Business Research Method and Research Proposal Samples for Students

Question Discuss about the Business Research Method and Research Proposal. Answer: Introduction: Manufacturing companies assess their operations by making use of management accounting techniques. Accounting policies such as variance analysis, budgeting and break even analysis helps in controlling and directing operating cost, planning and achieving profitability. For success of manufacturing companies such as Adelaide Brighton Limited, management accounting practices are essential. Manufacturing sectors in Australia comprise of broad range of industries and they form a critical component of economy (Bryman and Bell 2015). Manufacturing industries in Australia have been thriving and contributing to development of economy. Compared to recent developed techniques, manufacturing companies in Australia have obtained benefits from traditional accounting practices. They intend to take more strategic focus and give emphasis on non-financial information (Merriam and Tisdell 2015). Project Objectives: Investigating and enquiring the impacts of management accounting practices on financial position and performance of manufacturing companies in Australia is the general objective of this research. Identifying the impacts of management accounting policies of financial performance of manufacturing company that is Adelaide Brighton Limited in Australia. Identifying the practices of management accounting by Australian manufacturing companies. Establishing basic impact of management and its process and management accounting. Project Scope: Scope of research is to analyze the impact of the management accounting practice on financial performance of manufacturing company. Literature review: This particular chapter provides an outlook of literature under study and comprise of determinants of manufacturing financial performance and reviewing of empirical studies done on management accounting practice along with their contribution and finding. The market value of manufacturing firms in Australia is influenced by several factors such as risk, profitability and economic growth required for future earnings of company. Analysis of management accounting information is essential for manufacturing companies in Australia such as Adelaide Brighton Limited. It would act as information providers for making decision and it is regarded as discipline move from passive role. In management accounting, the trend of shift has made a remarkable innovation (Bryman and Bell 2015). It is evident through the adoption of management accounting practices that is innovative and modern such as Just in time, activity based costing, strategic management accounting, balanced scorecard and life cycle costing. It is argued by some researcher because of new development that in the near future, relevant lost can be regained. Some of the empirical studies were done regarding management accounting practices in Australia and analysis involved exploring of some variables such as budget components, importance of tools of management accounting, costing system, product costing methods and changes that are significant to costing system. It is revealed from findings done empirically that Australian manufacturing companies placed importance on tools of cost control such as variance analysis, budgeting and standard costing (Zikmundet al. 2013). Research question and Hypothesis: Conducting research is associated with for research questions and they are as follows: What are the roles that management accounting practice splay in the management of Adelaide Brighton limited? Is there any positive relationship between use of management accounting practice and the financial performance of Adelaide Brighton limited? What are different factors considered that affects the se of management accounting practices by manufacturing firms in Australia? Does management accounting practice plays any role in management of manufacturing companies? Research hypothesis: In order to make the recommendation for use and implication of management accounting practices in manufacturing companies in Australia, following hypothesis are required to be set. Null Hypothesis (H01)-There is no significant relationship that exist between the level of using management accounting practices and financial performance of manufacturing company such as Adelaide Brighton limited. Alternative hypothesis (H1)- There exist a vital relationship between management accounting practice and financial performance of manufacturing company such as Adelaide Brighton limited. Null Hypothesis (H02)- There does not exist any significant relationship between the importance of management accounting practice and awareness of finance managers of Brighton limited in adopting these practices. Alternative hypothesis (H2)- There exist any significant relationship between the importance of management accounting practice and awareness of finance managers of Brighton limited in adopting these practices. Operational measurements and definitions: In order to avoid any complication with the technique of research adopted, the scope of data collection is limited by limiting the number of respondents to 48 manufacturing companies in Australia. Some of the statistical techniques were used for measuring different types of responses. Analysis of data was done with different statistical tools that allows the researcher to make the presentation of information in the form of figures and tables. Research design and methodologies: Data collection and analysis The methodology of research is outlined in this chapter and it comprise of sample, research design, data analysis and data collection. Population of study consist of manufacturing companies that are listed on Australian stock exchange. Research design: A descriptive survey design was adopted under this study. Adopting research design is considered to be appropriate where the objective of study is to certain group characteristics, making certain proportion of people making certain prediction and having some characteristics. Conducting research is required to make data collection at one point in time from the listed manufacturing companies sin Australia. It is required to ascertain the impact of management accounting practices on the financial performance of manufacturing companies in Australia. Population: Manufacturing companies about which information is desired comprise of target population. Population is regarded as set of elements, services, people about which the investigation is being done. There is population studies named census that has equal chances of being selected in the final sample and hence it is called representative. The target population of this study comprise of 400 manufacturing companies in Australia. Sample design: For arriving at the sample size, it is required to use the sampling method of stratified random sampling method. Manufacturing companies in Australia are regarded as heterogeneous and this is indicative of the fact that making use of simple random sampling will not be representative. It is considered that at least 12% of target population is considered essential for carrying out study. Therefore, study make use of 48 manufacturing companies in Australia. Collection of data: In carrying out research work, collection of primary data is made from the respondents. Collection of data was done both qualitatively and quantitatively. Qualitative data is represented by means of description of natural language and is not categorized and expressed in numbers. For collecting quantitative data, the current study undertook interview by preparing several questionnaire. In the current study, there are two sections of the designed questionnaire. The first section includes different questions on the relationship between management accounting practice and financial position and performance of manufacturing companies in Australia. The second section comprised of operational and demographic characteristics for identifying fundamental issues and the respondents demographic characteristics. PublishedAnnual report of manufacturing companies of Australia was used for obtaining secondary data or information. Expected Outcome: The result of research would be able to signify the strength of relationship between the financial performance and the management accounting proactive of manufacturing company that is Adelaide Brighton limited. It will also be able to depict the awareness of finance managers in adopting the suitable accounting practices that would have considerable impact on companies. Data analysis: Analysis of data is the procedure of structuring, giving meaning and bringing order to the mass of information that have been collected. Researcher was able to present information in the form of figures and tables by applying a mixed method approach and analyzing the data through statistical tool such as Statistical package for social science. The hypothesis and analysis of data have also been done by descriptive statistical analysis such as standard deviation and mean. The association and level of relationship between the level of adopting initiatives of accounting practice and awareness of importance of suing the initiatives is done by using simple regression analysis. Testing of hypothesis is done by using several statistical tests. Research Limitation: There are various research problems faced by researcher while conducting research. This include time crunch and financial resources limitations. Researcher are not able to perform in depth analysis of the facts due to time constraint. Time schedule: Activity Jan-17 March-17 April-17 May-17 June-17 July-17 August-17 Sept-17 Week commencing Monday 12 22 5 12 19 26 3 10 17 24 31 7 14 21 28 4 11 18 25 4 11 18 25 1 8 15 22 29 6 13 20 27 Refine topic with supervisor Draft and submit proposal form Create work schedule Get informal approval for interviews Outline literature review Set up a filing system Create survey questions Refine survey with supervisor Ethical Approval Obtain formal approval from DCC Return ethics forms to supervisor Read methodology literature Write introduction chapter Pilot test methodology Revise methodology and write the chapter Schedule data collection Begin collecting data Collect secondary data Write literature review chapter Input data into computer Carry out Focus Group Write data analysis chapter Write conclusions and recommendations chapter Write personal reflection chapter Draft Submission Make any adjustments as necessary Final Submission Keep in touch with supervisor Holiday Conclusion, Summary and Findings interpretations: Different types of findings has been depicted with detailed analysis and several research questions have been interpreted by applying different techniques. It is concluded by the study that the most highly used management accounting practice used by manufacturing company, Adelaide Brighton Limited in Australia is informed decision-making practices. Some of the most important management accounting element of Adelaide Brighton limited is that there are certain factor of management accounting practice that would affect performance of company. It has also been depicted that application of practices of management accounting has increased return on equity and return on investment. The respondents have agreed with the existence of relationship between financial performance and practice of management accounting. For hypothesis regarding finance managers, awareness and application of practice seemed to depict that exist partial relationship between two. It is recommended that finance managers of Adelaide Brighton limited should enhance their awareness of informed decision-making practice relating management accounting practice. In order to achieve a proper financial measure, it is required by Adelaide Brighton Limited to integrate some of the factors in measure of accounting such as earning per share, return on equities and assets. In addition to this, it is also required by company to use value-based measures. Practitioners and academics for understanding the practices of management accounting for improving the companys performance can use findings of study. References Bryman, A. and Bell, E., 2015.Business research methods. Oxford University Press, USA. Creswell, J.W., 2013.Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches. Sage publications. Eriksson, P. and Kovalainen, A., 2015.Qualitative Methods in Business Research: A Practical Guide to Social Research. Sage. Marshall, C. and Rossman, G.B., 2014.Designing qualitative research. Sage publications. Merriam, S.B. and Tisdell, E.J., 2015.Qualitative research: A guide to design and implementation. John Wiley Sons. Myers, M.D., 2013.Qualitative research in business and management. Sage. Neelankavil, J.P., 2015.International business research. Routledge. O'Leary, Z., 2013.The essential guide to doing your research project. Sage. Robson, C. and McCartan, K., 2016.Real world research. John Wiley Sons. Saunders, M.N. and Lewis, P., 2014.Doing research in business and management: An essential guide to planning your project. Pearson Higher Ed. Smith, M., 2014.Research methods in accounting. Sage. Zikmund, W.G., Babin, B.J., Carr, J.C. and Griffin, M., 2013.Business research methods. Cengage Learning. Research Limitation: