. 

Describe how a poor internal culture related to risk management may have influenced and led to this fraudulent

behaviour

. What can be done to repair this poor internal culture?

Use academic, practitioner or quality expert literature to help justify your analyses (minimum 5 references). 

 

The expected structure is:

Title page

Table of contents

Executive summary

Main discussion (Sections 1 and 2)

References

Appendices (only if required).

What is 'academic, practitioner, or quality expert literature'?

In this context, academic, practitioner, or expert literature refers to credible sources that provide well-researched insights. These sources can include:

Academic/scholarly sources

: Articles from reputable academic journals.

Practitioner reports

: High-quality reports from industry leaders like Deloitte or Forrester.

Quality news sources

: Well-respected publications like Harvard Business Review or The New York Times.

Supporting resources 

The following resources will assist you with completing this assignment:  

Business Report Guide

 in the 

Understand

assignmentsLinks

to an external site.

 section of the Student Hub.

You need to provide some action recommendations that are practical and useful to the senior managers at Alpha University, given their difficult circumstances.​

These need to relate to your three strategies.​

Please find helpful references here on writing recommendations:

Reports: Recommendations

 (AUT literacy for assessments, 2018).

Writing recommendations with explanations

 (Department of Education, Victoria State Government, 2020).

These are suggestions only. You do not have to use them. They are here to give you some ideas and get started.​