ACFI821 Advanced Financial Accounting & Reporting 2025-2026
Assessment: Group Presentation (20%)
As part of the assessments, you are expected to make a 15-minute presentation in groups of 5- 6 students. This assessment counts 20 percent toward your final grade for this module.
Instructions
In this presentation, you are required to focus on one of the high-profile accounting fraud cases committed by large listed firms in the UK/EU/Internationally. Specifically, you are expected to cover the following parts in your presentation.
a) Introduction: Briefly introduce the company involved and its main business profile.
b) Fraudulent activities: Discuss the fraudulent transactions, methods used to commit and conceal fraud, as well as the scale and duration of the fraud.
c) Detection of the fraud: Explain how the fraud was detected and by whom.
d) Financial and Legal Consequences: Discuss the consequences of the fraud, including any legal or financial penalties imposed on the company (including the individuals involved) and its auditors. The reaction in share price and the subsequent financial losses caused to the shareholders
e) Lessons Learned: Analyse and reflect on what could have been done to prevent the fraud and what lessons can be learned from the accounting fraud case.
Date and Time:
The group presentations will take place in Week 12 at 2pm on Thursday, 11 December 2025. The presentation slides must be submitted on Canvas by 11:59pm on 10 December 2025.
Tips:
Be proactive and approach your groupmates and even better get to know them.
Arrange group meetings to allocate tasks and start EARLY.
Be open-minded and collaborative when working with your group members from different backgrounds.
Remember this group work requires your collective effort. Every student has a unique skill set and background and must contribute to the group task. Each group will need to declare the relevant part that each student contributes to in the final slide of the presentation. Failure to participate and contribute will result in a propenalty at the discretion of the examiner.
For your reference, I provide a non-exhaustive list of fraudulent firms in recent years. However, the firms listed below are only suggestive, and if you wish, you have the complete freedom to choose another firm as long as the firm 1) is listed ideally in an IFRS-adopting country, 2) has committed significant accounting fraud within the last two decades.
Suggestive list of accounting fraud cases
Patisserie Valerie (2018)
Tesco Plc (2014)
Carillion Plc (2018)
Ted Baker (2020)
NMC Health (2020)
M&C Saatchi (2019)
Steinhoff International (2017)
Wirecard (2019)
BT Group (2017)
Luckin Coffee (2020)